The audacious Gaga persona was largely born in Parsippany,<\/a> as a 19-year-old Stefani commuted to Jersey producer Rob Fusari\u2019s studio seven days a week in 2006 to hone her style and adopt her defining synth-pop sound. <\/p>\n Moreover, Gaga worships Bruce Springsteen, speaking effusively of The Boss<\/a> to Stephen Colbert last year: \u201cI felt like he had narrated my childhood, my life. I felt like I understood my father through Bruce\u2019s music because my dad grew up in Jersey.\u201d <\/p>\n Sound familiar, fellow Garden State music lovers? <\/p>\n Gaga also famously tapped E Street Band sax legend Clarence Clemons to play on her 2011 hit \u201cThe Edge of Glory,\u201d<\/a> Clemons\u2019 final high-profile performance (the music video featuring him was released two days before his death). <\/p>\n So, yes, Gaga is ours now. Even if we must cross the river to see her. <\/p>\n Following her mammoth \u201cChromatica Ball\u201d concert at MetLife Stadium<\/a> in 2022, Gaga commandeered a slightly more modest Madison Square Garden Friday night for her ongoing \u201cMayhem Ball\u201d tour, which began last summer, supporting the chart-topping eponymous LP.<\/p>\n \u201cMayhem\u201d the album was Gaga\u2019s most exhilarating work since 2011\u2019s \u201cBorn this Way,\u201d a deeply addicting collection of dark dance-pop led by the Grammy-winning single \u201cAbracadabra.\u201d <\/p>\n Though the 2025 project\u2019s full, implosive force may not be felt until witnessing its ferocious stage adaptation, a brain-melting gothic opera that even by Gaga\u2019s exceeding standards was a triumph of pop art direction. The very sold-out night (cheapest resale tickets neared $1,000 each) was a torrent of crimson and obsidian, a histrionic queer-horror banquet channeling Guillermo Del Toro, \u201cPhantom of the Opera\u201d and ballroom bombast: category is \u201cdance or die!\u201d <\/p>\n The blood-lusting spectacle began with Gaga standing atop a 15-foot-tall \u201cdress,\u201d the hoop of the skirt hiding a cage full of animalistic dancers \u2014 as many as 20 joined Gaga on stage throughout the two-and-a-half-hour marathon, often flailing on the \u201copera house\u201d balcony set pieces. This opening segment, with \u201cAbracadabra\u201d flowing into past high-tempo hell-raisers \u201cJudas\u201d and \u201cSchei\u00dfe\u201d (German for \u201cs—\u201d), found Gaga as a wide-eyed pop fire heart, a blistering demigoddess barely contained in her 5-foot-2 frame, just a week before her 40th birthday. <\/p>\n A barrage of stunts propelled the maximalist performance forward, from Gaga laid in a large sandbox dancing with a prop skeleton for newbie \u201cPerfect Celebrity\u201d \u2014 she\u2019s never without a dash of camp \u2014 to her waltzing down the stage\u2019s center ramp with a 50-foot-long, silken white wedding train that lit up rainbow during \u201cPaparazzi.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cTo the queer community here in my hometown, this show is for you. You\u2019re proud, you\u2019re free \u2026 (this show) is for your strength.\u201d <\/p>\n The center ramp, which jutted halfway down the arena floor, was shaped like a guillotine blade \u2014 fitting as Gaga stood on the precipice after \u201cPoker Face,\u201d screaming \u201coff with her head!\u201d to a poor doppelganger dancer. In other moments the star was a bit more subdued, riffing on an electric guitar for her lesser-known oldie \u201cSummerBoy,\u201d clad in sunglasses and grooving under low lights, her dancers slinking around her mimicking an underground nightclub. <\/p>\n The show was broken into acts with melodramatic titles like \u201cAnd She Fell Into A Gothic Dream\u201d and \u201cThe Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name.\u201d But perhaps the most affecting moment was the simplest, as Gaga sat alone at her piano late in the set, speaking candidly to the crowd. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so proud to be a New Yorker,\u201d she said, tears streaming. \u201cIt feels nice to come out here and say to you all how much this community means to me, thank you. Thank you for celebrating all my hard work, I celebrate yours, too. When I reflect on this city, I think about how it always inspired me to be myself, that it was okay to be different and I found myself in places I never thought I\u2019d find myself, and whenever I was unsure what to do next, I just changed my hair.\u201d <\/p>\n From there she launched into the night\u2019s true rarity, an acoustic performance of her 2011 album track \u201cHair,\u201d a song of identity and perseverance that unleashed the show\u2019s most full-throated, emphatic vocals, enough to shake the rails in Penn Station below. <\/p>\n Soon after, still at the piano, Gaga noted how she still gets nervous before every show, and that her late collaborator Tony Bennett \u2014 another New Yorker with loads of Jersey connections \u2014 told her \u201cyou\u2019re nervous because you care about the audience.\u201d <\/p>\n Her fans, many of whom have followed the singer for nearly 20 years, roared as she went on: \u201cThank you for loving me in all my iterations. I think it\u2019s okay to iterate on who you are.