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- Lady Gaga headlined the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 11
- The singer opened her 20-song set list with her hit "Bloody Mary" from her 2011 album, Born This Way
- Gaga took inspiration from old music videos for her choice of outfits and set
Lady Gaga's little monsters have taken over Coachella.
On Friday, April 11, Gaga, 39, put on an electrifying almost two-hour show at the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., opening with “Bloody Mary” from her 2011 album Born This Way.
The song was followed by hits, including “Abracadabra,” “Judas" and “Poker Face.”
Among the Easter eggs in her 20-song set list was a homage to her music video for “Paparazzi.” While performing the 2009 hit, Gaga opted to wear metal armor, referencing scenes from the music video.
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Kevin Mazur/Getty
Gaga later sang “Disease” from her 2025 album Mayhem. During that performance, she laid beside a skeleton to recreate a scene from her “Bad Romance” music video. The same white crown worn for the video could be seen in a chessboard dance battle toward the end of the show.
"Some things just don't change #GAGACHELLA" a fan wrote on X, alongside a photo of Gaga performing at Coachella and another of the star in the "Bad Romance" music video.
Gaga’s headlining gig marked her return to the music festival for the first time since she stepped in for a pregnant-with-twins Beyoncé last minute in 2017.
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After the lineup for the festival was revealed in November 2024, Gaga detailed her excitement in an Instagram post.
“I have long dreamed of throwing a massive night of chaos in the desert,” the songstress wrote.
She added, “I’ve had a vision I’ve never been able to fully realize at Coachella for reasons beyond our control but I wanted to come through for music fans. I have been wanting to go back and to do it right, and I am.”
Gaga concluded, "I’m headlining and starting the weekend off at Coachella. Can’t wait to hear you all singalong and dance dance DANCE till we drop."
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Days before the festival, Gaga told Rolling Stone she was most excited to play "Killah," her collaboration with Gesaffelstein on Mayhem. For Gaga, this song is "really special."
"I’m so in awe of his work on that record. And we had a good time making it together," she said. "The bridge just pops off and it’s going to be total mayhem, a good time. I can’t wait to play it at Coachella."
After playing both weekends of the beloved festival — which is also headlined by Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott — Gaga will prepare to perform a free concert in Brazil, shows in Singapore and her Mayhem Ball tour.
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Kevin Mazur/Getty
Gaga released Mayhem, her seventh studio album, on March 7. The LP features 14 tracks, including the previously released songs "Disease" and "Abracadabra," as well as "Die with a Smile," her Grammy Award-winning song with Bruno Mars.
In a press release, Gaga said that Mayhem is about returning to her roots in a new way. "The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved," she stated.
The star added that her new album's style is akin to "reassembling a shattered mirror: even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way.”