The Born This Way Ball

The Born This Way Ball is the third concert tour by Lady Gaga, in support of her third album Born This Way (2011). The tour, lasting for 98 concerts, visited the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania. This marks Gaga's first tour to visit all the inhabited continents.

The tour was officially announced on February 8 of 2012 with the first set of dates in Asia and Oceania. The tour began in Seoul on April 27, 2012 and ended on February 11, 2013 in Montreal. Lady Gaga had a hip injury since December and after her performance in Montreal, she said on Twitter that she couldn't walk anymore. At first, she only canceled her tour dates in Chicago, Detroit, and Hamilton. But on February 13, 2013 she had to cancel the rest of her tour due to the fact that her hip injury was getting worse.

The tour narrated "the tale of the Beginning, the genesis of the Kingdom of Fame." Gaga plays the role of an alien fugitive from G.O.A.T., a Government Owned Alien Territory in space, which was introduced for the first time in the music video for "Born This Way" in 2011. The show is set in and around a large medieval style castle, which rotates and maneuvers throughout the show. A classical score accompanies the show's interludes, tying in with the show's dark, operatic theme.

Fourteen different outfits are worn by Lady Gaga throughout the show, mostly designed by Italian fashion houses such as Versace, Moschino and Armani.

Background

The first hint about the tour was revealed by Gaga on stage during The Monster Ball on February 19, 2011. At that point, she wanted to start the tour at the end of 2011. Interviewed by Fuse, she revealed her intention for the Born This Way Ball to be more of a continuation of the Monster Ball; however, the continuation concept was not used. Learn more

Development

“The Haus of Gaga and I have worked for months conceiving a spectacular stage, The Born This Way Ball is an Electro-Metal Pop-Opera; the tale of the Beginning, the genesis of the Kingdom of Fame. How we were birthed and how we will die celebrating.”

Born This Way Music Video 002 — G.O.A.T. as first seen in Born This Way music video.

Gaga plays the role of an alien fugitive from G.O.A.T., a Government Owned Alien Territory in space which was introduced for the first time in the music video for "Born This Way" in 2011. Throughout the show, she is tracked by "Mother G.O.A.T." until the final battle. For the outfits, Gaga asked both designers with whom she collaborated before as well as new ones. Learn more

Stage

2-6-12 — Sketch by Mark Fisher with Ric Lipson for for Stufish Entertainment

On February 6, 2012, Gaga tweeted that the central area within the stage will be known as "The Monster Pit", which is regulated to general admission fans who were the first to arrive. On February 7 at midnight (EST), Gaga tweeted a sketch of the stage for the tour.

The stage is modeled on a medieval Gothic castle featuring viewing towers, intricate carvings and a large catwalk allowing audience interaction. The stage and set have many capabilities and functions including 30 active windows and doors, each with a custom scenic painted roll drop which will reveal different scenes within the various rooms of the Castle, two swing walls which open to reveal the 50 foot tall castle behind it, 620 feet of custom LED lights and two sets of automated castle gates that open and close to a full 180 degrees. Learn more

Poster and film project

Related article: Terry Richardson

1-29-12 Terry Richardson 001 — Taken on Jan 29, 2012

A promotional poster of the tour was released on February 7, 2012, which features Gaga's face hovering over dark clouds looking down from the sky, and includes touches of neon purple and turquoise coloring. She is also fused into a keytar, standing near her dancers in front of a medieval castle. In February 2012, a promotional image for the tour was released; she is wrapped in plastic outside the gates of the Electric Chapel.

Pleased with their collaboration from 2010 to 2011, Lady Gaga and Terry Richardson teamed up again to document the making of the tour, the tour itself, and her life during it. Richardson was both seen recording footage and taking photographs, which some of the later were released on his Tumblr and Little Monsters page. Learn more

Skype partnership

Related article: Skype

Skype established a partnership with Gaga and officially joined the tour in Estonia on August 25, 2012. Since then, they are interviewing fans and taking footage of her performances in Europe and South and North America. The exclusive content and behind-the-scenes clips are expected through Skype Ball.

Show

Tickets + tour package

Depending on the venue, different types of tickets are available but include type possibility: standing also known as General Admission (GA) and seated (these tickets usually have a section name or letter with a row number). Only the general admission tickets are eligible to be part of the Monster Pit.

For the tour, Live Nation created three packages with a different seating or General Admission option. Each package comes with a Lady Gaga merchandise item, a collectible laminate, and onsite VIP host. Learn more

Monster pit

4-26-12 02 — Gold necklace with a skull with Gaga's features.

The Monster Pit refers to a limited number of place area located in the general admission (floor) of select dates of the tour.

The first person in line for the Monster Pit is awarded a key, which symbolically opens the Monster Pit for each date. They are called the "Holders of the Monster Pit key".

After each show, Gaga's team uploads a picture with the holder on Little Monsters, who are all meant to sign them on their respective keys. On dates with venues that are too small for the Monster Pit, the first person on the General Admissions line is awarded the key. Learn more

Dates

In April of 2012, Gaga revealed on Twitter that the tour would last 110 shows. However, an extra nine dates were added. This marks Gaga's first world tour in all to visit every continent, except Antarctica.

In the first few weeks, the tour was met with controversy in some religiously strict countries. This lead to the cancelation of the scheduled show on June 3, 2012 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadiumin in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Following a hip injury in 2013, Gaga canceled the 21 final shows of the tour, with the last performance in Montreal on February 11. The show ended with 98 dates performed out of the 119 planned. Learn more

Opening acts

Depending of the leg, different opening acts opened the show, each performing a 15 to 30 minute set.

Artists	Dates
Zedd	April 27 to May 31, 2012
Lady Starlight	May 2 to February 11, 2013
Von Smith	June 14, 2012 only
The Darkness	August 14 to December 12, 2012
Madeon	January 11 to February 11, 2013