VANCOUVER - The last time Lady Gaga's extravagant pop cavalcade rolled through Vancouver for the Monster Ball Tour in August 2010, Stefani Germanotta was in full superstar break-out mode.

Her concert was built on a Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland storyline that emulated the classic fairy tale of being swept away to a strange and distant land, confronting the unknown and emerging a stronger person in the end. Two and a half years later, Lady Gaga is less Alice than she is herself the Wizard or the Queen of Hearts, as the first concert on the North American leg of the Born This Way Ball Tour at Rogers Arena proved.

Instead of a stage evolving as a shifting landscape worthy of a Broadway musical, Gaga's presentation is now more akin to that of a Wagnerian opera, centered on a humongous medieval castle from which she emerged in more varied forms than ever thanks to the help of Italian fashion houses Moschino, Versace and Armani, from riding a horse while dressed in full knight gear for set opener Highway Unicorn, to quite literally showing up as the motorcycle/human hybrid adorning the cover of Born This Way for Heavy Metal Lover.

Whereas her previous live incarnation was more organic, Gaga's concert has become a monolithic display that acts as a testament to the most overblown aspects of pop music. Gaga giving birth to herself during Born This Way, popping out of a huge inflatable balloon between outstretched prop legs to officially kick off the ball? Yes, it happened. Yet, if anyone was going to make a concert of such grandiose proportions feel like everyone's own personal celebration, it was Gaga.

Unlike Madonna, whose latest Vancouver appearance was dominated by violent imagery and a borderline bullying attitude toward her longtime fans, Gaga continued to carry her trademark message of empowerment and self-love, which also appears in the form of her many charitable endeavours aimed at LGBT groups.

She may be doing it from the safety of her castle these days but, for her fans, bigger will always be better when it comes to Gaga. "I think she makes people feel good about themselves," said 24-year-old fan Lindsay McIntosh before the concert. She and a group of friends had made the trek from Vanderhoof, B.C. to see the pop star.

They had, of course, dressed up for the occasion, each a different incarnation of Lady Gaga with different wigs, brightly coloured clothes, sunglasses and makeup. Stephanie Sutton, 28, admitted she normally doesn't wear a wig or bright colours."Deep down this is how we feel," she said. "You can be anyone you want with Gaga," 20-year-old friend Moira O'Brien added.

Gaga's "Little Monsters" were as much a part of the spectacle as Gaga and her crew of dancers, many fans sporting the flashing headbands sold at the merch table alongside a gargantuan array of T-shirts and other memorabilia such as a $150 Born This Way leather jacket. As big a commercial undertaking as Gaga's latest tour is, the near-sold out concert simply swept you off your feet.

The concert's five-part storyline involving aliens, government mind control, fashion, empowerment and religion wasn't always fully graspable, not that it really mattered considering the sheer spectacle it offered. With almost as many costume changes as songs performed, Gaga's Born This Way Ball concert was essentially a big piece of performance art.

"Tonight this arena is a place of love and unity," Gaga said before Black Jesus/Amen Fashion. Elaborate costumes involving oversized headgear didn't always make it clear if Gaga was singing everything herself, and a few moments sounded like pre-taped loops. It was especially obvious during Judas, where audio levels kept jumping up and down. Gaga nevertheless expanded an incredible amount of energy on several dance-heavy numbers, including a crazed Bad Romance where she emerged from the famed egg capsule she debuted at the Grammys in 2011.

"I f---ing missed you, Vancouver," she said. And the crowd erupted, claw-shaped hands held high, the floor surrounded by a long smoke-covered catwalk jumping. "I am not an alien, I am not a woman, I am not a man, I am not a creature of your government," Gaga said during a long monologue. "When they ask you who is Lady Gaga you tell them I am you." Things have certainly changed since early hit single Just Dance was every hipster's guilty pleasure, the song now an ornate tribute to Gaga's influence on fashion.

But Gaga can still connect without all the crazy set pieces and choreographed insanity, and she offered a fan named Julia a great present by singing a heartfelt Happy Birthday just for her. Borrowing sonically from Madonna, Elton John, pop, metal, glam and disco, sometimes even rocking the keytar, and pulling out the meat dress for Americano and Poker Face near the end - Gaga did it all unapologetically.

And in front of her giant castle she staked her claim as the queen of the pop scene once again.