[Smithy]

- Lady Gaga is one part Madonna, one part Billie Holiday, one part Barbra Streisand, one part Bette Midler, one part Maria Callas, one part Mitzi Gaynor, one part Judy Garland, one part Gypsy Rose Lee and 1.2 billion parts pure entertainer.

Kids, it doesn't matter if you don't recognize all those names; all you need to know is that it is using a litany of legends in a futile attempt to define and describe the lady who filled Quicken Loans Arena to capacity Wednesday night.

One thing should be made absolutely clear: In some shows past that were heavily focused on the dance routines - Madonna and Justin Bieber come to mind - it was doubtful whether the backing vocal tracks were actually BACKING tracks and were instead recorded lead vocal tracks. In both of those cases, mouth and microphone were rarely in the same ZIP code, yet vocals came loud and clear.

The vocals came through just as loudly and even MORE clearly with Gaga, whose microphone never left her lips - even if a dancer had to hold it there while she had both hands on the keytar. A breathy whoosh every now and then, and frequent conversations and ad libs were further proof that Gaga was singing every freakin' note

wow the endless PRAISE