From Hitler to GaGa

Some how over the past 70 years Berlin has managed to make the jump from electing a conservative fascist dictator whose mission was to destroy all "freaks" to hosting a Lady Gaga concert which celebrates being a "freak." Hitler put homosexuals in concentration camps. Lady Gaga dedicated one of her songs to gay men. Over the span of just one lifetime, Berlin has managed a transformation so radical that seeing it still leaves you dumbstruck. Berlin's graffiti covered streets and free spirit remind you constantly that it is now the most anti-fascist place in the world.

Little did we know on our first night in Berlin as we rushed to the Gaga concert that we would be attending an event that would set the perfect counter-culture mood for the next day's tour of the city. Of course we weren't even considering the concert's abstract implications as we got off at the train station that the front-desk-girl at our hostel directed us to. We were already running 30 minutes late because of some laundry mishaps at our hostel with the unfortunately small and confusingly German washer and dryer that turned our quick load of laundry into a three hour ordeal. So a little flustered already, we had no idea what to do once we got off the train.

As usual, we picked a random exit, clutched our maps, and hoped for the best. Luckily the concert was at a huge stadium and we soon spotted it rising in the distance. Excited that we weren't lost after all, we started speed walking in what looked like the most direct route to the stadium. We walked 400 meters or so in anticipation, another 400 meters in indecision, and a final 200 meters in stubborn despair as we realized that the train track/brick wall between us and the stadium was showing no signs of a viable pedestrian cross-over. We reluctantly turned around and began the embarrassing trek back to the train station so that we could walk the exact same distance on the other side of the train track.

We finally arrived at the stadium gates 45 minutes late, flustered and winded from our 20 minute speed-walking escapade to find that our worrying was for nothing because there were still hundreds of other concert goers still arriving and wandering about because Gaga had not started yet. We passed through bag security after we handed over our tickets. I passed through with no problem, but Caitlin was not so lucky. Apparently her new Nikon D5000 camera was a little too good, so the security guard confiscated it until the end of the concert. Although Caitlin made the security guard promise to guard her camera with his life, she still walked away reluctantly towards the stage. We found our seats just below the nosebleed section squeezed between two awkward categories of Gaga fans--an overly excited teenage girl and a creepy single man with binoculars. Tired from our speed-walking, worried about Caitlin's camera, annoyed by the teenage girl that kept dancing into Caitlin's small area of personal space, and a little disturbed by the guy sitting next to me hugging his binoculars and side-staring at us every few minutes, we couldn't wait another minute for Gaga to start and show us that it was worth all the pain.

Just as I was about to get us a beer to alleviate the pain, it started. The crowd went wild as a giant screen showed Gaga's shadow as she started to sing and dance to the first song. Finally the screen lifted to reveal an extremely fit Lady Gaga scantily clad in what amounted to a leopard print, thong, swim suit. The entire show was dramatic, over the top, and something akin to a Vegas show, a burlesque, and a Madonna concert. It was exactly what we expected from a Lady Gaga concert, and it had a message--embrace yourself as you are, the good and the bad. It was nothing profound or new as a statement, but it was oddly comforting even coming from a woman dressed in fish nets with yellow-dyed hair.

We enjoyed every insane, dramatic moment of the concert and after the last song headed straight to the security guard to claim Caitlin's camera, which he did indeed guard with his life and safely return to its owner. Walking back into the brisk night air towards the train station we passed an assortment of people--punk, goth, preppy, glamorous, and even a transvestite dressed in his/her best blonde wig. skin-tight teal dress, and three inch heels. If only Hitler could see Berlin now! What a ideological slap in the face.

Love it.

Lori