Post by Admin on Jun 11, 2019 18:29:13 GMT
2018 and the first half of 2019 may have been all about “Shallow” and A Star Is Born, but this year's second act marks a welcome return of sorts for Lady Gaga -- and her latest round of gigs in Las Vegas proved it.
Gaga makes herself at home in many places, from the gutters of the Lower East Side to the front row at the Academy Awards to a technological marvel of a theater on Sin City’s strip. The vehicle for last year’s triumph was her feature film starring role debut in A Star Is Born, and its signature song, “Shallow,” her duet with co-star and director Bradley Cooper, necessitates its own cabinet for the number of statuettes it earned at various ceremonies. The three years leading up to A Star Is Born’s release saw Gaga spending more time on screen -- with a featured role in American Horror Story, as well as Five Foot Two, the candid Netflix documentary that followed her up to her 2018 Super Bowl performance -- than onstage, in part due to her struggle with chronic pain that led to the cancelation of whole legs of her Joanne World Tour in 2016 and 2017.
This is crystal clear now that A Star Is Born is in the rearview mirror. The first week of June marked Gaga’s return to Vegas for her first run of shows since her awards-season winning streak, and with it comes an acute awareness of the additional space the accolades provide for her to take her art and message far and wide without having to travel the world. She’s relishing in playing whatever she wants, however she wants, on a grand or small scale of her choosing: she’ll sing “Shallow” for you, sure, but she’ll also wail the chorus of “Paparazzi” while careening above the crowd in an egg-shaped wire cage with smoke billowing out the bottom one night, and bring out Tony Bennett to reprise their “Cheek to Cheek” duet in sassy, brassy vintage glory the next. She's taken to popping up after her own shows at the residency of Brian Newman, her longtime friend and trumpet player in her Jazz & Piano band, who's taken over the neighboring NoMad's library bar. Like those who come to see her, Gaga goes to Vegas with the intent of maximalizing her experience -- she just gets standing ovations, usually many a night, for doing so.
Gaga makes herself at home in many places, from the gutters of the Lower East Side to the front row at the Academy Awards to a technological marvel of a theater on Sin City’s strip. The vehicle for last year’s triumph was her feature film starring role debut in A Star Is Born, and its signature song, “Shallow,” her duet with co-star and director Bradley Cooper, necessitates its own cabinet for the number of statuettes it earned at various ceremonies. The three years leading up to A Star Is Born’s release saw Gaga spending more time on screen -- with a featured role in American Horror Story, as well as Five Foot Two, the candid Netflix documentary that followed her up to her 2018 Super Bowl performance -- than onstage, in part due to her struggle with chronic pain that led to the cancelation of whole legs of her Joanne World Tour in 2016 and 2017.
This is crystal clear now that A Star Is Born is in the rearview mirror. The first week of June marked Gaga’s return to Vegas for her first run of shows since her awards-season winning streak, and with it comes an acute awareness of the additional space the accolades provide for her to take her art and message far and wide without having to travel the world. She’s relishing in playing whatever she wants, however she wants, on a grand or small scale of her choosing: she’ll sing “Shallow” for you, sure, but she’ll also wail the chorus of “Paparazzi” while careening above the crowd in an egg-shaped wire cage with smoke billowing out the bottom one night, and bring out Tony Bennett to reprise their “Cheek to Cheek” duet in sassy, brassy vintage glory the next. She's taken to popping up after her own shows at the residency of Brian Newman, her longtime friend and trumpet player in her Jazz & Piano band, who's taken over the neighboring NoMad's library bar. Like those who come to see her, Gaga goes to Vegas with the intent of maximalizing her experience -- she just gets standing ovations, usually many a night, for doing so.