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Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lady Gaga apologises to fans as she falls victim to a mic malfunction at Coachella
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Lady Gaga delivered another spellbinding performance during her second weekend headlining set at Coachella, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that she suffered a very obvious technical malfunction just a couple of songs in. As Gaga sang Abracadabra, the second single from her new album, Mayhem, it became apparent that her head mic was cutting out. Fortunately, a contingency plan was in place, and the star was quickly given a handheld mic, which seemingly forced her to adapt her choreography as the song continued. Addressing the issue later on in the show, Gaga apologised to the crowd. 'Sorry my mic was broken for a second,' she began. 'At least you know I sing live.' Mic problems aside, Gaga's performance was a dazzling tour de force. Despite leaning heavily on Mayhem material, the show never let up, and bodes well for the star's upcoming world tour. Speaking to Apple Music's Zane Lowe last month, Gaga revealed that one song on Mayhem, the 'electro-grunge' Perfect Celebrity, was inspired by her love of '90s music and The Cure.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Couchella: The best sets to stream on Coachella's second weekend
The best thing about Coachella is that it happens twice - so if you missed the first weekend, don't worry! Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Charli XCX and everyone else will return to the Colorado Desert on Friday for a second dose of musical mayhem, and punishing gusts of wind. Better yet, the opening weekend let us know who was worth watching (Lady Gaga), who we can safely avoid (Travis Scott) and who might be this year's breakout star (Benson Boone). With that in mind, here's a guide to this weekend's sets - and when you can watch them on Coachella's comprehensive YouTube livestream. Lady Gaga's elaborate stage performances have been known to collapse under the weight of their own ambition. Not this time. Her second visit to Coachella, after stepping in as a last-minute replacement for Beyoncé in 2017, was one of the greatest pop performances ever. Two hours full of energy and presence and pounding synth hooks. Staged in a crumbling gothic opera house, the two-hour show depicted the star's inner angels and demons wrestling for her soul. During Poker Face, the two sides faced off in a deadly game of chess; while Perfect Celebrity - a song about her tabloid commodification in the 2000s - saw her buried in a shallow grave, singing to a skeleton. It was bold and audacious and over the top, in all the best ways, with celebratory, nine-minute performance of Bad Romance to cap it all off. If you only watch one performance, make it this one. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 11:10pm on Friday (local time), or 7:10am on Saturday (UK time). Despite a career that's lasted three decades, Missy Elliot only staged her first ever tour last year. Luckily, tracks like Get Ur Freak On, Lose Control and Pass That Dutch still sound as fresh and futuristic now as they did first time around - and Missy's relative lack of stage experience was never apparent. She arrived onstage inside a giant car exo-skeleton, like a hip-hop Transformer, and sped through her set with pin-sharp choreography and boundless good humour. The only downside was that her set had to end after just 55 minutes. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 9:00pm on Friday (local time), or 5:00am on Saturday (UK time). "I'm either going to faint or throw up," declared Lola Young near the start of her set last weekend. "One of the two is about to happen". The British singer, whose song Messy has been embraced by fans worldwide, was battling sickness and heatstroke throughout her set. But she powered through, leading a mass singalong to Messy, and debuting a new single called Spiders. With her health back on track, her second weekend performance should erase any bad memories from her debut. Watch on the Mojave Stage at 4:50pm on Friday (local time), or 12:50am on Saturday (UK time). Although Travis Scott closed the main stage on Saturday, Green Day were technically the headliners - and the California band delivered a thrilling, cathartic set worthy of their billing. They plunged head-first into a furious rendition of American Idiot, keeping up their recent tradition of changing the lyrics, so that frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang: "I'm not part of the MAGA agenda". That aside, politics were kept to a minimum, as the group delivered a high-voltage blast of their greatest hits, from the bratty pop-punk of Basket Case to the more reflective Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 9:05pm on Saturday (local time), or 5:05am on Sunday (UK time). "Post-ee, Post-ee, Post-ee." It might have been the end of the weekend, but fans still had energy to spare for Post Malone's headline slot on Sunday night. He rewarded them with a laid-back set, that repurposed some of his earlier pop/rap hits with the "yee-haw" twang of his recent album F-1 Trillion. It all worked surprisingly well, although the eight-piece band occasionally overpowered his voice, and some fans were disappointed by the lack of hip-hop beats - saying the show would have been better suited to Coachella's sister festival Stagecoach (which is where Post launched his country phase last year). Surprisingly, the set was devoid of special guests, leading to speculation that the 29-year-old was holding fire for weekend two. As someone who's recently collaborated with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Dolly Parton, that could definitely be worth staying up for. