Lady Gaga launched her highly anticipated Mayhem Ball tour Wednesday night in Las Vegas, and true to its name, it delivered glitter, grit and glorious chaos.
Taking over the T-Mobile Arena, Gaga gave fans a high-octane mix of career-defining hits, new tracks from her Mayhem album, and just enough theatrical flair to make you wonder if Broadway had relocated to the Strip.
A Familiar Blueprint With Fresh Twists
The tour’s opening night closely mirrored the structure of her headline-making Coachella sets from earlier this year, but with several major shakeups in the second half. Longtime fan favorites “Just Dance,” “Applause,” and the deep cut “Summerboy” made triumphant returns to the stage. “Summerboy,” a track from The Fame, hadn’t been performed in 18 years, making it one of the night’s rarest gems.
Gaga also debuted the Mayhem track “Kill for Love” live for the first time, adding to the evolving mythology of her latest era.
Gondolas, Grit, and a Gothic Encore
Never one to play it safe, Gaga gave her Oscar-winning ballad “Shallow” a complete visual makeover, performing the song mid-air from a Venetian gondola suspended above the crowd. (Because why not?)
Her live version of “Die With a Smile,” the fan-favorite Bruno Mars collab, was also reimagined, stripped of its past polish and injected with moody new energy.
And just when audiences thought the spectacle had ended, after the dramatic crescendo of “Bad Romance” and faux end credits rolled, Gaga pulled a Marvel-style twist. The lights stayed down, the big screens lit up with backstage footage, and the pop powerhouse returned in a Cramps t-shirt for a gritty encore of “How Bad Do U Want Me.” Though it had popped up in previous performances this year, this was the track’s debut as a surprise closer.
A Compact But Power-Packed Tour
While her 2025 U.S. run is limited to just six cities, Gaga is making each stop count. She’ll play multi-night stints in Las Vegas, Seattle, New York, Miami, Toronto and Chicago through September 17 before taking the show overseas to London, Stockholm, Rome, Paris and more. The European leg currently wraps November 20.
Compared to her previous Chromatica stadium tour, this arena-based trek is a more intimate experience. But given the demand, and the scale of her spectacle, it feels less like an underplay and more like a calculated tease.
As for what 2026 holds? Gaga hasn’t said. But if the opening night of Mayhem Ball proved anything, it’s that she still knows how to keep fans guessing, and gasping.
Full Las Vegas Setlist:
Act I
- Bloody Mary
- Abracadabra
- Judas
- Aura
- Scheisse
- Garden of Eden
- Poker Face
Act II
- Perfect Celebrity
- Disease
- Paparazzi
- LoveGame
- Alejandro
- The Beast
Act III
- Killah
- Zombieboy
- Love Drug
- Applause
- Just Dance
Act IV
- Shadow of a Man
- Kill for Love
- Summerboy
- Born This Way
- Million Reasons
- Shallow (Gondola Version)
- Die With a Smile
- Vanish Into You
Finale
Bad Romance
Encore
- How Bad Do U Want Me
- Artpop
