There’s always an electricity in the air when Lady Gaga takes the stage, but stepping into Madison Square Garden on September 6th felt different. The energy was palpable, the arena buzzing with a cocktail of anticipation and sheer chaos. We found our seats high up in the 200s—a vantage point that gave us an almost cinematic panorama of the entire spectacle, even if it made us feel slightly detached from the raw sweat and grit happening onstage.
A Night for the Cameras: VMA Pre-Recording
Before The Mayhem Ball even officially began, we witnessed something unusual. The opening stretch wasn’t a standard concert run—it was a full-blown pre-recording session for the 2025 Video Music Awards. The cameras swooped across the crowd, spotlights panned dramatically, and Gaga herself ran through multiple takes like a director chasing perfection.
She performed “Abracadabra” three separate times, weaving in and out of fragments from “The Dead Dance,” and then flipped the script by delivering “The Dead Dance” twice, each time with new flourishes. For the audience, this stop-and-start rhythm was thrilling in its rarity but definitely unusual—it felt more like being extras on a film set than attendees at a rock show. Still, there was a strange magic in watching Gaga recalibrate her chaos in real time, each take a little different from the last.
Cracks in the Armor
Of course, even icons bleed. Gaga’s Miami show had been canceled days earlier due to vocal strain, and that fragility surfaced at MSG. Much of the performance leaned on heavy backing tracks, and when she reached for the soaring highs, her voice occasionally faltered. Yet somehow, that imperfection didn’t diminish the night—it humanized her. The machine may have carried the weight, but when Gaga tore into a line raw and unfiltered, the arena roared.
The Hair-Raising Highlight
If there was one song that made time stand still, it was “Hair.” Stripped of the theatrical armor, Gaga delivered it with a cracked yet genuine power that rippled across the Garden. It wasn’t pristine—it was better. It was emotional, messy, and achingly real. For a moment, the distance of the 200s evaporated, and everyone—whether pressed against the barricade or craning their necks from the rafters—was caught in the same wave of catharsis.
The Mayhem Ball Unfolds
Once the cameras wrapped, The Mayhem Ball ignited. This wasn’t just a concert; it was Gaga’s manifesto of chaos, theatrics, and gothic grandeur.
“Bloody Mary” opened Act I in a haunting operatic form, a reminder that Gaga’s vision has always fused church with club. “Garden of Eden” followed, with Gaga herself strumming guitar through an orchestral storm, while “Poker Face” twisted into a near-operatic chant before crashing into an “Off With Her Head” outro. By the time she unleashed the “Abracadabra” (Gesaffelstein Remix) as a ballroom battle, MSG felt less like a venue and more like a cathedral of controlled chaos.
Act II, And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream, brought the theatrics deeper into the shadows: “Perfect Celebrity” with its snarling intro, “Disease” with a feverish edge, and an alternate “Paparazzi” that morphed into a cinematic dirge. Each song was stitched with fragments of her catalog, creating an otherworldly tapestry of sound that blurred the lines between past and future Gaga.
The Beast Still Reigns
Perhaps the most symbolic moment of the night came when she strapped on her guitar during “The Beast.” It wasn’t flawless. It wasn’t always pretty. But it was undeniably Gaga—still swinging, still redefining, still daring her audience to embrace mayhem as a form of art.
Full Set List
Lady Gaga – The Mayhem Ball (MSG, Sept 6, 2025)
2025 Video Music Award Performance Pre-Recording
Abracadabra (shortened; elements of The Dead Dance) – filmed for VMAs Abracadabra (shortened; elements of The Dead Dance) – filmed for VMAs The Dead Dance (live debut; elements of Abracadabra) – filmed for VMAs The Dead Dance (elements of Abracadabra) – filmed for VMAs
The Mayhem Ball
Act I: The Art of Personal Chaos (The Manifesto of MAYHEM)
5. Bloody Mary (shortened; alternative operatic version, preceded by operatic intro)
6. Abracadabra (alternative, partially a cappella intro)
7. Judas (with elements of Abracadabra)
8. Aura (shortened; with elements of Judas and Scheiße)
9. Scheiße (shortened; extended intro with elements of Judas and Aura)
10. Garden of Eden (extended operatic/orchestral intro; Gaga on guitar)
11. Poker Face (extended operatic/orchestral intro; “Off With Her Head” outro)
12. Abracadabra (Gesaffelstein Remix; ballroom battle)
Act II: And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream
13. Perfect Celebrity (shortened; extended intro)
14. Disease (extended intro)
15. Paparazzi (alternative version; extended intro & outro)
16. LoveGame (shortened; extended intro)
17. Alejandro (shortened)
18. The Beast (Gaga on guitar after 2nd chorus)