Lady Gaga
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, December 5th
As we settle into our seats, operatic music soothes our souls and sets the scene for Lady Gaga’s ‘Mayhem Ball’ – her eighth world tour and first Australian visit since 2014.
The Little Monsters inside Marvel Stadium prematurely squeal like banshees over a puff of red smoke. Footage of Gaga journaling, using an oversized red-feather quill, runs for at least half an hour before, finally, ornate calligraphy materialises on screen: “Lady Gaga Presents The Art of Personal Chaos.”
‘Mayhem Ball’ is divided into five acts. Across two-plus hours we’re treated to back-to-back hits and zero misses.
The show opens with a Lady in White and a Lady in Red (both played by Gaga, the latter depicting Mother Mayhem, aka the Mistress of Mayhem), bookending the stage and facing each other on the giant screen. These “duelling twins” recite a manifesto of sorts in perfect unison and appear to be working towards reconciliation.
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The ultimate musical theatre stan, Lady Gaga sure knows how to keep her stage manager under the pump. As the crowd’s interactive, LED wristbands illuminate – transforming the stadium into a sea of dancing red dots – we get our first glimpse of Gaga in a 25-foot Tudor-style crinoline gown, thrashing her arms about to “Bloody Mary”. Resembling a Cruella de Vil toilet roll cover, she commands, “Dance or die!” So what’s under that ginormous hoop skirt? A gazillion dancers in a cage, obviously.
The immaculate opera house stage set is multiple storeys high with a catwalk extending way out into the stadium.
Green fog oozes from the ceiling down either side of the set before “Garden of Eden”, during which Gaga straps on a guitar and busts out some riffs while strutting down the catwalk: “Go get your friends and meet me on the floor / You’re out of candy, I can get you mo-o-ore…”
Gaga may be “Born This Way”, but she’s also in the shape of her life – physically and vocally. She doesn’t let up for a millisecond throughout. She’s never not ‘on’ and her acting ability gives her an edge: every eye movement, gesture, breathy exhale, and perfectly executed dance move is done with intention.
As “Poker Face” wraps, Gaga knocks out her white-clad, lace-masked nemesis by literally poking her in the face.
Parris Goebel’s creative choreography encapsulates Gaga’s universe and these dance athletes have been drilled to perfection. Even the cameramen become part of the choreography, chasing dancers down the runway to ensure every line is captured from the best possible angle. As for Gaga, singing while the ensemble manoeuvres her in the air during complex lifts? Stunning.
When Gaga leaves the stage, we’re wowed by freestyling moments and ballroom battles that honour NYC’s voguing scene. Knee slide, back arch and freeze! Gaga certainly keeps up with the high-energy Polyswagg choreography in amongst 24 of the world’s finest dancers, one of whom is Australia’s own Michael Dameski, who you may recall he snatched 2014’s So You Think You Can Dance Australia crown.
Some of Gaga’s costume changes are blink and you’ll miss it.
She performs “Perfect Celebrity” partially buried in a tilted sandbox, gyrating against a skeleton; performing “Paparazzi”, she struggles down the catwalk on shiny metallic crutches (the cost of fame, perhaps?), trailing billowing white fabric from the back of the stage to the end of the runway.
“LoveGame” gets everyone dancing — “Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick / I wanna take a ride on your disco stick” – and a heavy musical interlude gives Gaga’s astonishing backing musicians time to shine. Then Gaga materialises alongside a huge skull to present “Killah”. Given that “Zombieboy” is one of Gaga’s best new songs, there were always going to be dancing zombies and they’re the funkiest undead specimens we’ve ever seen.
@katepatto_ Gaga sings Brooklyn Nights in Melbourne (2025) 🥹 @ladygaga #mayhemball #australia #brooklynnightsladygaga
“The Dead Dance” could have been a Kylie song, but Gaga’s belting gives it oomph. ‘Mayhem Ball’ also sees “Summerboy” performed live for the first time since 2007.
Gaga gives a shout-out to the gay community before “Born This Way”, which artfully incorporates some of the original choreography (how quaint!) so the Little Monsters can join in to demonstrate their superfandom: “Don’t be a drag, just be a queen!”
In the ballad section, Gaga shows off her matchless pipes with stripped-down versions of songs such as “A Million Reasons”, “Shallow” (performed in a travelling gondola), and “Die with a Smile”, during which she accompanies herself on piano.
“There was a time when I didn’t realise what touring was gonna look like for me,” Gaga admits, referencing her struggles with fibromyalgia – a chronic pain condition.
Gaga shares that she worked up “Brooklyn Nights” to perform tonight at soundcheck, then suddenly realised the last time she performed this unreleased song (“music that was too hard to release”) was in Melbourne; she often glances at the sheet music while performing this one on piano.
The full complement of dancers return to the stage for “Bad Romance”, which is punctuated by pyros. Then Mother Monster disappears down a trapdoor.
After a break long enough for some crowd members to give up and start trekking up the stairs towards the exits, Gaga appears on screen live from the bowels of the stadium. Wigless and sporting a black beanie and relatively casual threads, she removes her makeup while performing “How Bad Do U Want Me”.
It’s such a powerful statement of authenticity to watch Gaga revert to Stefani Germanotta before our very eyes. She’s been a global superstar for 17 years now, and ‘Mayhem Ball’ finds this once-in-a-generation artist at the peak of her powers.
Ticket information for Lady Gaga’s remaining Australian tour dates can be found here.
