Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball: ‘Concert of the Year’ and ‘This Generation’s Madonna’

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball has been branded the ‘concert of the year’ by critics as she kicked off the UK leg of her tour. 

The iconic songstress, 39, took to the stage at The O2 in London on Monday for the first of four UK dates on her epic tour. 

She brought back the arthouse theatrics for the mammoth set, packing in a whopping 29 of her biggest hits to a sold-out crowd.

Gaga pulled out all the stops for the first London date, with extravagant costumes, striking staging and her powerhouse vocals – also delighting fans as she brought out Wednesday actresses Emma Myers and Evie Templeton to perform The Dead Dance. 

The show has received rave reviews from critics, with Metro‘s Danni Scott even branding her ‘this generation’s Madonna’.

The Telegraph‘s Neil McCormick went as far to say Gaga’s expert showmanship makes her musical counterparts look like ‘wannabees’.

The tour continues with three more London shows this week before moving on to multiple nights in Manchester, Stockholm, Milan, Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Lyon, and will close the European leg with four performances at Accor Arena in Paris. Gaga will finish the year with shows in Australia before heading to Japan in January. 

Adam White of The Independent writes: ‘You haven’t quite lived until you’ve seen Shallow from A Star Is Born being sung by Gaga to her evil twin while the pair are hauled across the stage on a tiny tugboat lit by a ye olde lamp. 

‘Yet The Mayhem Ball is also so impeccably put together – with bombast, speed, costume changes, explosions and such lovely sincerity from its headliner – that it quickly becomes clear that you are watching the concert of the year.’

‘No set piece is too elaborate, no framing device too ludicrous, for this show of wall-to-wall bangers that suggests Gaga isn’t ready to give up her pop crown just yet,’ he added. 

Danni Scott of Metro writes: ‘Thrilling, utterly artistic, and completely captivating — nobody in the music industry right now is doing it quite like the singer-turned-actor.

‘While I may have walked in thinking she was just a pop girl with edge, I’ve left firmly believing Lady Gaga is this generation’s Madonna.’

Neil McCormick, Chief Music Critic of The Telegraph writes: ‘With her explosive popularity and increasing budget, she has been putting on showbusiness extravaganzas as spectacular as any ever staged for 15 years, and this might be her most coherent and accomplished. 

‘At the heart of her show, it is Gaga herself who drives and animates it, a next level talent with the vocal and musical skills to make most her pop peers look like wannabes.’ 

Emily Bootle of The i Paper said: ‘In a two-and-a-half hour orgy of pop theatre at London’s O2 Arena on Monday night – the first of four dates at the venue, with two more to follow at Manchester’s Co-op Live – she proved herself to be the original and the best at this game of immersive, spellbinding live performances.

‘She closed out the night with a showstopping Bad Romance, flames erupting at the back of the stage: it’s impossible at moments like these to forget that Lady Gaga is one of the greats, a pop revolutionary. The Mayhem Ball is utterly magnificent.’

Will Hodgkinson, Chief Rock and Pop Critic of The Times said: ‘The opening night of Lady Gaga’s European leg of the Mayhem tour helped to explain why her place in the culture has been so defined. 

‘Her combination of frenetic dance pop with camp theatricality has had a clear influence on a new generation of stars like Charli XCX and Chappell Roan, but nobody else goes this far.’

‘Lady Gaga gave pop opera at its finest, complete with a diva-like late arrival and high drama throughout,’ he added. 

Kicking off the tour in July, Gaga’s show is split into four acts, beginning with Bloody Mary, surrounded by a gothic style set, before belting out popular tracks, Abracadabra, Judas and Scheiße.

And displaying her signature Avant-garde fashion, she donned a number of elaborate looks including creepily long finger prosthetics for Bad Romance.

Surrounded by a team of talented dancers, the Oscar winner also delivered eye-popping visuals and slick choreography as she sang fan-favourites like Poker Face, Applause, Summerboy, Million Reasons, Die With a Smile and Shallow.

While her performance of enduring hit track, Paparazzi, saw Gaga don a white wedding gown with a long gauzy train flowing behind her as she strutted down the runway on silver crutches, like in the music video. 

She pulled on a gothic cape and took to the piano for a toned-down emotional track, before bringing out a humongous spinning skull for Killah.

And for Perfect Celebrity and Disease, she leaned into the spooky visuals once again, singing from a sandbox full of human remains and surrounded by backing dancers dressed as skeletons. 

For the last song, the cameras followed Gaga as she slipped away backstage and removed her makeup and extravagant costume, emerging back on stage in a simple Cramps t-shirt, beanie and sunglasses to sing How Bad Do U Want Me.

In typical ‘Little Monsters’ style, fans went all out with their outfits for the concert, with some even almost rivalling Gaga’s herself.

The stadium was packed full of racy look, avantgarde masks and recreation’s of Gaga’s most iconic looks, including the Alexander McQueen outfit she wore to the 2009 MTV VMAs and her famous Philip Treacy lobster hat from 2010.

And the icon herself seemed overwhelmed by all the love, admitting in the show: ‘Before I came on stage tonight, I couldn’t even believe you were here for me’.