View from the seats: Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball at Globe Life Field. (Rich Lopez/DV)

The power of superstardom was evident at Globe Life Field in Arlington Tuesday night. Lady Gaga’s long awaited Chromatica Ball tour finally made its way to North Texas and the huge stadium filled to the highest seats with fans. Her power then emanated the entire night.

In her opening, Gaga kicked off the night with a trio of her biggest dance hits leading off with “Bad Romance.” She flexed her pop stardom hard by peforming it atop the stage in a modern coffin-esque (?) costume without making a damn move leaving that to her dancers below as we could only see her face belting out the hit. As the costume gave way, her “prelude” continued into “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.”

Serious musician? Oscar-nominated actor? Fashionista? Forget all that. Gaga was making her play to prove again she was a kick-ass performer live.

Broken into four acts with a prelude and finale, Gaga performed until the stroke of midnight (give or take a few minutes) to a crowd of disco-hungry monsters of all ages. Less of a concert and more of a grand spectacle, Gaga and her onstage crew delivered the Ball with a theatrical sense of urgency – as if she was catching up on the time that the tour was delayed. If she had a theme or message in her acts, it was a muddled message simply overshined by explosive energy of her performance. Videos connected one act to the next allowing her to shift to the next suite as well as change costumes.

She kept the audience pumped up with a second set of big beats that included Chromatica songs “911” and “Sour Candy” as well as her signature hits “LoveGame” and “Telephone.” Gaga then downshifted into her softer side by moving to the center of the field onto a second stage where she jumped on her piano after a glorious costume change complete with an insect-like mask.

Gaga remained there for much of the second half of the show while the band and dancers still performed on the mainstage. But this was cabaret Gaga mostly alone with her piano delivering the anticipated Academy-award winning “Shallow” that got the entire audience to sing along with. Among these two acts were songs “Born This Way,” “Edge of Glory,” “Babylon” and “Angel Down” reduced from their high production to more intimate piano ballads. During these acts she also got political and personal and didn’t back down from wishing Texas “turns that purple into blue” as well as discussing loneliness felt in a world living through the pandemic. She also spoke up on her support of LGBTQIA+ people and it was just as riveting from her Monster Ball tour to today that a huge star speaks up live for the community and to witness that in person.

The show regained its energy with “Enigma” heading back to the mainstage before the finale.  She bookended the show with her Chromatica hits “Stupid Love” and “Rain on Me” which riled up the final moments of the concert with fireballs, the dancers on full-tilt and Gaga’s vocals pretty much still intact. Her encore was the recent “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick. What seemed like an odd choice for a finisher was the right one with her power ballad delivery and then final bows.

Doors opened at 7 p.m. but she didn’t come out until 9:45 pm despite speculations that she would start at 8:20 p.m., 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Perhaps that’s the downfall of pop diva superstardom because honestly, the wait was too long. Like, girl, come on. However, even after getting out of the crowded parking lot around 1 a.m., Lady Gaga certainly made it all worthwhile and unforgettable.

–Rich Lopez