Lady GaGa: Sold-Out Concerts or Just Sold Out?

In the good old days--that is, back on February 5--Lady GaGa spread her rainbows of joy and happiness over this depressed land of ours. Behold what she told MTV about her tour, which she dubbed the "Fame Ball":

"But to me, the Ball is so important. I want so much to make every depression dollar that everyone spends on my show worth it. And, yeah, I'm paying a lot for it — out of my own pocket. But that's OK. I just don't care about money."

But good things can't be expected to last, can they? The hard-earned depression dollars that I and hundreds of other people from the D.C. area dropped got this out of it:


[That would be a big fat NOTHING.]

Because GaGa decided that she would reward her Washington fans by cutting and running at the first opportunity to showcase her art...on American Idol.

This is what GaGa meant in that MTV interview when she said all her efforts were going into making every single concert "the greatest, most life-changing experience."

So far, only our opinions of Ms. GaGa have changed. Let the backlash begin.

Now, I love Tori Amos. We all know this. I was thinking that Lady GaGa, kooky as she is, might turn out to be on Amos's creative level, if not her intellectual or musical one. But in order for me to pay attention any longer, I need a return on my investment. Having been to over a dozen Tori Amos concerts in under a dozen years, I know that Amos gives both her art and her fans the number one priority in her life when she is on the road. GaGa, less than a year into stardom, has already sacrificed at least one of those things. And people are noticing.

Gay D.C. fans came together about a month ago to form "GaGa Week," a sequence of GaGa-themed parties at clubs and bars around the city beginning last Friday and culminating in tomorrow night's concerts. GaGa Week's Facebook presence announced today that the pop starlet's concerts had been postponed, with the following notice:

Lady Gaga has now officially postponed two sold-out concert dates due to a performance on America’s prized display of musical mass commercialism, American Idol. American Idol, responsible for generating all of your favorite innovative iconic mega stars such as Fantasia, Clay Aiken, David Cook and Taylor Swift, has managed to woo Lady Gaga away from thousands of grassroots fans in New York and Washington, DC.

Tonight's event is still on with a slight change. Gaga Night at Duplex is being re-branded as ANTI-Gaga night and is taking this opportunity to showcase DC's best indie/pop/electro dj to give Gaga the f*ck you.

OK, so maybe GaGa's fans are fickle but, hey, we haven't known her for long and she has proven to be an untrustworthy partner in this whole pop music relationship thing.

GaGa sings about "the fame," but now maybe she'll feel the reality of what comes along with it: responsibility to the people who make you famous.

I hope GaGa will apologize and find some way to make this up to us. Let's say her record company forced her to do American Idol for the exposure. Let's say that, even though Tori Amos would have beheaded said record company executives. I could live with that. But so far, no explanation from Camp GaGa other than "concerts postponed until date to be revlealed later" and "Lady GaGa on American Idol TONIGHT!!!"

We do it for the fame, fame, baby, the fame, fame
Isn't it a shame, shame, baby, a shame, shame

Shame on you, GaGa.