Lady Gaga before performing at the Human Rights Campaign gala. (Photo by Tony Powell)
Washington went wild for Lady GaGa as we attended the Monster Ball with GaGa as our guide.
Nealry 13,000 Washingtonians came alive and rose to meet Lady GaGa as she performed to a sold-out audience at DC’s Verizon Center on Sept. 7.
The air was positively electric surrounding the concert and once inside it was amazing to see the fans dressed in outrageous ways to express their devotion to this pop icon.
Lady GaGa has been inspired by avant garde fashions from the beginning of her career.
Designers like Alexander McQueen helped elevate her style to haute couture and dare we say bizarre levels. Her costume changes at the Monster Ball were numerous with each outfit out-glamming the next.
This was her first stop in our Nation’s Capitol in 2010 and her ever-faithful, DC-based “Little Monsters” came out in style.
Lady GaGa promised early on in the night that the Monster Ball would set us free. Fashionistas did go free with their style as the conjured up the most dramatic and outrageous outfits.
One woman dressed like a peacock turned out to be none other than Sassanova’s Sassy Jacobs accompanied by store co-owner Sarah Cannova, clad in hot pink bobbed wig. Women in Washington were out and they were WILD.
Sassanova boutique co-owners Sarah Cannova and Sassy Jacobs (L and R) vamp it up with jewelry designer Allison Priebe Brooks (center) before the concert. Photo by John Arundel.
The crowd ranged from school-age children and ‘tweens to men and women in their fifties. The fashions were fierce as GaGa’s fans wanted to pay homage to their idol with fun, eclectic, and outrageous ensembles.
The audience was made up of mostly women and many dressed up to the nines, just thrilled to be out of the house.
I stopped to ask one woman about her outfit and she commented that she raided her daughter’s play clothes toy box for the gold lame cape.
A woman from a group of five women from Reston proclaimed, “We are The Real Housewives of Fairfax County! We have 13 children between us and our husbands are all so happy we are out tonight.
The only problem is that our kids wanted to come with us. We all love GaGa.”
Lady GaGa loves her fans right back and her fame is climbing.
According to The New York Daily News, as of August 2010 Gaga has sold more than 15 million albums and 51 million singles worldwide.
In May 2010, Time magazine included Gaga in its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In June 2010, Forbes listed Gaga fourth on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the second most powerful musician in the world.
Plainly put, the world has gone goo goo for GaGa.
GaGa promised her fans, also known as her Little Monsters, that “Tonight in the nation’s capitol you are going to be super free. My fans – you have a place to go. You can be whoever you want to be. Follow the glitter way!”
She also could not let her time in DC go without being a tad political: “I am not just gonna prance around in a bra and underwear and not stand for anything.”
She went on to describe her care and compassion for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered community.
She let it be known that $20,000 from the show would go to help fight discrimination against LGBT service people and their defense fund.
“Let tonight be your liberation!” she proclaimed. “Let go of your insecurities. You are the superstars. You were born this way. Don’t leave loving me more…leave loving yourselves more.”
Lady Gaga tickles the ivories at the HRC gala last year. (Photo by Tony Powell)
Fans went crazy as she performed megahits like Just Dance, Poker Face, Speechless, Teeth, as well as a couple of new songs, one of which was dedicated to her on again, off again boyfriend.
As we watched people skipping out of the Verizon Center still singing lines from the closing song Bad Romance it was evident that a pop icon place in history was secure.
Currently the most searched person on Google and the person with the most Likes or Friends on Facebook, Lady GaGa is positioned to take her place alongside music legends like Madonna, David Bowie or Freddie Mercury.
She will be back in Washington and the Verizon Center in late February 2011 and it appears as though we will all still be following the glitter way and our favorite Lady in Latex.
Allison Priebe Brooks is the owner of Queen Bee Jewelry Designs in Alexandria. In January, she rode a bus 10 hours round trip to catch the first leg of Gaga’s 2010 Monster Ball Tour, in New York City.
