A Night of Mayhem: Lady Gaga’s Coachella Performance Is One for the History Books

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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 powerful embodiment of the duality that runs through Gaga’s latest album Mayhem. Throughout the set, Gaga regularly switched back and forth between black and white looks, reflecting the album’s exploration of inner conflict and balance between light and darkness. This theme was further emphasized by the real-life chess board during “Poker Face,” where Gaga battled herself in a game. 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 bewildering 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.

lady gaga performing ‘poker face’ & simulating chess is ICONIC #coachella pic.twitter.com/XxGt8rqMHX

— ໊ (@smazos) April 12, 2025

I'm gonna need Lady Gaga to release a studio recording of that dramatic synth-heavy version of "Paparazzi."

Like, immediately.#Coachella #Coachella2025 pic.twitter.com/s347b7lStB

— Jeff Michael (@ZeoVGM) April 12, 2025

Officially Lady Gaga’s performance at Coachella marked as THE BEST performance in HISTORY #Coachella2025 #Coachella pic.twitter.com/i1S9z0TgQU

— 𝐃𝐞𝐧 (@Invisblechains) April 12, 2025

LADY GAGA PERFORMING PERFECT CELEBRITY AT COACHELLA #GAGACHELLA pic.twitter.com/Tj2aPoHMZT

— tricon⚔️ (@hausofgagaicon) April 12, 2025