Ball Gaga Chromaticanow streaming on Max, features Lady Gaga in a 2022 concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, during the pandemic-delayed tour in support of her 2020 album. Chromatic. A lot has happened since 2022, and these days, Gaga is gearing up to star as Harley Quinn in Todd Phillips’ film. Joker: Folie à Deux. But in this conceptual, inspiring and simply monumental concert film, which she produced, directed and edited, Lady Gaga presents an immersive document of her remarkable facility for live performance, a classic thing that never goes out of style. In Chromatica ballGaga is part pop star, part rock star, part advocate and part futuristic fashionista, with Acts instead of Eras. Or as she offers during an early reminder of the jams that made her great in the first place: “Walk, walk, baby, work, move, this bitch is crazy…»
The essential: Chromatica Ball was Gaga’s seventh major tour. But its scale only increased following the pandemic, when the planned number of stadium shows increased from six to 20. During confinement, his fans, these legions of little monsters, had to listen to huge pieces. Chromatic singles like “Stupid Love,” “Rain on Me” and “Free Woman” while locked up. So why not offer them the enormity and spectacle? So the lights go out at Dodger Stadium and Lady Gaga emerges as a monolithic figure from brutalist propaganda, with a fleet of dancers similarly dressed in gray monochrome and an austere stage setup with lockers for a drummer and a musician whose equipment includes a circular keyboard. A true pro, she opens the 20-plus song show with “Bad Romance,” “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” before establishing her format of four acts and a grand finale.
The Chromatica Ball’s production design is deliberate, deliberately disruptive of the traditional spacing of a live concert, and accompanied by video interludes with elaborate costumes and imagery of their own, an aspect emphasized in Ball Gaga Chromatica with insightful film adjustments and edits. But the visual style on display, coupled with the frequent costume changes, combines with a series of ecstatic wide shots of the crowd. These more traditional modes of a concert film are entirely necessary, as fan reaction is what the arena-ready chorus of something like “Just Dance” is made for.
For “Alice,” Gaga performs strapped to a cement stretcher. For the remarkable “911” in Act II, she appears in a black peaked watch cap alongside fields of bright red on the imposing video screens surrounding her. And for “Free Woman”, she sings directly in front of the Monsters who applaud throughout the scene. As huge as the Chromatica Ball spectacle is, it never overshadows Lady Gaga. (Well, except when her dancers cleverly mask costume changes on stage.) She’s always front and center, always like Gaga the singer and performer, and she’s totally magnetic. There are many reasons why she has been a star for almost two decades. But it is a fact that she can make a stadium of more than 55,000 spectators an intimate and direct experience, and transmit this feeling through the small screen with Ball Gaga Chromatica. And by the end of the concert, she’s in glitter and vinyl, her slicked-back blonde hair now sweaty and lopsided, flanked by two heavy metal guitarists and surrounded by flames. It’s a rock star moment for an artist who knows how to be both a chameleon and a captivating entertainer.
What films will this remind you of? The raw and gripping documentary of 2017 Gaga: five foot two is still streaming on Netflix and worth watching or rewatching. And while this doc and the controversy surrounding an old interview still continue, in 2024, to fuel rumors of acrimony between Gaga and Madonna, the concept shifts Chromatica ball are of equal scale to those of Madame Xthe 2021 Madonna concert film filmed in Lisbon, Portugal.
Performances to watch: It must be the piano of the trees. With its tangle of 3D sculpted roots and the addition of ventilation tubes and strange bits of metal, the instrument that dominates the smallest spot on the stage separate from the main event often seems to merge with Lady Gaga while that she is sitting on her bench, which in turn resembles human bones. The effect is only heightened when Gaga reveals another costume change, from shimmering gold to a leotard with tentacles attached. It’s an effect that evokes HR Giger-style body horror concepts, and it’s super cool.
Memorable dialogues: Chromatica ball is peppered with the usual rock star exhortations. (“Raise your hands! Now shout!”) But Lady Gaga doesn’t say much until she takes to a separate, smaller stage for a stirring rendition of “Born This Way.” Playing the majority of the song on solo piano, Gaga frequently interjects with inspiring messages in support of LGBTQ+ people. “Did you hear what I said?” I said “perfect!” Perfect with a capital “P”! » It’s an emotional and celebratory centerpiece of the set, but it’s not finished. “Hold on. Everyone looks up real quick. I don’t always feel perfect. Most of the time, I’m not. Most of the time, I feel like something’s wrong not But when it happens, I say deep down to myself or someone else” – and she shouts the lines in unison with a full-throated chorus of 52,344 little monsters “I. am beautiful in my own way/God makes no mistakes/I’m on the right path baby/I was born this way…”
Sex and skin: Sex and skin? Rather clothes and concepts. There are at least five complete costume changes in Chromatica ball, each integrated into the visual aesthetic of the act in which it appears. Gaga as a gesticulating political sculpture. Gaga in a blood-red cape that echoes her meat dress from 2010. Gaga strips it away in favor of cool shades and a red hood with leg-of-mutton sleeves. Gaga in a black taskmaster outfit with chest straps, tapered shoulder attachments and a peaked cap. Gaga in a celestial headpiece that shimmers gold. In Chromatic, don’t hesitate to choose your Gaga. She will give you options.
Our opinion : Sometimes when this career migration begins for top talent, you wonder if you can’t just go back. Of course, Lady Gaga has never stopped proving herself. She moved into cinema and made one called A star is born, and landed a Best Actress nomination for it. It’s not serious ! But one of the effects of Ball Gaga Chromatica is to refresh our understanding of how awesome she is at all things singing, songwriting, and performing. It draws on her penchant for reinvention – indeed, she reinvents herself in part for each of the show’s specific acts. But this is a film that captures a concert, and the concert features an artist who needs no gimmicks to be great. Lilting choruses and stadium-sized moments are key to the production. But when Gaga takes to the side stage for a set she leads, often soloing on that tree piano, she has the ability to miniaturize the room. We have the impression that she is singing the The star is born the ballads “Shallow” and “Always Remember Us This Way” one person at a time, or inspire the person who needs it most with a moving rendition of the anthem “Born This Way.” And when she gets to “The Edge of Glory,” playing the piano with one hand while pointing with the other, we all cling to that moment of truth. Lady Gaga’s multidisciplinary career is formidable. She’s always hungry, so let her cook. But in Chromatica ballshe shares all the ingredients that made her a master.
Our call: Spread it. Ball Gaga Chromatica is an exciting, maximalist concert film that activates its spectacle through Lady Gaga’s strength as a live performer. Thematic sets, creative film editing touches, and an ambitious pace of costume changes confirm how formidable Gaga is as a singer and protagonist of her entire aesthetic.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is a free-lance freelance writer and editor in Chicagoland. Her work has been published in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media and Nicki Swift.
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