Many little monsters on the East Coast were left speechless this week when Lady Gaga announced she would be canceling the rest of her Born This Way Ball tour.
After suffering a hip injury for which she underwent surgery on Feb. 20, Lady Gaga was forced to cancel 22 shows, including a stop in D.C.
As one of the many eager ticket holders, I was initially upset at the news but not surprised. The BTWB was a tour of epic proportions, with one of the most elaborate sets ever and, for Lady Gaga, a lot of physical work.
On top of that, with the frequency of her shows, Lady Gaga was doing too much and not leaving enough time for her body to recover from show to show. With 85 shows since April 27, the pop star needed a break.
Problems started pretty early in the tour, when Lady Gaga received a concussion after being hit in the head by a stage prop. Although this was an isolated incident, she did take to Twitter throughout her tour to document her utter exhaustion after each show.
Although she was clearly worn out, she was always smiling in her post-show selfies. Lady Gaga, like many great singers before her, suffers from a love of performing. Every singer says they love their fans, but Lady Gaga proves it every time she gets on stage. To see her live is to witness a true display of dedication to her art and her fans.
This dedication makes for an incredible show, but it also means that Lady Gaga is subjecting her body to a lot, all the time.
This is especially true recently, as she’s been performing with her hip injury for several shows.
While Lady Gaga’s dedication to her fans is one of the many things that make her great, it’s also, as we’re seeing now, a liability. One which could affect the other Lady Gaga - not the performer, the musician.
Her tours are impressive, but lets not forget that Lady Gaga has also consistently put out good music. Almost everything she’s released has been pop gold, and, more importantly, she’s constantly evolving and innovating. A talent like that is one that music fans should hope to protect at all costs.
As much as I want to go to another Lady Gaga concert, I don’t want that to come at the expense of her health.
The silver lining, if there is any, of her recent cancellations is that they force Gaga to finally take a break and work on her upcoming album ARTPOP.
Obviously, fans want to see her live. But they should also hope that when she comes back, she’s careful not to overexert herself again.
If Lady Gaga the performer gets a little time off, it may open the door to even more innovation by Lady Gaga the musician.
smeehan@theeagleonline.com
