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Lady GaGa suddenly disappeared, plunging under her flaming, yes flaming as in “on fire”, piano, leaving two alabaster butt cheeks gloriously perched atop her piano stool.

She emerged holding pieces of her microphone and announced I broke my microphone. That’s the problem with singing live, things can go wrong. I will now fix my microphone. You can call me Lady MacGyver.

It was a charming, unscripted moment, and from that point on she held the hearts and minds of a jammed ACC in the palm of her sepulchred (you had to see it, trust me) hand. A passionate and lavishly raunchy romp through the Monster Ball provided one of the greatest concert experiences this side of the apocalypse.

***

I arrived at the ACC about 8.30pm and entered a gathering of what can only be termed the GaGa tribe. Thousands of attendees, of all races, creeds and sexual orientations, were dressed to the nines, with many in amazing faux GaGa outfits. People were snapping pictures of the craziest get-ups and laughing and joking with total strangers. The buzz was electric.

The show kicked off at shortly after 9pm and Ms Germanotta proved to be the most wonderful and confident of performers. Alternatively professing love and devotion for her “little monsters” and then admonishing us for being a pack of “total sluts”, the Lady consistently demanded the crowd dance, bounce, scream, wave hands and, above all else, let inhibitions vanish.

This was a tour de force marked with elaborate costumes and audacious and wickedly constructed sets. The continuity was found in GaGa herself, who talked throughout and revealed a keen and ferocious personality. This show is for, she whispered, those of you who have been rejected, told you were not good enough, not thin enough, that you couldn’t play piano, you’re my little monsters. The building simply exploded in response.

***

Have you heard about my big dick, she coyly queried, referring to a spate of ludicrous internet rumours. Asking everyone to take their, uh, members out, she then asked if it was true that Toronto was home to a legion of huge cocks! The Lady is a far more interesting and intriguing individual than you may gather from her Oprah and Ellen appearances. She is raw and earthy and grounded in the counter culture influences of New York.

***

The live forum has proved the undoing of the likes of Avril, who wilted, and Britney, who was utterly exposed, but this night was evidence of the onset of a new popular culture superstar.

Like the dramatic 1970 era exhibitions of Bowie strutting as The Thin White Duke, or an early Madonna flaunting her Boy Toy persona, last night was epochal, the unveiling of an artist who may prove more influential than even that pair.

Writing her own material and demanding pervasive influence on all aspects of her show, Lady Gaga is a revolutionary, a visionary and creative powerhouse eager to entertain and not content to simply pose. Funny, intimidating, vulnerable and tough, Lady Gaga captures a collection of contradictory impulses and fuses them into a most imposing artistic vision. Popular culture simply doesn’t get any better than this. An heir to Madonna? That and much more…

Can I hear you scream? Can you wave your claws?

GaGa, ooh la la, an amazing night and the portents of even more captivating and astonishing developments to follow…

Postscript; just before GaGa came on stage there was a roar and tumult on the floor. It was, being seated beside the soundboard, none other than Elton John. Bugger got to see a Toronto crowd, a stark rejoinder of his inexplicable decison not to play the city on his current tour…