Ever since I heard Lady Gaga’s seventh album, Mayhem, for the first time, I knew her return to dark pop and disco influence would make for an incredible live show. Case in point: “Abracadabra” nibbles on her original nacho recipe for “Bad Romance,” “Zombieboy” sounds like the younger sibling of “Disco Heaven,” and, of course, ballads like “Vanish Into You” and “Blade of Grass” fed “The Edge of Glory” and “Shallow” superfans. With the Mayhem Ball hitting arenas this summer, Gaga’s highly-anticipated headlining slot at Coachella was sure to be a preview for the madness to come.
I had seen her stunning Jazz & Piano Vegas residency last summer, but Gagachella 2.0 marked my first time seeing her play a pop show in the flesh. It’s been three years since she wrapped her Chromatica Ball stadium run and eight years since she last headlined the Coachella stage in Palm Springs. Her comeback was nothing short of epic.
Little Monsters from all walks of life were parked in the crowd, anticipating her big return, including some celebs. I brushed shoulders with drag’s finest, Gottmik, who was fully dressed to the nines in her signature black-and-white mug, as I made conversation with a 19-year-old superfan who jumped the fence to secure his spot. And, moments before, Ariana Madix introduced herself to me as she gathered her friends and said, “Let’s go, gays.” So, yeah, even the energy of this crowd was iconic.
Gagachella 2.0 was written and creatively directed by Gaga and her choreographer, Parris Goebel, and brilliantly told the story of the multihyphenate’s rise to fame in four acts. Amid gargoyles and a massive gothic castle set that could only be described as a Born This Way and Phantom of the Opera lovechild, Gaga battled with two sides of herself—one is a lady in red known as the Mistress of Mayhem, and the other is a softer, innocent version of herself.
Of course, Gaga was perched upon a lifted portion of the stage while dancers gave it their all in her caged crimson gown. The first song on her setlist was “Bloody Mary,” which gained traction nearly 15 years after its initial release thanks to fan-made Wednesday edits online.
Throughout her two-hour set, the two Gagas had physically fought and attempted to take each other down. By the end of Act I, which was filled with fan-favorites like “Judas” and “Poker Face,” the Mistress of Mayhem pushed Light Gaga to her death. She rose from the ashes in Act II, where she sang “Perfect Celebrity” from her grave. It masterfully portrayed the singer’s ever-changing relationship with fame—the Mistress of Mayhem being the darker side of someone who’s seen and experienced things the bright-eyed ingenue of Light Gaga never could have imagined.
“I love you so much. I wanted to make a romantic gesture to you this year amid these times of mayhem. I decided to build you an opera house in the desert,” Gaga said in a speech between songs. “For all the love and all the joy and all the strength you’ve given me my whole life. Sometimes I feel like it went into a dream when I was 20 years old and I’ve been in a dream ever since then. I didn’t know if I wanted to wake up… what if you weren’t there?”
Then came “Killah,” her Bowie-meets-Prince tour de force that still screams Gaga, in Act III. We got a taste of it on SNL, but it hits differently on a massive stage in the middle of the desert. She had previously told Rolling Stone, “The bridge just pops off and it’s going to be total mayhem, a good time. I can’t wait to play it at Coachella.” I can confidently confirm that this premonition came to life as French electro DJ Gesaffelstein joined her onstage in a dripped-oil look. She took a stab at playing the drums during the song’s high-energy breakdown, and thousands of festival-goers joined her for her signature blood-curdling scream.
By the final act, we got Piano Gaga, who gave a stripped rendition of A Star Is Born’s “Shallow” and “Vanish Into You,” which she dedicated to longtime fans. Inching toward her final songs, she gave a sweet shoutout to her fiancé, Michael Polansky, and geared up for a moving performance of her classic queer anthem, “Born This Way.”
“You are who you choose to be. You always will be...I’ll love you for always, and I hope to always sing this song with you,” she said in a touching speech before getting into the song. Naturally, I sobbed during the track as I did during her Jazz & Piano performance. As my friends and I danced along, I looked out in the crowd to see everyone doing the same, even with tears in their eyes. Experiencing exhilarating levels of queer joy while our mere existence is challenged is necessary, now more than ever.
As a longtime Little Monster, I know the history and evolution of the Emmy/Grammy/Oscar-winner’s live shows like the back of my hand—and Gagachella 2.0 goes down as one of her best. During The Fame era in the early aughts, she’d sing anywhere from an Ikea parking lot and the Miss Universe pageant to the VMAs, where her bloody, instantly iconic performance of “Paparazzi” altered the brain chemistry of me and all my best friends.
That grit and desire for being a mainstream mainstay led her to the spotlight for a nearly 2-decade career that’s still got O.G. fans’ attention and introduced a whole new generation to her pop prowess. Her Monster Ball tour was the true catalyst for my pop culture obsession during my teens—specifically, her stunning rendition of “So Happy I Could Die” dressed as a mechanical angel comes to mind. And, of course, her hip injury that led to chronic pain that would go on to change the way she approached performing from 2013 onward. Chromatica still proved that Gaga never lost her groove, though she almost quit making music altogether amid ongoing depressive episodes.
Fame comes at a price, but Mayhem in the desert proved that the free bitch is back.
