Sales of her latest album aren't exactly golden and her "Saturday Night Live" performance was widely panned, but Lady Gaga is still expected to do monstrous ticket sales for her May 20 date at Xcel Energy Center and the 24 other dates of her newly announced ARTPOP Ball Tour. Tickets go on sale Monday, Dec. 16, at 10 a.m. for $37, $51.50, $87 and $202 via Ticketmaster or the arena box office. Pre-sale access to tickets will be offered via her fanclub site Littlemonsters.com from Dec. 10-12 and via Citiprivatepass.com (for Citi credit card users) starting Dec. 11 at 10 a.m.
The tour kicks off two weeks prior to St. Paul in Fort Lauderdale on May 4. It also includes a May 22 date at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg – with a day off in between, which leaves an open date for a second Xcel Center gig to be added if ticket sales prove strong.
If album sales are an indicator, though, Gaga may have a hard time selling out a two-night at the X like she did in 2010 on her Monster Ball Tour. Gaga's latest album, "ARTPOP," debuted at No. 1 in Billboard two weeks ago with around 258,000 U.S. copies sold the first week, but that was down significantly from the 1.1 million first week sales of her 2011 album, "Fame Monster." The album has already slipped to No. 2 while Eminem's record regained No. 1.
Of course, artists tour to promote records, and few tour the way Gaga does. The Monster Ball shows were a true spectacle with a flaming piano, giant diamond ice princess dress and all sorts of glam décor and ambisexual dancers who would make even Madonna smile. The production scheme of her new tour has not yet been revealed.
