Lady GaGa Has Heart (And Spikes)

Circa

Toronto, ON

on Nov 30 2008

Phil Villeneuve (CHARTattack)

12/01/2008 12:03pm

With all of Lady GaGa's poker face-ing, blonde-wigging, hot pants and disco sticks, one might expect her to be a vain, fame-hungry diva. A handful of media members, some corporate CEOs and a crew of pretty amazing kids saw firsthand on Sunday afternoon that she's completely the opposite.

Lady GaGa's visit to Toronto's Circa wasn't only to put on a brilliant mini-pop-spectacle in a crowded downtown club (of which you can read more about in a couple paragraphs). It actually had much more to do with something called Re*Generation.

Before the big show, GaGa (in full GaGa gear, made up of a spiky, future-snow princess mini-dress, wig and dazzling make-up) made her way to Eva's Phoenix, a wonderful youth shelter in Toronto that provides at-risk and homeless youth with housing and skills to make it on their own.

Re*Generation is a partnership program with Virgin that's dedicated to helping at-risk and homeless youth. GaGa showed interest in the program, so Re*Generation donated $100,000 to the shelter and she came along for the ride. Without a pinch of celebrity attitude, GaGa got a tour of the facilities before chilling with the kids, taking photos, signing autographs and then helping raise even more money with Sunday night's charity concert.

If you thought a pop star with a big ol' heart was cool, that was nothing compared to actually seeing the Lady in concert.

The giddy crowd awaiting their Lady at the jam-packed venue was a hardy mix of gay men, their girls, and gaggles of single ladies in skin-tight everything.

The people got their first glimpse of the great blonde one when she appeared in the glass VIP box overlooking the stage, at which point she wrote "I Heart U!! GaGa" on the glass with makeup.

She was escorted on stage 15 minutes later wearing robotic sunglasses and a black mini-dress with golden crystals.

What's most fascinating about GaGa is her ability to be just strange enough in the very shiny pop music world where she thrives. She can dance, sing, banter and rile the crowd up like the best of 'em. But more importantly, she challenges her audience just enough to make her that much edgier than other pop tarts out there.

Her opening montage was a mix of clips featuring a Thin White Duke David Bowie and Andy Warhol. God bless 'er.

The country that gave GaGa her first #1 single gave nothing but love and dance to her for the entire show. This wasn't a big challenge, seeing as the performance lasted just over 30 minutes, with six songs and some hilariously odd stage banter.

It was a solid half-hour, nonetheless. The New York singer/songwriter opened with "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" accompanied by two Star Trek-y-looking boy dancers and a space cowboy DJ. Most of the ravenous audience members knew every word when she jumped right into "LoveGame," complete with her glowing disco stick.

Without skipping a beat, GaGa signed autographs throughout the set, praised the fans and thanked her gay following. She also took a second to bring awareness to the cause she was there to support, instructing everyone to visit the website and get involved.

Shortly afterwards, she stripped away her dress to a black leotard and leather bustier, telling the audience, "I would take more off, but there are charity people here."

The major hits "Poker Face" and final song of the night, "Just Dance," were most impressive. GaGa was able to show off her chops, alien dance moves, stage-diving skills and ability to drive an entire nightclub wild on a very wet Sunday night.

For more information on Re*Generation, go here.

For more information on Eva's Phoenix, go here.

To see what we thought about Lady GaGa's album, go here.