Lady Gaga topped Coachella 2025 with an electric, deliberate performance called The Art of Personal Chaos. Unlike her surprise appearance in 2017, this performance was deliberate, exploring deeply the subjects of fame, identity, and the cost of keeping both.
The five-act, two-hour set began with Born This Way’s “Bloody Mary,” as Gaga moved fluidly between old hits like “Poker Face” and new material from her Mayhem album. The first act opened with Gaga symbolically “killing” a former version of herself in an intense game of chess, introducing the audience to the path it would follow throughout the performance, navigating the ambiguity of fame.
Act 2 introduced a eerie scene with a “slain” blonde Gaga resurrected from the dead surrounded by skeletons. Act 2 included a bare-bones version of “Paparazzi,” which presented an emotional space where Gaga wondered at the co-dependent nature of fame between fan and artist. Throughout the performance, every act returned to different incarnations of Gaga, ranging from her gothic dream avatar to who she is today, and illustrated how they all form part of her identity.
The performance climaxed in an emotional moment for “Shallow,” when Gaga stood among her fans, reflecting on her relationship with them. The finale ended with her back for a long version of “Bad Romance,” reworking the song as an emotional appeal to her fans and solidifying her grasp on her story.
Gaga’s Coachella 2025 show was not only a concert—it was a breathtaking, multi-layered journey through fame, identity, and the anarchy that accompanies both.