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 10:25pm on Sunday (local time), or 6:25am on Monday (UK time). In 2019, Blackpink made history by becoming the first Korean group to headline Coachella. This year, two of its members - Lisa and Jennie - were back with dazzling solo sets, before the band reconvenes for a stadium tour in the summer. Lisa was up first, on Friday night, with a slick, highly-choreographed set that combined hard-edged rap cuts like Money and Lifestyle, with the softer sounds of Moonlit Floor and Dream. After her appearance in the third series of The White Lotus, she clarified that music is, in fact, her main job. Backstage, she held a post-mortem on the performance with her bandmate Rosé (Conclusion: The desert wind makes it hard to sing). Jennie packed the Outdoor Theater on Sunday evening, for a set of clubby disco anthems that don't sound a million miles away from her friend and collaborator Dua Lipa. Highlights included the bombastic Like Jennie - produced by Diplo, and boasting it's own viral dance break - and the swoonsome pop of Love Hangover, which showcased her vocal abilities. The 29-year-old has never been the most precise performer, but it somehow works to her advantage - making her more "real" than the imperious perfection of her peers. Watch Lisa on the Sahara Stage at 7:45pm on Friday (local time), or 3:45am on Saturday (UK time). Jennie plays the Outdoor Theatre at 7:45pm on Sunday (local time), or 3:45am on Monday (UK time). Charli XCX drew one of the weekend's biggest crowds, for a sleazy, hedonistic run-through of her sleazy, hedonistic breakout album, Brat. Performing entirely on her own, the star was in constant motion - a mesmerising blur of hip-rolls, hair tosses, stomach crunches and knee-drops, as she turned Coachella's main stage into sweat-drenched, laser-lit club night. Compared to the maximalism of other sets, it was a lesson in how one person can hold a stage on their own... Well, almost. At several points, she brought out her collaborators from Brat's companion album - Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish and Lorde. It was, one excitable fan commented, "like The Avengers for gay people". Whether the guest-list will be the same on Coachella's second weekend remains to be seen. But Charli is worth your time either way. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 7:15pm on Saturday (local time), or 3:15am on Sunday (UK time). Anyone who's had the pleasure of watching Benson Boone over the last year will know he's fond of performing a front flip off his piano, the big show off. He didn't let us down at Coachella - bouncing around the stage like a Duracell Bunny attached to a car battery. To cap it all off, he brought out Brian May for a surprisingly successful version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Less fortunate, however, was Texan singer d4vd, whose attempt at a backflip went disastrously wrong. Thankfully, he recovered in time to pull off an energetic set that highlighted the life-affirming vibes of his bedroom pop hits Feel It and What Are You Waiting For. After the set, he swore to practice harder for this weekend's performance. "Imagine if I fall again," he cringed. Watch Benson Boone on the Coachella Stage at 7:05pm on Friday (local time), or 3:45 am on Saturday (UK Time). D4vd plays the Gobi Stage at 5:55pm on Friday (local time), or 1:55am on Saturday (UK time). Last Saturday, the entire LA Philharmonic Orchestra boarded a bus and set off for the desert to make their Coachella debut. Under the baton of Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, they performed what was billed as "Gustavo's mixtape" - moving seamlessly between classical standards like Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and modern pop hits. For the latter, they were joined on stage by a host of A-list stars, including indie titan Beck, Icelandic songstress Laufey, country singer Maren Morris and rap icon LL Cool J. "I told to the orchestra, 'I'm so happy conducting, but I wish I could be in the middle of the crowd and enjoy the moment,'" Dudamel told Variety magazine ahead of the show. Weekend two will feature an all-new array of guest stars, he promised, but details are being kept under wraps for now. The LA Philharmonic plays the Outdoor Theatre at 6:25pm on Saturday (local time), or 2:25am on Sunday (UK time). "It took me 20 years to get on