Lady Gaga, that lightning rod of weirdness and pop music giant, has announced her new North American tour, appropriately dubbed "The Monster Ball." It was a month ago when she and professional interrupter/gay fish Kanye West had announced their "Fame Kills" tour, picking Phoenix as their first stop. Well, "Fame" was killed 2 weeks ago and the announcement that West needed to drop out of the limelight (no, really?) and keep his shit under wraps soon followed as an explanation as to why. Gaga, ever the entrepreneur, seized the moment for herself and put the word out that she would soldier on with her own tour.
Today, the former Stefani Germanotta announced her tour, kicking things off November 27 on Montreal and wrapping things up January 21 at Radio City Music Hall. Unfortunately, Phoenix is not on her list. The Valley went from having the first show on a humongous double-bill of two of today's most popular musicians to being completely disregarded. I don't know about you, but I blame Kanye West 100% for this.
It was his dumb ass that screwed over Phoenix by being such an immature, whiny baby at the VMAs. The whirlwind of media attention surrounding his behavior -- which was completely and utterly deserved -- shed a rather negative light on the much ballyhooed "Fame Kills" Tour. The tour was canned, and Phoenix was left out in the cold -- even though it will be 100 degrees this Saturday. Lady Gaga commandeered her own tour and left Phoenix off her list, which just adds to the sting felt by Kanye's erratic and childish behavior.
In two weeks' time, Phoenix went from launching spot to laughing stock, and it's all because of one man, his bottle of Hennessy and his incessant need to speak his goddamn mind. Thanks, again, Kanye West.
This video from Tuesday night's Late Show shows just how healthy an ego West really has. It surprises me not that he would nod his own head, to his own beats, in his own house.
Check out all the dates on the "The Monster Ball" tour at billboard.com. Cleveland rapper/MGMT collaborator (ugh) KiD CuDi will open every date on the tour.
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