12-04-2025
A Night of Mayhem: Lady Gaga's Coachella Performance Is One for the History Books
The post A Night of Mayhem: Lady Gaga's Coachella Performance Is One for the History Books appeared first on Consequence.
Lady Gaga closed out the first night of Coachella 2025, bringing her dynamic performance style to the desert in a characteristically engaging, highly-choreographed headlining set that already already ranks among the best in the festival's 25-plus year history.
The 20-song set was divided into five acts: 'Act I: Of Velvet and Vice,' 'Act II: And She Fell Into a Gothic Dream,' 'Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name,' 'Act IV: To Wake Her Is to Lose Her,' and 'Finale: Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart.' It began with a pre-recorded message voiced by two versions of herself, one dressed in red and one dressed in white, who said: 'Her and I will find a way to live as twins, but I will know if in the end mistress of mayhem wins.'
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The performance was a vivid reflection of the duality at the heart of her latest album, Mayhem. Throughout the set, she switched between light and dark looks, embodying the inner conflict and balance between opposing forces that the album explores. This theme was further underscored by a real-life chess board during 'Poker Face,' where Gaga battled herself. At another point, she immersed herself in a pit of skeletons during 'Perfect Celebrity.' As for the setlist, it primarily pulled from Mayhem, as well as songs such as 'Judas,' 'Paparazzi,' 'Alejandro,' 'Born This Way,' and 'Shallow.'
Here's what our Paolo Ragusa, on the ground at Coachella, had to say about Gaga's headlining performance: 'Mother Monster's set was deliberately centered around her latest album, Mayhem, a career-spanning turn seemingly less important than the carnal drama of her current era. As far as Coachella headlining performances go, it's difficult to think of a performer other than Beyoncé who has boasted such elaborate, cinematic movements. It was the most engrossing set of music possible, Gaga toying with scale in a way that maximizes the heightened furor of her output — she screamed, heaved, and ached through the show's hour and 45 minutes. It served as a terrific preview of her upcoming 'Mayhem Ball,' which seamlessly bridges the darkest modes of her artistry with her outstanding showmanship; the choreography was bewildering, and the sets were as elaborate as ever. Like much of her current work, the level of detail and stunning execution demonstrated that Lady Gaga is an unparalleled theatrical performer, with a strong catalogue and insistence on pushing her live sets to absurd levels of precision and intensity. In short, she's done it again — and it was one of the most impressive displays of pop music in the festival's history.'
The Coachella appearance — which she'll be reprising at the second week of the festival with another performance on April 18th — lands ahead of her upcoming tour, 'The Mayhem Ball.' The North American leg kicks off with multiple nights in Las Vegas following a string of shows in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and Singapore. Get tickets here.
Act I: Of Velvet and Vice Bloody Mary Abracadabra Judas Scheiße Garden of Eden Poker Face Abracadabra
Act II: And She Fell Into a Gothic Dream Perfect Celebrity Disease Paparazzi Alejandro The Beast
Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name Killah (with Gesaffelstein) Zombieboy Die With a Smile How Bad Do U Want Me
Act IV: To Wake Her Is to Lose Her Shadow of a Man Born This Way Shallow (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper cover) Vanish Into You
Finale: Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart Bad Romance
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