this stage," said T-Pain towards the end of his set on Saturday, and he certainly made the most of his hour-long set. He covered Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and Chris Stapleton's country hit Tennessee Whiskey, while racing through early 2000s hits like Buy U A Drank and I'm In Luv, and revisiting his verses on Flo Rida's Low, and Kanye West's Good Life. For that, he received a hero's welcome, with the crowd treating his set as an excuse for some turn of the millennium escapism. By the time it ended, a campaign had started for T-Pain to play next year's Super Bowl half-time show. Watch on the Coachella Stage at 5:25pm on Saturday (local time), or 1:25am on Sunday (UK time). Luckily, you're not forced to stay up all night to watch the stars strut their stuff in California. Coachella's generous livestreams repeat throughout the day, and you can rewind several hours to find the performances you want. Other highlights from the first weekend included Megan Thee Stallion, whose star-studded set included appearances from Queen Latifah, Victoria Monét, and Ciara; and Kraftwerk, reminding everyone that they essentially invented electronic music. Belinda Carlisle reunited with her old band The Go-Gos for a dose of sun-kissed 1980s nostalgia, and the UK's Sam Fender tore through a blistering set that showcased the songwriting chops of his new album, People Watching. Among the newcomers with main stage aspirations were South Africa's hip-swivelling R&B star Tyla, and New York dance act Fcukers, whose breakout hit Bon Bon was one of the weekend's most inescapable tracks. You can see the full line-up for Coachella's second weekend on the festival's website.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lady Gaga proves she's music's greatest kook in campy Coachella thriller
Lady Gaga looked proud enough to weep. Peering out at the vast audience before her at Coachella on Friday night, the pop superstar paused about 45 minutes into her headlining performance to deliver a little speech — a royal address from Mother Monster to her loyal minions — from the second-story balcony of a crumbling gothic structure she'd built on the festival's main stage. 'I wanted to make a romantic gesture to you this year in these times of mayhem,' she told the crowd. 'I decided to build you an opera house in the desert — for all the love and all the joy and all the strength you've given me my whole life.' She paused, her long blond hair and frilly white gown rustling in the dry, dusty breeze. 'Sometimes I feel like I went into a dream when I was like 20 years old,' she continued. 'I've been in a dream ever since then, and I didn't know if I wanted to wake up, because what if you weren't there?' Think: Don't cry for me, Coachella. Read more: Lady Gaga's theatrics, Benson Boone's antics and everything that happened on Coachella's first day This wasn't Gaga's first time topping music's most prestigious festival. In 2017, she stepped in at the last minute to replace Beyoncé when the latter pulled out after announcing that she was pregnant. But those circumstances meant that Gaga 'didn't have the time to totally do what I really wanted to do,' as she told The Times last year. She made up for it Friday: Over two hours, 20 songs and as many costume changes as Coachella's tightly managed livestream would allow, Gaga mounted a lavish spectacle built around this year's 'Mayhem' album, which has been widely received as the singer's return to high-concept pop following a few years of acting and jazzing (and falling in love). Would you say the production, which she broke into four acts and a finale, carried a coherent or easily discernible story? You would not — though a voiceover at the outset suggested it had something to do with two selves battling for control of a soul. Yet the individual set pieces were so vivid and funny and weird that the tale became one about Gaga's embrace of her role as music's greatest kook. For 'Poker Face' she staged a chess battle with her dancers as living game pieces. 'Perfect Celebrity' and 'Disease' had her writhing in a shallow grave surrounded by the undead. For 'Paparazzi' she donned pieces of chrome armor and strutted across the stage on a pair of crutches. 'Zombieboy' was an elaborate dance number starring Gaga twirling lewdly with a skeleton. The set list mixed new songs with old favorites: 'Bloody Mary' into 'Abracadabra' into 'Judas' into the German-language 'Sheiße,' which involved a bunch of oversize quill pens and a Last Supper-style tableau. After the '80s pop-funk of 'Shadow of a Man,' for which she dressed as a sexy military officer, she appeared to spot her fiancé, Michael Polansky and thanked the crowd 'for bringing me my man.' Gaga was backed by a live band and a small corps of string players; the French DJ and producer Gesaffelstein, who worked on 'Mayhem,' joined her on keyboards for a throbbing rendition of the album's 'Killah.' Gaga accompanied herself on piano in 'Die With a Smile' and 'Shallow,' neither of which seemed to have much to do with the whole haunted-opera idea, but who was keeping track? (Gaga set up the