International Pop Superstar Lady Gaga Announces 2010 North American Tour

LOS ANGELES, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Lady Gaga, one of the most exciting and innovative new artists in recent history, has announced her highly anticipated return to North America on the heels of her sold-out European tour. The 2010 North American leg of The Monster Ball Tour, presented by Virgin Mobile, will begin on June 28th at Montreal's Bell Centre, taking her spectacular show to 31 top arenas and a host of new cities in the U.S. and Canada throughout the summer and fall.  

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In keeping with Lady Gaga's flair for the theatrical, as well as her innovative and creative spirit, the second leg of the tour promises to push the limits of the live concert experience, bringing fans a spectacle even more eye-popping than what they experienced during the thrilling first leg of The Monster Ball.  

"It's still called Monster Ball, but it's more of a musical and less of a concert," Lady Gaga said in a February interview with KIIS-FM's Ryan Seacrest. "It has a New York theme, it's a story, and the story is that me and my friends are in New York and we're going to the Monster Ball, and we get lost."

Critics around the world raved about the first leg of The Monster Ball Tour, which Gaga described as "the first-ever pop-electro opera." The Sun called it "breathtaking stuff" and "the best live show you will see this year," while London's Independent wrote: "Gaga's got it, which is why, right now, the whole pop world wants to take a ride on her disco stick."  Writing about her show at Radio City Music Hall, the New York Times noted that "her Monster Ball tour always provided something worth a snapshot: a sci-fi tableau, perhaps, or a skimpy, glittery costume. The more her image gets around, the better Lady Gaga does."

Live Nation Global Touring is the International tour promoter and producer for The Monster Ball under the direction of Arthur Fogel, CEO Global Touring and Chairman – Global Music Live Nation who said: "Lady Gaga has set out to revolutionize pop music and with her new production she continues to do exactly that.  We're thrilled to take The Monster Ball to fans around the world."

Lady Gaga is touring in support of The Fame Monster, which was released on November 18th, 2009, by Streamline/Konlive/Cherrytree/Interscope. The album is the follow-up to 2008's Grammy Award-winning album The Fame, which spawned the No. 1 singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face." Combined, The Fame and The Fame Monster have sold 10 million albums worldwide, while Lady Gaga's five singles, "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "Lovegame," "Paparazzi," and "Bad Romance," have sold more than 30 million singles worldwide. The video for "Bad Romance" has racked up more than 125 million online views.  Lady Gaga recently premiered the video for her new single "Telephone," featuring Beyonce, on the E! television network and entertainment website VEVO.

Tickets (general admission floors and reserved seating in the stands) for The Monster Ball go on sale in select markets including New York, Vancouver, Toronto, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Boston beginning March 19th at LiveNation.com.  

Virgin Mobile customers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, March 16th at 10am local time.  "We are excited to take our partnership with Lady Gaga and The Monster Ball Tour to another level," said Bob Stohrer, VP of Marketing for Virgin Mobile USA. "We'll also build on our partnership around combating youth homelessness and continue to enhance the tour experience for fans and our customers." For details visit www.virginmobileusa.com.

Citi® cardmembers will also have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, March 16th at 10am local time through Citi's Private Pass® Program. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: www.ladygaga.com

About Live Nation

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the largest live entertainment company in the world, consisting of five businesses: concert promotion and venue operations, sponsorship, ticketing solutions, e-commerce and artist management.  Live Nation seeks to innovate and enhance the live entertainment experience for artists and fans: before, during and after the show.

In 2009, Live Nation sold 140 million tickets, promoted 21,000 concerts, partnered with 850 sponsors and averaged 25 million unique monthly users of its e-commerce sites.  For additional information, visit www.livenation.com/investors.

About Virgin Mobile USA

Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint (http://www.sprint.com/) 's Prepaid brands, offers millions of customers control, flexibility and connectivity through Virgin Mobile's Plans Without Annual Contracts for cell phone service and prepaid Broadband2Go (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband)  high-speed Web access. Virgin Mobile USA (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/)  also offers Pink Slip Protection (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/virgin-mobile-life/pink-slip-protection-program) *, which provides eligible monthly customers who lose their jobs free service for up to three months. Virgin Mobile Top-Up cards are available at almost 150,000 locations nationwide and can be used for Assurance Wireless and Broadband2Go services. For more information, visit www.virginmobileusa.com (http://www.virginmobileusa.com/)  

* Subject to certain terms and conditions.

SOURCE Live Nation