Lady Gaga's bum, a Hollywood knife and a ninja outfit: Our Roundhouse review of Mother Monster

Lady Gaga opened the show with new song Aura for which she wore a black ninja-style outfit which left only her black hair and eyes on show

Hot as shell

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She was forced to abandon her Born This Way Ball tour in February after sustaining a hip injury but Lady Gaga ensured she was back with a bang by launching the iTunes Festival at The Roundhouse in London on Sunday night.

Mother Monster made a brief return to the stage by opening the MTV VMAs in New York the week before but this UK performance was her first full live set and she debuted seven new songs from her upcoming album ARTPOP for fans, writes Owen Tonks, from The Roundhouse.

The gig, which Gaga dubbed “#SwineFest”, was performed in front of a crowd of thousands and broadcast around the world via iTunes, the iTunes Festival app and on Apple TV, and the singer prepared her Little Monsters for the show by issuing a list of acceptable attire which included seashells, seahorses, starfish and bedazzled pig noses.
Lady Gaga opened the show with new song Aura for which she wore a black ninja-style outfit which left only her black hair and eyes on show.

Slash and burn

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 She slowly walked on stage before kneeling on the ground in the centre while darting her wide eyes around and clutching a large silver knife with the word “Hollywood” scrawled across it.
The opening number brought with it Gaga’s familiar theatrical side as she was soon dragged kicking and flailing and put into a cage by her dancers before being hoisted into the air.
While Aura may be a step away from her earlier fresh pop hits such as Just Dance and Poker Face, familiar techno beats and a catchy chorus can still be heard throughout proving perhaps she needs to develop her eye-catching stage production with each album more than the her music to keep people’s attention.
Moving swiftly on, Gaga opted for an onstage costume change, a familiar theme throughout, and put on a pair of sparkly boots and removed her black ninja outfit to reveal a bra.

She then launched into MANiCURE which has a slightly more rocky sound than some of her other tracks but is easier to listen to than the harsh verses of Aura.
Another onstage costume change saw Gaga emerge as a shell-encrusted mermaid and during the dramatic pause between songs fans threw items such as toy pigs onto the platform and, clearly caught up in the excitement of performing again, the singer ripped the head off a toy mermaid before throwing it back into the crowd.
The next song was the title track of the album, ARTPOP, which was one of the slower tunes and had a slight 80s feel to it with a synth backing and drum machine beat.
In another of her new songs, Jewels & Drugs, Gaga moves in a direction which is possibly further than anything she’s tried before – while the catchy chorus remains, this tune has a grimy feel to it and she’s teamed up with rappers T.I., Too Short and Twista to add some edge.

Impressive

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 Unfortunately, T.I. had trouble getting to the UK but Too Short and Twista made an appearance as Gaga bopped around at the back and had a go at rapping herself.
Another new song was quickly pumping out of the speakers with Sex Dreams being performed next with the star opening up about her nocturnal desires before she sung Swine which the singer claimed she had to look back to a dark time in her life to find the inspiration to write.
And in typical understated style, Gaga actually made pigs fly by having her dancers suspended from the ceiling in boiler suits and pig masks.
By this point the star had removed her wig and make-up in a bid to show the simple version of herself to sing a moving version of I Wanna Be With You while she played the keyboard.

 She dedicated this song to her fans after having to cancel her tour following her injury earlier this year and then took a break from the stage sending fans into a screaming, stomping frenzy.
The singer returned to the stage for a finale performance of the already familiar Applause before the lights came up and the crowd flooded out.

The rest of ARTPOP will be out November 11 but it’s safe to say a slightly updated and, possibly a little weirder, Gaga is back with force and she’s here to stay.