| World tour by Lady Gaga | |
 Promotional poster for the tour | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | The Fame Monster |
| Start date | November 27, 2009 |
| End date | May 6, 2011 |
| Legs | 7 |
| No. of shows |
|
| Box office | $227.4 million ($308 in 2023 dollars)[1] |
| Lady Gaga concert chronology | |
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her first EP, The Fame Monster (2009), the concert was comprised largely of songs from that recording as well as Gaga's debut album, The Fame (2008). The tour visited various arenas and stadiums, performing over 200 shows between November 2009 and May 2011. With the tour separated into three respective North American and European legs, as well as visiting Australia, New Zealand and Japan, The Monster Ball is the highest-grossing tour for a debut headlining artist in history.[2]
Described as "the first-ever pop electro opera" by Gaga, the tour was announced in October 2009, after an originally planned joint concert tour with rapper Kanye West was abruptly cancelled; instead, Gaga's own Monster Ball officially began just four days after the release of The Fame Monster, in November 2009. An updated version of the show was created after only a few months of touring due to the singer's concerns that the original had been rushed-through during its initial stages. The stage for the original show looked like a "frame", similar to a hollowed-out television set.
As The Fame Monster dealt with topics of overexposure and toxic celebrity culture, including the paranoia Gaga herself had experienced, the main theme of the shows became personal growth and human evolution, while elements of the originally planned tour (with Kanye West) were retained in some parts. From 2010 on, the shows took on a "Big Apple" theme, telling a story in which Gaga and her friends are lost in New York City and must find their way to the "Monster Ball". Both versions of the show were divided into five acts, with an encore finale. Each section featured Gaga and her dancers in new outfits, performing music relating to the theme of each respective act; acts were separated by video interludes.
The tour received positive reviews, with critics praising Gaga's live vocals, musicianship, and the theatrics of the show. The Monster Ball was also a commercial success, with high demand for tickets creating multiple-date extensions to the itinerary. The Monster Ball ultimately grossed an estimated US$227.4 million from 203 reported shows, attended by an audience of 2.5 million. At the 2010 Billboard Live Music Awards, Gaga won the Breakthrough Performer Award as well as the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award. HBO recorded a special of The Monster Ball during Gaga's February 2011 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City; interspersed with backstage footage and interviews, Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden aired on HBO in May 2011 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 21 of that year.
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Waddell, Ray (May 5, 2011). "Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour Breaks Record for Debut Headlining Artist". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 14, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2022.