April 2, 2026
Lady Gaga headline
14-time Grammy, Oscar, and Emmy Award winner Lady Gaga is a force to be reckoned with in the pop world, and tonight’s explosives show at Montreal’s Bell Center put all of that front and center.
For years now, I have heard people talk about how grandiose and great Lady Gaga’s live shows are. Having never really been a fan of her music, I naturally have never seen her myself. Until tonight, that is.
See Also: Emperor at MTelus, Montreal
Now that I have, I feel silly. I could have been experiencing all of this years ago. That’s fine. They say things come to you when you are ready for them, and I believe that. I guess tonight I was ready.
Tonight, Lady Gaga performed the first of three nights scheduled to take place in our fine city. I arrived a half hour before the start of the show, expecting a short line to get in. Doors where to open at seven o’clock and the show was supposed to start at eight. Nay nay. The lines stretched down passed Rene-Levesque, around the corner and on and on and on into the night. Every entrance had a similar queue ahead of it.
And of course; it began to rain.
Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty minutes go by and I’m still in line! Wet. Bemused by the situation. I can’t say for certain what the delay was caused by, but there were a lot of murmurs amongst us, the outcast left out in the rain a out the situation. Mostly baseless rumors and heresy from people trying to pass the time.
I arrived at my seat about an hour later – and I must say Evenko can done me a solid and given me a fantastic view – and to my surprise, the show hadn’t yet started. I assume to allow people to make their way inside and all that jazz. Fair play!
Lady Gaga takes the stage
Opening with an incredible display that wouldn’t subside throughout the entire performance. Five sets and an encore. More than thirty songs and all of it was incredible. Moving. Theatrical and always entertaining. Most pop stars will give you a concert. An hour or two of their time where they come out, sing their hits and vanish into the night. Lady Gaga brings you Broadway no matter where you are on any given night.
Like a severely demented alive in wonderland. With elements of anything made.by Tim Burton and a massive squeeze off an 80s lemon. I’m not sure that analogy even makes sense but I’m rolling with it anyway. Because I was eh… born this way. Geez that was bad huh? Oh well.
More akin to a ballet or interoperative dance performance, with borrowings from the circus realm than merely a concert. Everywhere you look, something is happening. There’s so much to see and take. Almost too much. Glorious abundance.
Every chessboard has two queens.
Lady Gaga took the opportunity to thank everyone for twenty years of support and asked if she came back twenty years from now, if people would still come back. Judging by the roar of the crowd – the answer was a resounding yes. “Even if I cant fill arenas and stadiums then, Ill find a place to put my keyboard and sing for you”.
Said she gets asked what she would have done if not this. Responds this just somewhere else. And, as they say, the crowd went wild. There is no doubting the love that Lady Gaga has for her artform and what she does – and that love is as intents from her fans who absolutely adore her. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of her work – I have never owned an album of hers or even intentionally listen to one either – yet I knew a shocking amount of her music regardless, and to me, that speaks volumes.
Then, Bad Romance played and the entire Bell Center blew up and thought the world’s happiest riot might break out. I, personally, was still gobsmacked by the dazzling stage set-ups – but it needs mentioning that the people that had turned out tonight were also astonishingly well dressed. So much effort and creativity had gone into so many of the outfits that surrounded me. This night truly was an experience – and Lady Gaga had two more shows lined up in this very building, that were also sold out.
Following a short pause, a video appears onscreen with Gaga backstage taking her make up off… and she begins to move around the backstage area showing all the cast as she moves around. Everyone in various stages of undress but obviously prepared for this moment, as they sang and played to the camera. Lady Gaga emerges back on stage to a massive outburst from the crowd.
“Montreal je vous adore” she says, and again, the response is deafening.
As she reaches the end of the catwalk, the cast come skipping out to join her. More than two hours since the show began, and not a single ass is seated.
Lady Gaga takes her sweet time leaving the stage. Waiving in all directions as her fans, no her lovers, admirers wave back. Before tonight, I never would have felt that she is genuine. I don’t think any pop star truly is. I exclude Lady Gaga from that now, because she honestly seems to love everything about what she does and who she does it for.
Came down to walk around the phallic looking catwalk, taking time to greet fans and sign autographs all while singing Vanish Into You.
I was refused a photo pass. Everyone was. And while I understand why having seen the show now, I might forever dream of having shot this tonight. What an incredible display. Virtually every second of this spectacle would have made for a golden photograph. The level of detail and the talent on stage was simply dazzling.
By the time the dust had settled and the smoke off the pyrotechnics dissipated, Lady Gaga and her entourage had laid down thirty tracks. Given how much effort and energy had gone into each of those, that’s a staggering number. That takes endurance. Color me impressed. Again.
Look. I have been going to, writing about and photographing live music for more than three decades and I have never experienced anything like this before. Never. Not even close.
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Don’t take this lightly when I say, in all honesty, that this might have been the greatest show I have ever seen… and I’m not even really a Lady Gaga fan. Maybe I am now. Regardless, I love art and can appreciate great things when I encounter them. Tonight was more than I could have expected. I had been told Lady Gaga puts on a great show. Cool, I thought. I’ve seen a lot of great shows. But this was next level, as the kids say. At least… I think they still say that.
Truth is, I left the Bell Center tonight with a newfound admiration and level of respect for Lady Gaga. And for her entire crew as well. The dancers. Stage hands. Everyone. Truly, truly amazing. This really was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen – and honey, I have seen thousands of them!
