The Monster Ball Tour Los Angeles 1.0 vs. 2.0: A Review

It was indeed a special time in Lady GaGa's career when she embarked on the first U.S. leg of her Monster Ball Tour in the fall and winter of 2009. She had already proven herself a force to be reckoned with in pop music, scoring five top 10 hits in a row (Just Dance, Poker Face, LoveGame, Paparazzi, and Bad Romance).

Bad Romance, which may become one of the defining songs of Lady GaGa's career (a la Like A Virgin or Material Girl for Madonna), was her current single and was being played EVERYWHERE. The song's accompanying music video was a water-cooler topic all over the world and was getting thousands of hits on YouTube. The pop star proved herself to be worthy of pop royalty, and was on the cusp of achieving true superstardom. (read more after the jump)...

The Monster Ball Tour Los Angeles 1.0 vs. 2.0: A Photo Essay

Lady GaGa's second world tour, The Monster Ball (her first was called The Fame Ball), seems to have turned into one of the longest and most talked about pop star tours in a long time. Originally, GaGa was supposed to embark on a co-headlining tour with Kanye West called "Fame Kills," but after he interrupted Taylor Swift's VMA speech last year, he pulled out.

GaGa was already supposed to tour solo in Europe in 2010, but she didn't want to cancel on her American monsters, so in little over a month, GaGa put together a U.S. tour that would make stops in theaters across the country. She sold out like crazy, and appeared at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on December 21, 22, and 23. This leg of the tour has been called by fans "The Monster Ball 1.0".

All the while, GaGa continued to score hit after hit and make epic music video after epic video. She was able to book arenas for international dates, so once she reached Europe in February 2010, she debuted a completely revamped and expanded show with all new costumes, some new choreography, new sets, and a slightly different set list.

Now that she had a full blown arena show, she decided take it back to the U.S. in the summer of 2010 after playing in Europe, Australia, and Asia so that her American fans would once again not have to miss out on her new arena show. This time around, she sold out once again, but in big arenas instead of smaller theaters, including three dates in Madison Square Garden. She played the Staples Center in L.A. on August 11 and 12, and this leg of the tour has been called by fans "The Monster Ball 2.0".

GaGa is actually set to return to the U.S. (playing arenas again, obviously) in February 2011 after playing a bunch of more dates in Europe, but we won't know until then if she debuts a Monster Ball 3.0 or continues to perform the show in its current state.

What follows after the jump is a photo essay of pictures I took myself (so please be respectful and don't steal them without crediting me) from her December 21 show at Nokia, and her August 11 and August 12 shows at the Staples Center (all three of which I attended). Come back tomorrow to read my accompanying written review comparing the two shows. Enjoy!