latter by recalling that last time she was at Coachella, she filmed parts of 'A Star Is Born' at the festival.) Read more: Lisa, already a Coachella headliner in Blackpink, just demolished the Sahara Tent as a solo star Like virtually every headlining Coachella set in the years since Beyoncé came back in 2018, Gaga's performance was carefully choreographed for YouTube's livestream. There were cameras on drones and cameras on wires and cameras held by guys hustling backwards as they shot the singer stalking down a long runway connecting the main stage to a smaller platform out on the polo field. There was even a crotch cam in that graveyard sequence beaming grainy images of Gaga's rhythmic thrusting to the enormous video screens flanking the stage. But what came through even at the show's most intricate was the charge Gaga still gets from performing in front of people — a queenly assertion of her star power, sure, but also a touching acknowledgment that she requires folks to do all this for. She sang live throughout the show, and her vocals were strong and gutsy; between songs she made no attempt to disguise the panting you could hear through her headset microphone. She finished her main set (before a welcome if inevitable encore of 'Bad Romance') with a yearning new tune, 'Vanish Into You,' for which she jumped down from the stage to press the flesh of fans up against a barricade. 'I may not get to high-five each and every one of you, but I can sure as f— sing to you,' she said, and as she made her way past thousands of admirers, somebody handed her a black fake flower. She pretended it was a microphone and then used it — instinctively, charmingly, technically without need — for the rest of the song. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Lady Gaga proves she's music's greatest kook in campy Coachella thriller
Lady Gaga looked proud enough to weep. Peering out at the vast audience before her at Coachella on Friday night, the pop superstar paused about 45 minutes into her headlining performance to deliver a little speech — a royal address from Mother Monster to her loyal minions — from the second-story balcony of a crumbling gothic structure she'd built on the festival's main stage. 'I wanted to make a romantic gesture to you this year in these times of mayhem,' she told the crowd. 'I decided to build you an opera house in the desert — for all the love and all the joy and all the strength you've given me my whole life.' She paused, her long blond hair and frilly white gown rustling in the dry, dusty breeze. 'Sometimes I feel like I went into a dream when I was like 20 years old,' she continued. 'I've been in a dream ever since then, and I didn't know if I wanted to wake up, because what if you weren't there?' Think: Don't cry for me, Coachella. This wasn't Gaga's first time topping music's most prestigious festival. In 2017, she stepped in at the last minute to replace Beyoncé when the latter pulled out after announcing that she was pregnant. But those circumstances meant that Gaga 'didn't have the time to totally do what I really wanted to do,' as she told The Times last year. She made up for it Friday: Over two hours, 20 songs and as many costume changes as Coachella's tightly managed livestream would allow, Gaga mounted a lavish spectacle built around this year's 'Mayhem' album, which has been widely received as the singer's return to high-concept pop following a few years of acting and jazzing (and falling in love). Would you say the production, which she broke into four acts and a finale, carried a coherent or easily discernible story? You would not — though a voiceover at the outset suggested it had something to do with two selves battling for control of a soul. Yet the individual set pieces were so vivid and funny and weird that the tale became one about Gaga's embrace of her role as music's greatest kook. For 'Poker Face' she staged a chess battle with her dancers as living game pieces. 'Perfect Celebrity' and 'Disease' had her writhing in a shallow grave surrounded by the undead. For 'Paparazzi' she donned pieces of chrome armor and strutted across the stage on a pair of crutches. 'Zombieboy' was an elaborate dance number starring Gaga twirling lewdly with a skeleton. The set list mixed new songs with old favorites: 'Bloody Mary' into 'Abracadabra' into 'Judas' into the German-language 'Sheiße,' which involved a bunch of oversize quill pens and a Last Supper-style tableau. After the '80s pop-funk of 'Shadow of a Man,' for which she dressed as a sexy military officer, she appeared to spot her fiancé, Michael Polansky and thanked the crowd 'for bringing me my man.' Gaga was backed by a live band and a small corps of string players; the French DJ and producer Gesaffelstein, who worked on 'Mayhem,' joined her on keyboards for a throbbing rendition of the album's 'Killah.' Gaga accompanied herself on piano in 'Die With a Smile' and 'Shallow,' neither of which seemed to have much to do with the whole haunted-opera idea, but who was keeping track? (Gaga set up the latter by recalling that last time she was at Coachella, she filmed