GOING GAGA IN MANILA

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

This is my favourite photo of the irrepressible Lady Gaga in Versace and with eyes closed but painted to make them appear huge and larger than life during her stint in Japan as she knows the Japanese love big eyes as seen in all their cartoons!

GOING GAGA IN MANILA

LADY GAGA WORE VERSACE IN THE IMAGES BELOW 

 



Who looks better? The model or Lady Gaga in Versace's autumn/winter?






Despite the hype, hoopla and hullaballoo, the ‘Born This Way Ball’ in Manila was surely and surreally out of this world, both before and during the concert.

Controversy, scandal and high drama are synonymous with Lady Gaga and so it was during her 2-day stint at Arena in Mall of Asia in Manila. Weeks before she arrived, the Church, religious groups and even Human Rights Watch were dragged into the tempest in her bra cup.

“Born This Way Ball’ on 21 May was the first show in the newly opened Arena At Mall of Asia which opened on 19 May. The elaborate show cost RM 5 million to mount but all was eclipsed by the uproar that pitted the saints against the (fallen?) angels. 

The Archbishop of Batangas Ramon Arguelles warned Lady Gaga fans they were in danger of “falling into the Devil’s hands if they continue to patronise her music, unless they are already there,” he lamented. He insisted listening to Lady Gaga’s music could be classified as ‘devil worship’ and added indignantly, “Gaga does not deserve the name ‘Lady’, a title given to decent and inimitable women like the Mother of God”. At least none can sue Lady Gaga for false advertising since she calls herself Monster Mother! And her fans Little Monsters!

Manila Representative Amado Bagatsing condemned Lady Gaga’s “corruption of the country’s youth”, adding “Lady Gaga styled herself as bisexual and gay icon and flaunts her lifestyle as if this was normal behaviour”.

Catholic clerics (Philippines is the only Catholic dominated nation in Asia) chorused the protests. Monsignor Sabino Vengco Jr said “Lady Gaga coming here would be a mockery of the Christian religion and the Blessed Virgin.”

Running priest Friar Robert Reyes perhaps offered the best solution; “Stop frothing in the mouth and just watch Jessica Sanchez”, referring to the 16 year old Californian of Filipina-Mexican descent who made it to the finals of ‘American Idol’. Sanchez lost anyway, adding to angst of the conservatives.

The New York based Human Rights Watch joined the fray. Its deputy director for Asia Elaine Pearson lauded the Philippine government for not caving to the demand of small but mightily vocal religious groups hell-bent on stopping Lady Gaga for allegedly promoting godlessness. Said Pearson, “Filipinos have the right to decide whether to attend this concert or not. This is the basic freedom of expression.”

Pleas, cajoles, demands and orders were made to Lady Gaga not to sing ‘Judas’ with its provocative lyrics. There would also be no nudity, lewd behaviour, obscene gestures and religious artefacts like crosses and crucifixes on stage. 

The Philippine Government gave the go-ahead. If ‘Born This Way Ball’ was banned, the Government must also ban her music from radio, TV and multimedia, together with heavy metal, hard rock, trance and house music. Plus close down the Internet as anyone can access hardcore porn and bestiality on the internet. And eliminate news broadcasts since daily news are full of war reports and acts of violence showing humans killing each other. Movies showing heroes shooting dead the bad guys and vice versa, fantasy movies like ‘Jurassic Park’ or even cartoons which do not depict the real world would have to be canned. 

This would be the Spanish Inquisition circa 2012. In 1633 Galileo Galilei was forced by the Catholic church to recant his theory that Earth revolved round the sun and not vice versa! After he denounced his theory, he was said to mumble “And yet the Earth still moves”!

Around 20,000 fans who thronged the Arena were determined to launch their own crusade and thumbed their noses at the naysayers by mimicking Mother Monster’s make-up, wardrobe, hair, shoes and accessories.

 Many fans when asked by the media retorted, “Government officials against Lady Gaga should concentrate on wiping out corruption and poverty first while the religious officials should ask the Vaticanto settle the sex abuse scandals.” As if on cue a bunch of Little Monsters screeched “Those who live in glass houses…should not throw stones!”

International German deejay Zedd played for half an hour and by 9pm the stage curtains were pulled back to reveal a magnificent, 3-storey fortress but Windsor Castle it was not. Befitting Lady Gaga’s reputation, it was more a brooding Gothic castle where Dracula could call home and screams might be heard from the torture chambers in the cellars. Or it could be a Gaga-fied version of Disneyland’s Haunted House. The dame called it ‘my Kingdom of Fame’. She could be right.

Lady Gaga rode a mechanical equine creature as she belted ‘Highway Unicorn’ accompanied by dancers. From her high horse, she wasted no time titillating the audience by cavorting with a hooded henchman, gyrating and spreading her legs before his face. With ‘Government Hooker’ as her opening gambit she had her audience hooked and infuriated the Kennedys by referring to John F. Kennedy.