INDIO, California, April 12 (Reuters) – American singer Lady Gaga returned to a massive audience for the first time in eight years to headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday night, dancing with model skeletons, fighting a dancer dressed as a monster and serving up a surprise encore.
“Welcome to my house of mayhem,” the “Poker Face” singer said from the stage.
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Lady Gaga weaved together songs from her 2025 “Mayhem” album as well as older ones, including “Judas,” “Born This Way,” and “Poker Face.”
“I love you,” she said several times during the two-hour concert.
In typically flamboyant style, she raced through costume changes, including a red gown, a black leotard, a feathery white dress and metallic armor with a cape.
To match her dedication to dressing up, fans also opted for statement pieces to honor the singer.
“I love her artistry,” Jay Green from Florida said as he stood alongside a group of friends.
“This is the first time I’ve seen her live,” he added.
His group wore giraffe headbands with glowing lights.
Diane Leeds from Northern California, who has been attending Coachella for years, donned a giant flower headband.
“She (Lady Gaga) is definitely the highlight of this year for me,” Leeds said.
Lady Gaga, an LGBTQ+ icon who affectionately calls her fans “Little Monsters,” is known for activism within the community and openness about being a bisexual.
Some men in the audience hugged and kissed, shouting their love for the 39-year-old.
Her 2011 song, “Born This Way,” was dubbed a “gay anthem,” eventually spawning her Born This Way Foundation, with the goal to end “bullying and promote mental health awareness, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community.”
The singer, songwriter and actor is known for upbeat pop music that incorporates electropop, dance, rock, house, jazz and experimental genres.
She is set to perform a series of concerts for her 2025 MAYHEM Ball tour for her “Mayhem” album.
“Mayhem” made its way to number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming her seventh chart-topping album. It also debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Her top-charting songs from the album include “Die With a Smile,” which was a collaboration with singer Bruno Mars, and “Abracadabra.”
Lady Gaga filled in as Coachella headliner in 2017 for Beyonce after the “Cowboy Carter” singer dropped out when her doctors advised her to avoid a rigorous schedule, according to a statement posted to the festival’s official Facebook page.
Reporting by Danielle Broadway Editing by Mark Potter
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Danielle Broadway covers topics that range from film premieres, celebrity news, Hollywood legal proceedings, theater, press junkets, enterprise stories and more at Thomson Reuters. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English Literature from Cal State Long Beach and previously worked at the Los Angeles Times and freelanced at Teen Vogue, USA Today, Black Girl Nerds and other outlets. Danielle won an LA Press Club award for her Los Angeles Times cover story about South Los Angeles representation in the show “Insecure” and is a GLAAD Media Award nominee for her work on the PBS series “Subcultured” episode about the gay rodeo. She is a member of the African American Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, LA Press Club and GALECA (LGBTQ+ Critics).
