The Lady and The Towel

I wanted to write to say thank you for the wonderful write-up on Lady Gaga's show Sunday evening. My friend and I were fortunate enough to have front-row seats on the floor to the right of the catwalk, and I was able to throw her the Terrible Towel during "Telephone." I never thought she would give us that great of a reaction! What a great night, and thank you to your photographer for capturing those special close-ups.

Keep up the good work!

Elisabeth Foringer
Prospect

She won me over

I was at the Lady Gaga concert, and for the most part, I agree with Scott Mervis' review (Sept. 6). I have to say that initially, I was skeptical. I'm one of those people who went and only knew the popular songs. This is not normally my kind of music. I was there for the spectacle, to see how a pop artist puts on a show. I'm primarily an indie-rock girl -- indie-rock artists play live and typically without much stage flare.

When the show started -- the spectacle of the costumes, the set and, quite honestly, the fans -- were all worth the price of admission. But I really started to wonder if she was actually singing through those first two or three songs and, upon questioning that, didn't know if I could sit through a couple of hours of things catching on fire, including bras, while watching someone lip-sync, make a lot of dramatic pauses for photo ops and change into increasingly bizarre costumes.

I had just seen Paul McCartney at the arena, and the man sang for three hours and never took a drink of water or changed costumes, and it was the best concert I've personally ever seen. I was jaded going into the show, to say the least. I think the turning point for me was when she sat down and belted out "Speechless." The girl can sing -- and she's actually got quite a biting sense of sarcastic humor, which always wins me over.

I agree with Scott that the second song she sang at the piano was very "Elton-like" -- and it was pretty impressive to see someone with her immense fame was so clearly inspired and influenced by someone who reached the pinnacle of his stardom before she was even alive.

All in all, after those first few songs, she won me over. When it came to an end, I found myself hoping for one more song.

Gretchen Connelly
McDonald

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.