When Nafeesa Jooma heard that her idol Lady Gaga was heading to SA the 24-year-old burst into tears. It was a dream come true. She had followed the American pop star obsessively for years.
Jooma, who lives in Joburg, owns all of Lady Gaga’s albums, has T-shirts bearing her face, and has collected every magazine Gaga has featured in. Jooma’s room is laden with Gaga memorabilia.
She spends her free time roaming the internet, reading up on Gaga’s everyday life, and has watched every one of the pop singer’s live shows online.
Jooma even wrote her master’s degree dissertation on Lady Gaga.
So Jooma joined the online virtual queue for tickets and despite spending 12 hours on line she had no luck on the first day.
Determined as ever, Jooma woke up early the next day and headed to a Computicket outlet. She managed to get her hands on three tickets to the Lady Gaga Born this Way Ball.
“I was extremely excited and overwhelmed,” said Jooma. N
ow Jooma is trying to get her hands on a ticket to the Gaga concert in Cape Town.
She also plans on making a special Gaga outfit.
“I am designing a replica version of the yellow Mickey Mouse jumpsuit that Lady Gaga wears in the music video for Paparazzi, my favorite scene from all her videos. It’s an iconic Lady Gaga outfit. How can we as little monsters not dress up for her show? That’s just rude.”
She’s looking forward to seeing her idol perform her favourite songs Born this Way, Bad Romance and Paparazzi, and plans on camping outside the FNB stadium a day or two in advance to see Gaga up close.
“It’s the front of the line or nothing. I’m very serious about being in front at her concert, and I am willing to do whatever I need to, to get there. It will be the best experience.”
She is dying to meet Gaga.
Another fan who will be camping outside Gaga’s hotel is Jermaine Naidoo, 18, from Durban who has secured tickets to both the concerts.
“I plan on dressing up as Gaga’s alter ego, Jo Calderone,” Naidoo said.
It will be the second time Naidoo watches Gaga live. “Last year when I found out Lady Gaga would be performing in Times Square on New Years’ Eve, I made my parents change our holiday plans so we would end up in New York,” said Naidoo.
“My brother, sister and I stood waiting in minus three degree weather for 23 hours just to watch her perform. It was the best way to celebrate the new year.”
Meanwhile Gaga tweeted on Wednesday: “Just woke up to e-mails saying South African monsters crashed the online ticket servers due to high demand for The BTW Ball! I can’t believe it!”