A legendary night with legendary people to celebrate WorldPride
On Friday, June 28th, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation hosted a unique and exciting event called the Love Above All Ball. This event was the only black tie event in celebration of WorldPride and took place at the infamous Rainbow Room at 30 Rockefeller Center. The night featured an array of incredible performances all the way from a magic act by Adam Cardone to a musical performance from MARINA.
This event was unique in that performances were split up into two different room. Guests had the opportunity to transition from the east wing to the west wing (and vice versa) to partake in a variety of different performances. These performances included magic shows, burlesque performances, a cabaret show with Shangela, and performances from both MARINA and Betty Who. Some of our highlights were seeing RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, Shangela, perform a cabaret set, the House of Yes burlesque show, and the MARINA headlining musical performance.
Betty Who
For Shangela’s set, she made it known that this was a classy event and so she wouldn’t be kicking and flipping around like she normally does. Instead, she would perform songs accompanied by a piano that she wrote herself along with audience requests. To open up her performance, Shangela performed one of her original songs, ‘Uptown Fish,’ a play on the popular Bruno Mars song, ‘Uptown Funk.’ Before performing this number, Shangela made a request to the audience that whenever she said ‘So fish,’ we would all chant ‘YAS Gawd.’ To say that this performance was fun would be an understatement. The way that Shangela exuded energy electrified and energized the entire audience. Everyone was having fun, waiting for the next ‘So fish,’ so we could all chant ‘Yas Gawd.’ Shangela carried herself so well, gliding so elegantly across the floor. As far as audience requests went, one of the highlights was when Shangela started performing Lady Gaga’s hit song ‘Shallow.’ And how appropriate is that considering that Lady Gaga’s foundation is the one hosting this event. Shangela started off singing solo and as soon as the chorus came in, the entire crowd was singing along in harmony. Everyone knew this song and it was especially fun looking around and seeing people absolutely getting their entire life from this performance. What’s better than singing one of Lady Gaga’s song at a drag queen cabaret show especially considering this drag queen was in the movie that the song came from? There’s nothing better!
Shangela, Nate Buccieri
After Shangela’s performance was over, performers from the legendary House of Yes came onstage. Guests were treated to a rendition of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ all while a pole dance performance took place. To say that the dancer was flexible is a severe understatement as the dancer did literal splits midair while balancing on the pole. After this rendition was over, the audience was treated to a fun burlesque show from another House of Yes performer. One of the highlights to House of Yes performance was an intense pole dance show from a male dancer in a harness dancing to a remix of Ariana Grande’s ‘Let Me Love You.’ And when the bass dropped in the song, so did this dancer, doing an intense dance break with kicks, splits, and showcased his incredible strength and flexibility.
The last highlight of this night was the MARINA performance. MARINA had on this cute jumpsuit with tulle attached to the sides while having her hair in pigtails. Truly a MARINA look. She performed songs from her latest album as well as some of her most popular hits. Her choreography was simple and fun. You could tell she had a lot of fans out in the audience based on how much screaming and chanting you could hear. One of the highlights of her performance was when she performed the song ‘Primadonna.’ She dedicated the song to all the Primadonna girls and guys in the audience and then right into it. When the song got to the chorus, everyone was singing along to it and jumping up in the air. Probably one of the best parts of her set was at the very end when she performed the song that everyone loves which is, ‘This Is How To Be A HeartBreaker.’ Every person in the room sang along to each rule and when the chorus came on, everyone sang along and jumped up in the air. The energy in the room was amazing and you could see everyone having fun and letting loose in their black tie attire.
MARINA
All in all, this event was legendary. Aside from having this event in the gorgeous Rainbow Room, the lineup for this event was incredible. It was an event that had it all, all the way from drag queens, to burlesque performances, to a pop concert. This event was also presented with support from OUT@NBCUniversal, Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging, Inc., DeJuan Stroud, Inc., Smirnoff Vodka, Hampton Water, Tarte Cosmetics, Oysters XO, Cort, and StepVisual.