\u201d <\/p>\n And such is Gaga\u2019s greater power over her devout \u201clittle monsters\u201d: through her unwavering commitment to her own evolution, pushing the boundaries of beauty, fashion and gender, she\u2019s inspired many to do the same, to say \u201cHey, if Gaga can wear a meat dress<\/a> or show up to an award show in a giant egg<\/a>, the least I can do is be a little more honest with myself.\u201d <\/p>\n That emotional tether is very real for her fans, and was apparent as couples clutched each other during \u201cDie with a Smile\u201d and wept during \u201cHair.\u201d Nearing the end of the set, as she sang her new ballad \u201cVanish into You,\u201d she hopped off stage and walked among the crowd, signing autographs and accepting flowers. <\/p>\n Fans jumped and wailed from wire to wire, locked in as Gaga reveled in the zenith of her magnetism, appearing more comfortable in the arena setting than a cavernous football stadium. It was a night of power, precision and a commitment to dream big, loud and weird \u2014 the top of top-tier pop bonanzas. One more MSG performance awaits, April 13 to close the tour. <\/p>\n It was a night of reflection, too, as the artist entering middle-age considered what the next 20 years may bring. <\/p>\n \u201cIf I can\u2019t fill the Garden, or can\u2019t fill a stadium, maybe we can fill a bar,\u201d she quipped. She\u2019s going to need a big bar. We can think of a few \u2014 in New Jersey. <\/p>\n Lady Gaga\u2019s setlist<\/p>\n March 20, 2026 \u2014 Madison Square Garden, New York <\/p>\n “Bloody Mary<\/a>\u201c (shortened; alternative operatic version preceded by a pre-recorded operatic intro)”Abracadabra<\/a>\u201c (alternative partially acapella intro)”Judas<\/a>\u201c (contains elements of \u201cAbracadabra\u201d)”Aura<\/a>\u201c (shortened; contains elements of \u201cJudas\u201d and \u201cSchei\u00dfe\u201d)”Schei\u00dfe<\/a>\u201c (shortened; extended intro with elements of \u201cJudas\u201d and \u201cAura\u201d)”Garden of Eden<\/a>\u201c (extended operatic & orchestral intro; Lady Gaga played guitar)”Poker Face<\/a>\u201c (extended operatic & orchestral intro; \u201cOff With Her Head\u201d operatic & orchestral outro)”Perfect Celebrity<\/a>\u201c (shortened; extended intro)”Disease<\/a>\u201c (extended intro)”Paparazzi<\/a>\u201c (alternative version; extended intro & outro)”LoveGame<\/a>\u201c (shortened; extended intro)”Alejandro<\/a>\u201c (shortened)”The Beast<\/a>\u201c (Lady Gaga on guitar after second chorus)”Killah<\/a>\u201c (extended intro & outro)”Zombieboy<\/a>\u201c (extended intro & outro)”LoveDrug<\/a>“”Applause<\/a>\u201c (shortened; extended intro)”Just Dance<\/a>\u201c (shortened; alternative version; extended outro)”Shadow of a Man<\/a>\u201c (extended intro)”Kill for Love<\/a>\u201c (shortened)”Summerboy<\/a>\u201c (shortened; Lady Gaga on guitar)”Born This Way<\/a>\u201c (extended intro)”Million Reasons<\/a>\u201c (extended intro containing elements of \u201cTears\u201d by Giorgio Moroder and \u201cAbracadabra\u201d)”Shallow<\/a>\u201c (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper<\/a> song) (alternative version)”Die With a Smile<\/a>\u201c (Gaga on piano)\u201cHair\u201c (solo acoustic on piano)”Vanish Into You<\/a>“”Bad Romance<\/a>“Encore:”How Bad Do U Want Me<\/a>”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do Lady Gaga and the Wu-Tang Clan have in common? While both are technically from New York,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3622,9,11,10,3623],"class_list":["post-171832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bestof","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-topix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/XCSOG6YNMZB7FIB5OZAZXFMTXI.jpg\")
Lady Gaga performed at Madison Square Garden in New York Friday, March 20, 2026. Gaga is seen here onstage during The MAYHEM Ball Tour at The Kia Forum on July 28, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Live Nation)Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Liv<\/p>\n![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/KA55NHBVUBHC7PKPRFY5X4IT34.jpg\")
Lady Gaga performed at Madison Square Garden in New York Friday, March 20, 2026. Gaga is seen here on stage at The O2 Arena on September 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein\/Getty Images for Live Nation)Samir Hussein\/Getty Images for L<\/p>\n![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FNF6SK42WZEXLMP3J52652G3DA.jpg\")
Lady Gaga performed at Madison Square Garden in New York Friday, March 20, 2026. Gaga is seen here on stage at The O2 Arena on September 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein\/Getty Images for Live Nation)Samir Hussein\/Getty Images for L<\/p>\n![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WHX6BYY3LFBOPG7WECN42DY7EE.jpg\")
Lady Gaga performed at Madison Square Garden in New York Friday, March 20, 2026. Gaga is seen here onstage during The MAYHEM Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden on August 22, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Live Nation)Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Liv<\/p>\n