ATP! Live Review: Lady Gaga’s artRAVE - Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, PA (05/15/14)

People may hate on Lady Gaga a lot, but there’s one thing you can’t deny; the lady knows how to put on one hell of a show. Does she make you wait in anticipation a tad too long while her lackluster opening acts perform? Yes. Two hours is way too much. But then she takes the stage and you forget that even happened.

Her stage is a full-on set piece. Her walkways contain a club for VIP ticket purchasers with her piano over it, bridges right over fans’ heads and during certain songs, inflatable decorations popping out of random openings in the stage you didn’t know existed. Her show is more than just a concert; it’s an entire experience.

That’s not to say she doesn’t have a vocal prowess to back it up, though. Her voice fills that arena with ease, especially on an acoustic version of “Born This Way” done with just her and her piano. It’s an emotional song to her fans, and her powerful voice makes you feel every note of it.

The rest of the show is like a giant party, with Gaga playing almost every song off her latest album, Artpop, along with older favorites like “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face.” Looking around the arena, almost every person is on their feet, following Gaga’s commands to “get the fuck up and put your hands in the air!”

The artRAVE was almost two hours of high-energy, dazzling awesomeness. With her insane pipes and amazing showmanship, Gaga’s show is tough to top.

Lauren Jones