Lady Gaga Brings the Monster Ball to Newark

Lady Gaga descending from scaffolding at the beginning of her Prudential Center show.

Native New Yorker Lady Gaga crossed the river Friday night to bring her Monster Ball tour to the Prudential Center, and brought all the glitz, spectacle, and energy for which is has become famous. There was no popping out of an egg this time (as at the Grammys), but the show included plenty of other Gaga staples: a nonstop set of hits, a variety of creative set designs, ridiculously fit dancers, and numerous costume changes, including outfits with ultra-padded shoulders, exotic capes, and bikini bottoms (Gaga seems allergic to wearing pants).

The crowd featured a lot of girls and young women who knew the words to every song, but also some middle-aged folks (not all of whom were chaperones for their teen or tween daughters, though there were plenty of those).

Transclucent dress... fortunately I didn't see any fans wearing this.

Although I like many of Gaga's catchy pop tunes well enough, I was most interested in seeing the whole spectacle of one of her shows, and the Prudential show didn't disappoint. The sets and dancing were interesting and well done (if not always completely original), and the energy of the show really didn't flag at all during the one hour and 45-minute concert (just about the only subdued part of the show was when Gaga sang a slowed-down version of "Born This Way," with only her piano playing as accompaniment).

The old fireworks-shooting-from-boobs-and-crotch trick... don't try this at home.

And yes, the Monster Ball did feature a large, tentacled monster (below), as well as Gaga's outfit that shoots fireworks from the boobs (above).

Any tour that calls itself "The Monster Ball" has to have a monster...