Monday 7 November 2011

Review: Lady Gaga 2011 European Music Awards (EMA) Performance of "Marry The Night"


Having seen the pictures released of Lady Gaga's performance of Marry The Night at the 2011 European Music Awards yesterday, and it being one of my favourite songs from Born This Way, I was itching all night to see the actual performance. Well, today I got my chance as a video of it made it's way on toYoutube!

Sitting astride a gigantic half moon, that looked as if it had just crash landed straight into the Belfast stage, a gigantic hat wearing Gaga started the performance pretty much static, and left her fantastic voice to impress without distraction .

It wasn't until the second verse that Gaga began to move and the second chorus until we got our first glimpse of her face when she removed her hat. Just when I thought the whole performance was going to be taking place with just Gaga atop of the moon-silly me- the end of the song found Gaga descending to the floor to join her dancers for a spot of distinctly Gaga, slightly dated, choreography.

As mentioned the vocals were great and though they matched the notes hit in the recorded version of Marry The Night, Lady Gaga's voice sounded slightly different in tone. Whether it was a concious decision or not I don't know, but it sounded as though the placement of her voice had been altered for this performance with it being less heavy, less textured and less throaty. It's not a criticism of any sorts but merely an observation. In the long run singing like this would probably be healthier for her voice, though.

Overall the performance was, dare I say this, a little flat and Lady Gaga's stage presence felt uncharacteristically lacking. It was still a good performance and the vocals were excellent, but something just didn't click with me about this live rendition of Marry The Night.

Watch the Performance of Lady Gaga singing Marry The Night at the 2011 EMA below and be sure to make your feelings known in the comments section.

9 comments:

  1.  I couldn't agree more, nice performance but forgettable.

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  2. I disagree, thought this was great - an original concept, and a definite return to form after the Joe Calderone phase. Also I got the impression that some of the choreography was meant as a tribute rather than dated - for instance to 80s Madonna, and to Tina Turner at the end (moves taken from 'Proud Mary'). 

    And full props to her for doing all those moves and still singing live, something J Lo, Britney etc could learn from! You have to be athletically fit to do that. But why am I arguing, when the roar of the crowd at the end says it all ;o)

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  3. I watched it again just now to see if my feelings on it were hasty, but I still feel the same way. Something just didn't click with. I admit my expectations were sky high, because I'd see the press photos before I'd seen the performance, but even still this was Gaga's chance to dance the hell out of a song, but she left it only till the last minute or so do so. I still love the song, and the auditory part of that performance was top class. It was just the visuals that left me deflated. Good to read the reason why others loved it. :D

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  4. I really like that she allowed her voice to shine for this performance. I have a feeling she did that because it was the first full performance. I would like to see an all-out dance number, but I feel like she would have trouble singing the "come on and run" part near the end if she danced all the way through. The last time she danced all the way through a song, 'Judas', her vocals were, dare I say, horrible near the end. I really enjoyed this performance of 'Marry The Night', along with the performance at the Bambi Awards a couple of days ago. This song reminds me of 'Bad Romance' when she's singing it because it seems to suit her voice quite well and it comes to her so naturally. Can't wait for the X Factor on Sunday. I have a feeling she's going to go all-out this time.

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  5. you've got me excited!! Can't wait to see her on the X-Factor!

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  6. You should check out the Bambi Awards performance if you haven't already: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hHyQbDcbYWw

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  7. you should review that bambi awards performance i think her vocals on there are impeccable 
    i think marry the night is one of gagas songs that sound much better on the piano - like edge of glory 
    yeah im so excited about the x factor performance tomorrow

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  8. Just wanted to add - so that you don't think I'm completely biased about gaga ;o) that I found her X-factor performance of this song really, really disappointing. The concept of starting the song in a confessional box was good, but she spent WAY too long in there. The video comes out soon I think, perhaps that will be better, she's long overdue a good one.


    Also I am surprised with how well this song is doing, people seem to love it. I had wished for 'Hair' or 'Scheibe' as a single instead (Hair was just a 'promotional single' with no real airplay or video) but that shows what I know! This is single no.5 from the album, so I'm guessing this will wrap things up and she'll be touring next? Not a bad album, all in all - apparently it's shifted 8 million copies.

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  9. You know I was so excited about the X-Factor Performance, but that headless body concept/thing made her seem awkward as she balanced it. I purposely didn't comment on it in a post because I I thought I'd start to get form as a Gaga hater. The Mtv performance definitely shun in comparison. I am looking forward to the video, and am leaving my expectations at the door so I approach it with as open a mind, and hopefully enjoy it.

    The album itself, I've grown to really like. but I don't listen to it too much. It sounds dated to me, taking too much of the 80s and not mixing enough of the modern to create a new sound. As for claims of it reaching 8 million- I think that's what they said on X-Factor- I think that's spin by her people. I think it might have shipped that many copies, but I think its probably sold closer to five million, which is still amazing.

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