Lady Gaga brings fake puke, musical talent to SXSW show

An oversized roasting spit. Erotic maneuvers on a mechanical bull. Fake vomit.
And that was all in the first 15 minutes.
Pop superstar Lady Gaga brought her theatrical musical road show to the South by Southwest music festival Thursday evening, rousing up a crowd that had made mini-sacrifices to see the star.
The one-hour show, sponsored by Doritos to benefit the performer's Born This Way Foundation, drew more than 2,000 enthusiasts to the open-air patio stage of Stubb's BBQ in downtown Austin. To get into the free show, fans had to perform a "Doritos Bold Mission" — such as change their Facebook relationship status to an untruth or share a piece of clothing with a stranger — then share the act on social media in order to be eligible for a ticket.
The show kicks off a two-day Doritos-sponsored concert series at SXSW with artists such as Far East Movement and Ludacris.
On Thursday night, band mates wheeled out Lady Gaga onstage hog-tied to a large roasting spit — an apparent nod to Central Texas' BBQ culture — from where she sang her first song, Aura. Dressed in a black bikini and fishnet stockings, she rocked through the song with her band.
"I've been having such a good time all week," she said. "I haven't showered. I've been drinking all week. And eating." Then she launched into Manicure, swinging her blond dreads as green lasers raked across the smoke-filled stage.
She doused herself with Lone Star beer. She sprayed the crowd with water from a bottle. She urged the mostly young, tech-savvy crowd to put away their cell phones and enjoy the performance. "Do me a favor and don't post this show," she said.
Drawing from her most recent album, ARTPOP, she performed the song Swine with a friend on stage who drank from a paint bottle and puked the colored liquid all over Lady Gaga, first as the pop star played the drums and later as the pair pawed one another amorously atop a slowly-rotating mechanical-bull-like pig with a ball-gag.
Then, still splattered in black and green paint, Lady Gaga sat down to a heartfelt, confessional rendering of Dope. Alone at her keyboard, the performer showed off the range and strength of her voice and her keyboard talents in ways often lost in large stadium shows. The crowd swayed along with the tender lyrics — "My heart would break without you, might not awake without you" — then roared with approval.
"She's a trailblazer," said Hruby McHugh, 38, a Los Angeles entrepreneur enjoying the show. "I love the theatrics. She has a tremendous creative vision."
Austin fiddle player Ruby Jane later joined Lady Gaga on stage for a rousing rendition of Bad Romance that got the entire crowd waving their hands and jumping in unison to the beat.
For her final song, Gypsy, she brought out her New York-based friends and musicians who opened the show for her. As the menagerie crammed onstage for the final tune, the fake vomit drying on instruments and the mechanical bull-pig resting nearby, it was clear Lady Gaga had done her part to keep Austin weird.

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The Monster Talent: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is a Woman of the Year because... “When you interact with her, you become very aware of your life, your possibilities. You walk away thinking, OK, let’s do it.”

—Jeff Koons, artist

She’s a singer. No, she’s a performance artist. No, an activist. Actually, she’s an icon. But whoever Lady Gaga is on any given day—creator of dance-your-ass-off albums like her latest, Artpop; audacious wearer of parade-float-proportioned gowns; leader of the Born This Way Foundation, which works to end bullying; daughter, sister, and former Catholic-school girl known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta—whoever she is, she’s always fascinating.

She’s also phenomenally successful: five Grammy Awards, 23 million albums sold, more than 40 million Twitter followers, 47 million wigs worn (we’re guessing). In between cranking out genre-bending albums and making the world a better place for the fans known as Little Monsters, Gaga, 27, has been named Forbes magazine’s “most powerful musician” and was crowned MTV News’ Woman of the Year—twice. She also finds time to be godmother to the two children of Elton John, who calls her “a loving and talented girl and great role model.” Artist Jeff Koons agrees. “She’s a leader; we need her,” he says simply. “Pop culture needs her.”

But accolades aside, under all the costumes and makeup lies an enormous conscience. Yes, Gaga aims to outrage, but she is also outraged by how challenging a place the world has become for anyone who grows up feeling different: A staggering one in four kids in the U.S. has been the victim of bullying. In 2011 Gaga joined forces with Harvard University to launch the Born This Way Foundation, an initiative and online community focusing on building young people’s self-confidence by sharing experiences. This year she gave her movement a grassroots edge—and a sleek, rainbow-colored tour bus. “The Born Brave Bus is like a traveling youth shelter,” Gaga explains. “Every day people can go to the bus and meet each other and speak to the counselor and learn about organizations within their community. It’s all about being involved and being a proponent of kindness—and bravery.”

Everything Gaga does is for her fans, “no matter what happens,” she says. So Glamour found the perfect (grown-up) fan to talk to her: Bravo talk show host and exec Andy Cohen. He gets our Woman of the Year’s story, right here.

ANDY COHEN: Where do you get your confidence? Because I think that’s something all the Women of the Year have in common.
LADY GAGA: It depends on what it is we’re talking about. I’m really confident about my music because I love it.

AC: But you’re confident in your presentation. You’ve been wearing that shell bikini and a teeny little miniskirt lately.
LG: Yeah. I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

AC: But do you consider yourself to be beautiful?
LG: Not conventionally beautiful. If there was some sort of mathematical equation for beauty, I don’t know if I would be the algorithm. I’ve always been OK with that. I’m not a supermodel. That’s not what I do. What I do is music. I want my fans to feel the way I do, to know what they have to offer is just as important, more important, than what’s happening on the outside.

AC: I think that’s interesting. Because every time I see a shot of you stripped down without makeup or a costume, I’m struck by your physical beauty. Your layering of costumes—is that because of insecurity? Are you afraid of what’s under all those layers?
LG: I would say that I am. Maybe it’s from the things I experienced in my past, you know? Being beautiful is not so fun when you’re in a business with all men.

AC: Right.
LG: Because it can actually get in the way. So in some ways, the outfits—these creations are because I don’t want to face the reality of what people want from a female pop star. Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what’s underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don’t think it ever will be.

AC: You have battled eating disorders since you were 15.
LG: Yeah.
AC: But you have no problem leaving the house in a G-string. That seems to be two different things—clearly, you’re conflicted about your body image.
LG: Yes. I always have been. And some days are better than others, you know? Some days I feel fantastic.

AC: How’s today?
LG: Today’s good. At the end of the day, I’m a tortured soul. [Laughs.]

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