Lady Gaga goes sentimental; Green Day gears up for concert tour
When MTV News spoke to director Ryan James Yezak earlier this month, he told us all about the making of his totally excellent “Telephone” tribute vid and then, in passing, mentioned that he was also working on a special birthday present for his muse, Lady Gaga.
Yezak was asking for “Happy Birthday” messages from his fellow Gaga enthusiasts, which he hoped to edit together into one singing, strutting birthday card for Lady G. At the time, it seemed like a pretty nice—if not slightly fanatical—gesture, but that was about it.
Lady Gaga burst into tears after receiving birthday wishes from dedicated fans on her big day.
And suddenly, Yezak’s birthday video became a very big thing. Which is good, because he clearly spent an inordinate amount of time working on it. He received submissions from nearly 150 of Gaga’s biggest fans from all around the world (England, Malaysia, Germany, Brazil, Spain and Italy, to name just a few), then edited them together into one epic, nine-plus-minute message, filled with a whole lot of tears, some outrageous costumes and genuinely touching messages too.
In the clip, Gaga fans thank her for inspiring them, for giving them courage to be themselves and, in the case of one fan, giving him the strength to come out of the closet. There is also plenty of singing and dancing, a whole lot of makeup and even a few special birthday wishes. It’s a pretty touching thing and it’s no wonder Gaga was moved when she saw it.
And as for Yezak, well, he still can’t believe that Gaga saw the video, writing in an e-mail to MTV News that the whole experience has been “pretty amazing,” and writing on his Twitter account that “anything is possible.”
The singer, who turned 24 on Sunday, celebrated the day in a bar in Australia, where she is currently on tour, reports the Daily Star. And Gaga was so touched by the tributes paid to her by fans, she posted a link on her Twitter.com page to a video made by devotees wishing her happy birthday.
Lady Gaga, currently taking her Monster Ball tour around the world, comes to the UK for a series of gigs later this year, starting at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham on May 27th.
On the social networking site, she wrote: “Thank you so much for all the beautiful birthday messages, videos, and gifts. The greatest present I’ve been given this year is you. I love u. I’m 24 today, so you know what that means? Let’s raise a glass to 30 more years of writing music and videos for my beautiful little monsters… I’ve never cried so hard in 24 years, from pure joy and unconditional love. Tears are streaming.”
Meanwhile, other concerts happening this summer include Green Day.
Reserve your Green Day tickets now and witness a sports arena near you become heavily rocked for the first time in a long time.
Green Day’s current album, American Idiot, has been cresting the modern rock charts, most notably with the infectious, trans-genre, Boulevard of Broken dreams that reminds fans of the acoustic Time of Your Life chart topper. Now the band is playing in large, indoor venues away from the dimly lit night clubs from where they sprouted. Does this mean they’ve finally sold-out and gone commercial? The answer of course is a resounding, No! Of course the boys are grown up, and have become a commercial success, but their roots still grow firmly in the fertile post-punk, beer-soaked, soil from which they sprang forth. If anything, they’ve gotten a little more edgier. The title track, American Idiot fires shots at the U.S. political scene, while their current single, Holiday contains the up-tempo guitar riffs fans have come to know.
They may not be the cynical, in-your-face kids of before, but they can still rock the house and do it with a sneer. Green Day is arguably one the most influential bands of the 90’s. When people were beginning to tire of the angst-ridden sounds or Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Green Day opened the door for the post-punk alternative scene. Numerous teenage boy pop-punk bands owe their thanks and influence to Green Day.