{"id":47432,"date":"2025-09-30T18:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/47432\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T18:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:35:11","slug":"lady-gaga-serves-mayhem-magic-and-a-few-surprises-as-uk-tour-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/47432\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Gaga serves mayhem, magic and a few surprises as UK tour launches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark SavageMusic correspondent<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball is her eighth tour. Originally planned as a brief series of outdoor promotional concerts, she expanded the run following glowing reviews<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga is dancing on a human skull. Lady Gaga is buried in a shallow grave. Lady Gaga is serenading a corpse. <\/p>\n

Lady Gaga is also teetering around on crutches, cavorting with zombies and crossing the River Styx.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Mayhem Ball, a magnificent and operatic tour de force; that pitches the star’s inner angels and demons in a fight for her very soul.<\/p>\n

Premiered at this year’s Coachella festival, it reached the UK on Monday night, for a run of eight shows at London’s O2 Arena and Manchester’s Co-Op Live.<\/p>\n

The transfer from outdoor festival stage to the confines of an arena only heightened the show’s vampy, gothic energy – as Gaga raced through two decades of hits, from her debut single Just Dance to her latest hit The Dead Dance, from the Netflix series Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The latter came with a star cameo from two of the show’s young stars, Emma Myers and Evie Templeton, who pirouetted around Gaga<\/a> and her dancers in wispy bridal gowns, before breaking into choreography from the show’s second season.<\/p>\n

The singer later posted video of their rehearsals on Tiktok<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Wednesday stars Emma Myers (right) and Evie Templeton (centre) joined the show for two songs – The Dead Dance and LoveDrug<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The young stars embraced Gaga and waved to the crowd before making their exit<\/p>\n

The tour comes hot on the heels of Gaga’s latest album, Mayhem, widely regarded as a return to high-concept pop after a spell of method acting and jazz crooning.<\/p>\n

The album, like the show, is a reckoning with her past. <\/p>\n

She questions whether her career was really worth sacrificing her privacy, her sanity and even her health, as punishing live shows exacerbated her fibromyalgia, a condition that causes chronic, full-body pain.<\/p>\n

On stage, the tussle plays out between her light side (angelic, naive, floating across the stage in flowing blonde curls) and her inner darkness (raven-haired and manic, with convulsive choreography).<\/p>\n

During Poker Face, the two sides face each other on a giant chess board; as Gaga is confronted by a doppelg\u00e4nger dressed head-to-toe in face-obscuring lace (a nod to the star’s 2010 Brit Awards outfit).<\/p>\n

“What are you doing here in my house,” screams Gaga, striking her old self to the ground and demanding, “off with her head!”<\/p>\n

The ghost of Gaga past re-emerges for Perfect Celebrity, writhing with camp energy in a shallow grave as she sings about the pressure and torture of stardom. <\/p>\n

For a dramatically stripped-bare version of Paparazzi, she’s on crutches, snarling at photographers, but soaking up the public’s adoration until it frees her to walk unaided.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The star arrived on stage in a giant, tiered dress…<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

…That opened to unveil a cage full of dancers<\/p>\n

Does the story make sense? Sure, kind of. It’s about as coherent as any pop concert narrative – ie not very – but Gaga’s visceral commitment makes it soar.<\/p>\n

Her vocals are rich and gutsy, even through kinetic choreography that requires her to be in almost constant motion; and the music is given a gothic overhaul, painted black and scuffed up with industrial guitar chords and sawtooth bass lines.<\/p>\n

Even Shallow, Gaga’s Oscar-winning A Star Is Born ballad, opens with an unsettling synth pulse , as it soundtracks the show’s climactic final act.<\/p>\n

She performs it in a gondola, floating down the catwalk as she flees the chaos of the main stage for the sanctuary of her piano. <\/p>\n

Sitting down at the keys, she’s finally at peace, playing the heartfelt ballads A Million Reasons and Die With A Smile, without the accompaniment of her band.<\/p>\n

“My first big arena show was in the UK,” she tells the audience. “You believed in me then. Thank you for believing in me now.<\/p>\n

“No matter what, we’ve found each other through the music and through community.”<\/p>\n

To celebrate, she dives deep into her songbook and plays impromptu versions of Speechless, from her 2009 Fame Monster album, and The Edge Of Glory, from 2011’s Born This Way. <\/p>\n

Fans, who know the standard setlist by heart, are enraptured, singing back every word at full volume. At the end, Gaga wipes away a tiny tear.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The solo piano set is the emotional highlight of the concert<\/p>\n

After two-and-a-half hours, the show ends with Gaga announcing she has defeated the “mistress of mayhem”.<\/p>\n

As the entire set catches fire, she’s wheeled out on a hospital gurney, surrounded by dancers in red plague doctors costumes, who operate on her lifeless body.<\/p>\n

Frankenstein-like, she springs back to life for a show-stopping, floor rattling version of Bad Romance, that feels both cathartic and celebratory.<\/p>\n

“It’s been almost 20 years,” she reflects, “but I want to make a pact with some of you.<\/p>\n

“If I come back 20 years from now, will you come to the show? <\/p>\n

“You gotta promise me now, otherwise I’m just gonna roll up with a keyboard, and I’ll be playing on the street. I’ll be here no matter what.”<\/p>\n

In the storyline of the show, that feels like a revelation. <\/p>\n

Gaga has found a path through the chaos, a way to keep performing without surrendering her soul. On previous tours, I’ve often felt her ambition was let down by self-indulgence or messy execution. Not this time.<\/p>\n

The Mayhem Ball finds the pop star operating at the peak of her powers. Fancy that.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The show’s set and costume design is an unparalleled triumph<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga setlist<\/p>\n

Act I: Of Velvet And Vice<\/p>\n

Bloody MaryAbracadabraJudasAuraSchei\u00dfeGarden of EdenPoker Face<\/p>\n

Act II: And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream<\/p>\n

Perfect CelebrityDiseasePaparazziLoveGameAlejandroThe Beast\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The singer performed 30 songs over the course of two-and-a-half hours<\/p>\n

Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name<\/p>\n

KillahZombieboyThe Dead DanceLoveDrugApplauseJust Dance<\/p>\n

Act IV: Every Chessboard Has Two Queens<\/p>\n

Shadow of a ManKill for LoveSummerboyBorn This WayMillion ReasonsShallowDie With a SmileSpeechlessThe Edge of GloryVanish Into You<\/p>\n

Finale: The Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart<\/p>\n

Encore<\/p>\n

How Bad Do U Want MeDance In The Dark