I was lucky enough to be at the Born This Way Ball Tour in Singapore on the 29th of May to see Lady Gaga live. It was a spectacular night and right now it’s 12 hours post-Ball and I still can’t get over how epic it was! I went with five other friends and two of them were lucky enough to meet Gaga backstage. We were supposed to go as a group, but Gaga’s security only allowed 2 to enter, and they were most deserving of such, so they did go. And I’m so happy for them! Alfred got a Tweet from Gaga the very same night. You can follow him (@alfiealejandro) if you’d like to!

At 5.10am I woke up, ready to go to the Stadium to queue for the Ball. Alfred stopped by a train station and we quickly headed down to the Stadium in a taxi. Our other friend was already present and in queue and allowed us to cut. The people behind didn’t seem to mind at all! Many people cut into the queue but it wasn’t wrong at that time since it was an unofficial queue the fans had formed. By the time we reached and got into the queue, it was 5.45am.

We waited till 8am and got escorted to the official queue. Yep, it was a 2 hour and 15 minute wait. Not too bad I must say. Wrist tags were given out for each ticket produced and it was very systematic. We received our tags in under 10 minutes and left to have breakfast nearby. My wrist tag number was 0045. Thereafter we went home and got some sleep.

We went back to the Stadium at 4. I was late and came at 4.25 but they decided that they would release the crowds batch by batch according to wrist tag numbers. Batches of 100 people were released at each time. By 6.40pm we entered the standing pen. Since we have no Monster Pit, it’s a free standing pen and we moved to the front row at the right to get a good view of Gaga when she moves to the right (she did that rather often actually).

DJ Zedd took the stage at 7.30. He was on time and I have to say his set was surprisingly good. Just a great warm up for the actual concert, I guess? Some parts were really hilarious. “You blocked me on Facebook, and now, you have to die.” Zedd mixed songs like Rolling in the Deep and Party Rock Anthem (both songs are overplayed as fuck but since it’s the BTW Ball, you are forgiven, Zedd).

Put your hands up, p-p-put your fuckin’ hands up!

Zedd left the stage at around 8.05pm. At this time the crowd was eagerly anticipating Gaga’s show-stopping entrance but obviously a lot of preparation had to be done and she did not appear until 40 minutes after. As the curtains were drawn and the castle was revealed bit by bit, the crowd was in shock. I vividly recall an American girl behind me freaking out. Literally. “OH MY GOSH IT’S A CASTLE! OH MY IT’S SO PRETTY! MOMMY CAN WE GO INTO THE CASTLE AND MEET HER INSIDE?” It was hilarious, but the castle looked so majestic from our point of view (we were in the fucking front!)

The castle was slowly illuminated and Highway Unicorn’s instrumental started playing in the background. The crowd of 12,000 was freaking out! After 15 seconds Gaga finally sang. “Run run with her…” The crowd went CRAZY. We were screaming like never before.

THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED, MOTHERFUCKERS.

Gaga rode her unicorn out and she looked stunning. After Highway Unicorn, Government Hooker played. Gaga exited through the right side of the castle (right in front of us) and was dry humping the castle stairs (lol?). At this point we were freaking out and reaching out for her. Security guards did not look impressed.

Third to be performed was Born This Way. It was so theatrical! Gaga “gave birth” to her dancers. She was seated behind the giant vagina and moaned as if she was really giving birth. She then exited through her very own vagina. She gave birth to herself. Her dancers then followed  the way out. The entire performance was spectacular and everyone knew the lyrics to the song.

During Bloody Mary, the crowd was rather silent for some reason. I guess we were all tired from all that dancing after BTW and needed to catch our breaths! As we proceeded to the bridge, Gaga shouted, “NOW SCREAM MY NAME!” And we did! Gaga obviously stood there like the diva she is, and the song ended thereafter.

Bad Romance was performed thereafter. When the familiar intro started to play, the whole crowd went wild. This was probably one of the most enthusiastic moments throughout the entire show. The song was followed by Judas. However, Gaga did not perform the full version of Judas, with the second verse removed.

She then continued Act II, which was kicked off with Heavy Metal Lover. However, the good shit didn’t begin up till Americano! It was the SEXXXXX. The stage moved (if I’m not wrong) and the guitarist did an AMAZING job. Gaga was then rolled out in a rack containing  meat body specimens and she wore a scaled-down version of the infamous meat dress. This was followed by a stunning performance of Poker Face. It felt like it was 2008, all over again. Right before the song started, Gaga did the controversial, infamous poker paw (6 sign covering the eye). Everyone got on their feet. It was STUNNING.

Alejandro was the hottest performance yet. Gaga and her dancers got all hot and touched each other so inappropriately, but the crowd seemed to enjoy every bit of it. Gaga wore the gun bra similar to the one in the original music video.

Scheiße was the most exciting performance of the night. “Music speaks every language, but…. I don’t speak German but I can if you like!” The choreography was flawless and it was amazing how most of the crowd knew the lyrics to the gibberish in the song. Even if they didn’t, they got up on their feet and danced like they never did before. The bridge was simply orgasmic… the lights were flashing on and off and the crowd screamed so fucking enthusiastically! By the time the song ended, Gaga said ‘goodnight Singapore! I love you.’ At this moment you are supposed to scream for the encore (TEOG + MTN). Some people, however, decided to leave. So be it, then.

The performance of The Edge of Glory was fantastic, but couldn’t rival Marry the Night. During MTN everyone got up on their feet – even the seated crowd – to celebrate the last performance and dance for the very last time. After it ended, the stage and the castle reverted back to its original state. Many people went forward to snap pictures of the stage, which is a rather rare sight, in all honesty.

The interaction between Gaga and fans was overwhelming. A girl in the front row held up a piece of writing paper with the words ‘It’s my 19th Birthday Gaga” written in pink. Gaga took notice of such and shared a birthday story, and shared how she quit school at the age of 19, encouraging everyone in the crowd not to do so. She then got the crowd to sing the girl a birthday song. Very touching moment. The crowd sounded free of flaws singing Happy Birthday and the delighted girl wiped tears off her face, smiling.

The entire show was dedicated to Little Monsters who bought tickets to the Jakarta show, which was cancelled due to safety issues. 52,000 people were supposed to attend the show, and Gaga was apologetic towards the cancellation of the concert.

This was the best night of my life. It felt absolutely surreal. Tons of feelings are within me right now, and some of them simply can’t be expressed through words alone. I didn’t take pictures so that I could fully enjoy the concert. Gaga, thank you for the amazing show you’ve put up and thanks to all the monsters who queued up with me and wow, these 2 days were pure madness! UNREAL as it is.

You were born this way, Indonesia!