parts of 'A Star Is Born' at the festival.) Like virtually every headlining Coachella set in the years since Beyoncé came back in 2018, Gaga's performance was carefully choreographed for YouTube's livestream. There were cameras on drones and cameras on wires and cameras held by guys hustling backwards as they shot the singer stalking down a long runway connecting the main stage to a smaller platform out on the polo field. There was even a crotch cam in that graveyard sequence beaming grainy images of Gaga's rhythmic thrusting to the enormous video screens flanking the stage. But what came through even at the show's most intricate was the charge Gaga still gets from performing in front of people — a queenly assertion of her star power, sure, but also a touching acknowledgment that she requires folks to do all this for. She sang live throughout the show, and her vocals were strong and gutsy; between songs she made no attempt to disguise the panting you could hear through her headset microphone. She finished her main set (before a welcome if inevitable encore of 'Bad Romance') with a yearning new tune, 'Vanish Into You,' for which she jumped down from the stage to press the flesh of fans up against a barricade. 'I may not get to high-five each and every one of you, but I can sure as f— sing to you,' she said, and as she made her way past thousands of admirers, somebody handed her a black fake flower. She pretended it was a microphone and then used it — instinctively, charmingly, technically without need — for the rest of the song.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Music reviews: Lady Gaga, Jason Isbell, and Astropical
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Though Mayhem isn't exactly a vintage effort, it's 'a welcome reminder of just how Gaga became Gaga,' said Chuck Arnold in the New York Post. The album, arriving months after her most recent detour into crooning jazz standards, 'returns the 38-year-old diva to the dance-in-the-dark moves of her early career.' It even features callbacks to some of her biggest hits. The very first line evokes 'Bad Romance,' while 'Perfect Celebrity,' a standout new track, 'plays like a synth-rock update of 'Paparazzi.'' Gaga even named the euphoric party anthem 'Zombieboy' after the tattooed, since-deceased muse from her 2011 video for 'Born This Way.' Since mid-2024, Gaga has been 'experiencing a case of career sea sickness,' with notable commercial triumphs followed by flops like the Joker movie sequel Folie à Deux, said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. In need of 'a bold restatement of original core values,' she has delivered precisely that with the 'big dirty synths' of this album's first two solo singles. That none of these tracks sounds retro shows just how prescient Gaga once was. The pop world 'has come round to her way of thinking.' Jason Isbell has been making good records for years, yet 'we've never heard him singing from such a broken, vulnerable place,' said Ryan Leas in After a decade in which he put aside booze and recorded three Grammy-winning Americana albums, the Alabama native last year divorced Amanda Shires, the acclaimed fiddler who'd been so central to his appealing redemption story. But while recording a stripped-down acoustic set after a breakup continues a pop tradition, 'Foxes is not a simple divorce record,' because it's 'equally populated by grief and new beginnings,' conveying 'the messiness of moving on.' Recorded by Isbell in just five days, Foxes features 'some of his most gut-wrenching songs in years,' said Ellen Johnson in Paste. 'There are sober recollections of mistakes made and bridges burned,' but somehow gratitude outweighs anger. 'Feel the pain and let it pass,' he sings. 'Let love knock you on your ass.' Isbell never shies from speaking ugly truths, but he also 'seeks out the beauty that's always waiting in the shadows.' And the life tips he shares 'leave room for the noblest things: mercy, growth, and redemption.' Astropical 'isn't just a sparkling debut,' said Thom Jurek in AllMusic. The album, which brings together members of two revered rock en español bands, turns out to be 'a remarkably hip work that can soundtrack spring and summer and all major life events.' When Li Saumet, frontwoman of Colombia's Bomba Estéreo, asked Beto Montenegro, frontman of Venezuela's Rawayana, if he'd be interested in collaborating, work on a single quickly expanded into the creation of an album that 'melds African, tropical South American, Caribbean, and EDM rhythms with infectious melodies, soaring harmonies, and rousing choruses.' While reggaeton, dembow, and dancehall have driven the recent boom in Latin pop, said Isabella Gomez Sarmiento in Astropical is a 'euphoric' celebration of lesser-known Caribbean coastal genres such as champeta and psychedelic cumbia. On the 'club-ready' opener, 'Brinca (Acuario),' Montenegro's 'velvety, drawn-out vocals' collide with Saumet's 'piercing, fast-paced delivery,' and the contrast between their styles 'becomes the album's superpower,' a manifestation of Astropical's aspirations for cross-cultural peace.
