Lady Gaga performs in Mideast first ever

Xinhua

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Lady Gaga kicked off her "AreRave: The Artpop Ball" world tour performance in Dubai at Meydan Racecourse with tens of thousands of her "little monsters" inspired on Wednesday evening.

The controversial pop star performed more than 20 of her most popular songs including Artpop, Pokerface, Born this way, Applause, tens of thousands fans sang together with her.

To show the respect of local culture, the organizers did some adjustment on the concert and specially chose relatively conservative costumes. "I have waited so long for the permission...I begged and asked when can I be with my fans in the Middle East?" Gaga said to the audience during the concert, "Because of you, I am here...We will do our best to respect your culture. We are here to honor you tonight."

She had told the media that the show would be appropriate for all the fans here in Dubai.

Except Emiratis, fans from Kuwait, Iran, Britain, the Philippines and China also joined the admirers crowding from afternoon to late at night, under extremely high temperature. There were more than 100 units of industrial coolers on sites to ensure the outdoor concert is comfortable.

Lady Gaga described this tour to Dubai as a "dream come true" trip. "I have been dreaming of coming to the Middle East and finally dreams come true," she wrote on her Facebook account.

Dubai gave her a warm welcome. When she arrived in Dubai in the evening on Monday, over 100 fans were on hand to see the pop singer emerge. Some were overwhelmed and cried on seeing her.

Lady Gaga stays in Dubai for four days and then will go to Tel Aviv, Israel for the next concert.