Dates: Through Dec.
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She has quickly become one of the most recognizable artists on the planet, but relatively few people have seen Lady Gaga perform live. That will change this summer, as Gaga crosses Europe and North America on her first major arena tour.
So is her lack of mega-tour experience a challenge or an opportunity? “It’s an opportunity,” says Arthur Fogel, chairman of Live Nation’s Global Touring division, which is promoting and producing the Gaga tour. “As an artist with that kind of talent and vision, it creates a lot of excitement, and ticket sales worldwide demonstrate that people are really excited to see the show.”
Fogel’s team only came onboard with Gaga‘s Monster Ball tour in February, forcing it to ramp up quickly; the team normally plots tours more than a year out. Given the team’s expertise in producing production-heavy international runs by U2 and Madonna-Fogel will be credited with working four of the top five grossing tours of all time when U2‘s current 360° tour wraps-the move makes sense, especially considering Gaga‘s love of spectacular staging and production.
After a run through Europe, Gaga hits North American shores June 28 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. She’ll play large arenas coast to coast through September, with a stop at Lollapalooza in Chicago in August. Then it’s back to Europe through the end of the year.
Fogel says Gaga is “absolutely blowing out everywhere.” Dates have been added in such cities as Boston, New York; Toronto; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; Vancouver; Philadelphia; Edmonton, Alberta; and San Jose, Calif., as well as across Europe.
Gaga will “almost certainly” add a second leg of North America early next year to wrap the tour, according to Fogel. “Over the course of the next many months we’re trying to play to as many people in as many places as possible,” he says. “It’s an across-the-board home run.”
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