She lives for the applause.
Headliner Lady Gaga paid tribute to her illustrious career at the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., Friday night and was received with an uproar of cheers from her little monsters.
The pop superstar, 39, began her nearly two-hour performance with “Bloody Mary” from her 2011 album, “Born This Way” and then did a medley of “Abracadabra,” “Judas,” and “Poker Face.”
Throughout her set, Gaga dropped a series of Easter eggs that referenced past music video looks.
For “Paparazzi,” she wore metal crutches, similar to those featured in her 2009 music video.
Gaga also recreated a scene from her “Bad Romance” music video by laying down next to skeletons and a dancer wore a white crown reminiscent of the one she wore for the original video.
Aside from her classics, the Grammy winner also performed tracks from her seventh studio album, “Mayhem,” including “Disease” and “Killah,” which she told Uproxx she was most excited to perform.
“I really love that record,” she told the outlet on Thursday. “It’s the Gesaffelstein feature. It’s ultra confident, ultra funky, super unique and cool.”
The hitmaker added, “I’ve never done anything like it before, so that’s making me feel really excited just to do something I haven’t done yet before.”
Gaga’s full 2025 Coachella set can be seen here.
Leading up to the headlining event, the songstress teased there would be “Mayhem in the Desert.”
However, she was tightlipped about the rest of the surprises she had in store for her fans.
“I genuinely don’t want to give anything away about Coachella,” she added in her Uproxx interview.
“I know that is heartless of me, in a way, but I could honestly cry on the phone with you just thinking about how excited I am to do this show, and I want it to be a total surprise, and want everyone to have as much fun as possible.”
Gaga has headlined Coachella once before. She was recruited as the festival’s main attraction in 2017 —but only after Beyoncé had to drop out last minute because she was pregnant with twins Rumi and Sir.
“Following the advice of her doctors to keep a less rigorous schedule in the coming months, Beyoncé has made the decision to forgo performing at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival,” a rep for the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer said at the time.
Gaga was reportedly then left with only two weeks to create her set. She ended up performing a mix of her hits, including “Poker Face,” “Telephone,” “The Cure” and “Bad Romance.”
During Weekend 2 of Coachella 2017, the triple-threat also took the opportunity to announce the release of her then-upcoming film, “A Star Is Born,” which went on to be a massive box office hit.
While on stage at the time, Gaga thanked her co-star and director Bradley Cooper and revealed that they had filmed a few scenes on the festival grounds.
All of the excitement was then met with a somber moment, when the music superstar sang an acoustic version of “The Edge of Glory” in honor of her friend Sonja, who was battling cancer.
“I’ve been lucky that I’ve had some real success since the last time I performed at Coachella,” Gaga told Uproxx, reflecting on her previous experience.
“But also, I love my new album so much, and I’m so excited to perform it live. I can’t wait. So this felt like a great opportunity to do something creative and artistic and just bring my full vision to life.”
Aside from Gaga, other major headliners at Coachella 2025 include Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott. Nearly 150 acts are set to hit the festival stages over the two-weekend period, including notable names like Missy Elliott, Charli XCX and Megan Thee Stallion.
Coachella Weekend 1 runs Friday through Sunday while Weekend 2 is taking place from April 18 through April 20. Passes for the renowned music festival are available online.
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