Lady Gaga headlined the first night of Coachella 2025 with a theatrical five-act set, complete with gothic visuals and a chess board dance battle.
- READ MORE: Coachella 2025 weekend one: line-up, stage times and how to watch online
Making her return to the Californian festival – which will see sets from the likes of Post Malone, Travis Scott, Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion and more – Friday’s (April 11) flamboyant headline performance marked her first since her 2017 debut at the event.
Kicking off a mammoth set with 2011’s ‘Bloody Mary’ – which has had a renaissance in recent years thanks to Netflix’s Wednesday – she performed alongside a gothic backdrop featuring gargoyles and angels, before launching into recent release ‘Abracadabra‘.
One standout moment in “Act I” was her rendition of 2008 hit ‘Poker Face’, which saw her dancers act out an Alexander McQueen-esque chess game, which fans instantly labelled “iconic”.
lady gaga performing ‘poker face’ & simulating chess is ICONIC #coachella pic.twitter.com/XxGt8rqMHX
— ໊ (@smazos) April 12, 2025
Lady Gaga performed “Poker Face” while simulating a chess battle at #GAGACHELLA: “Off with her head.” pic.twitter.com/O6ofBLhdKb
— LⱯDY GⱯGⱯ NOW🪞 (@ladygaganownet) April 12, 2025
She then performed a slew of old fan-favourites throughout the night, including ‘Judas’, ‘Alejandro’, ‘Paparazzi’ and ‘Born This Way’, with some songs given extensive outros to allow for several costume and wig changes.
Talking to the Californian crowd, she told the audience that she “wanted to make a romantic gesture” to fans by building them “an opera house in the desert”, with several songs, including ‘Garden Of Eden’ given an operatic revamp.
Dubbed “GAGACHELLA” by viewers at home, social media was alight with praise of the high-octane set. “I have no words,” wrote one X/Twitter user. “All I can say is this Lady Gaga set might be the greatest Coachella set of all time.”
Creative-directed with Gaga collaborator Parris Goebel, many took note of the surrealist gothic imagery which saw dancers decked out as plague doctors and skeletons, with another fan adding: “Gaga is giving story telling, theater, sex, church, gothic, she’s giving everything.”
Check out more social media reactions and the full setlist below.
Lady Gaga has just wrapped up her Coachella performance! See the official setlist below. pic.twitter.com/gLwWhbGqa4
— THE MⱯYHEM BALL (@MayhemBallTour) April 12, 2025
Lady Gaga at Coachella 2025 played:
Act I: Of Velvet and Vice
‘Bloody Mary’
‘Abracadabra’
‘Judas’
‘Scheiße’
‘Garden of Eden’
‘Poker Face’
‘Abracadabra’ (Gesaffelstein remix)
Act II: And She Fell Into a Gothic Dream
‘Perfect Celebrity’
‘Disease’
‘Paparazzi’
‘Alejandro’
‘The Beast’
Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name
‘Killah’ (with Gesaffelstein)
‘Zombieboy’
‘Die With a Smile’
‘How Bad Do U Want Me’
Act IV: To Wake Her Is to Lose Her
‘Shadow of a Man’
‘Born This Way’
‘Shallow’
‘Vanish Into You’
Finale: Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart
‘Bad Romance’
Lady Gaga absolutely OUTDID HERSELF… that was the most incredible, artistic, theatrical performance of her career. She is what you call an ARTIST pic.twitter.com/qIHWmWbsmN
— 𝙈𝘼𝙔𝙃𝙀𝙈 💥 (@mayhembygaga) April 12, 2025
I have no words. All I can say is this Lady Gaga set might be the greatest coachella set of all time. #GAGACHELLA pic.twitter.com/XTb8BagSwh
— imani 🕊️ (@fantasizemafia) April 12, 2025
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER LADY GAGA
THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANT AND MORE #GAGACHELLA pic.twitter.com/EXHgjhJ5IK— kris 🖤 (@hausofkrissy) April 12, 2025
Officially Lady Gaga’s performance at Coachella marked as THE BEST performance in HISTORY #Coachella2025 #Coachella pic.twitter.com/i1S9z0TgQU
— 𝐃𝐞𝐧 (@Invisblechains) April 12, 2025
I don’t know about you all but Lady Gaga performance deserves ALL kind of nominations in the world cause WTF IS THIS#Coachella #Coachella2025 pic.twitter.com/BK0o4noIAH
— 𝐃𝐞𝐧 (@Invisblechains) April 12, 2025
LADY GAGA JUST DID THE BEST COACHELLA SHOW OF ALL TIME pic.twitter.com/NwaDVKbw1X
— ؘؘ (@fametrilogy) April 12, 2025
oh lady gaga easily one of the best headliners in coachella history pic.twitter.com/rz3sLazFOt
— shreya (@sunlitfleur) April 12, 2025
Lady Gaga is the greatest living pop star of our time pic.twitter.com/KGEuQowuCn
— ɢ.ᴜ.ʏ. | 𝙈𝘼𝙔𝙃𝙀𝙈 (@dollopgaga) April 12, 2025
THIS is theater. Lady Gaga you are exactly who you think you are icon. #GAGACHELLA pic.twitter.com/5J6HikfUrt
— keith (@FvshionsWarrior) April 12, 2025
Lady Gaga just casually turning a festival stage into a full stadium concert #GAGACHELLA pic.twitter.com/vLFTVPdtx9
— My Name Is James (@_JamesGtfo) April 12, 2025
The set follows a banner year for the pop star, following the release of her latest album, ‘Mayhem’, which landed at Number Four in the top 10 best-selling vinyl albums of 2025 so far.
In a four-star review of the record, NME wrote: “There’s a nonchalant confidence in the way Gaga sticks to her maximalist vision without pandering to contemporary pop trends. Most ‘Mayhem’ tracks run close to or over four minutes, making them mini-epics in the TikTok era.
“Ultimately, ‘Mayhem’ feels like a great Gaga album because it’s just so much fun. At times, it’s a bit like reconnecting with an old friend who makes sense even when they seem to be chatting nonsense. Seventeen years after she broke through with ‘Just Dance’, Lady Gaga remains pop’s foremost agent of impeccably crafted chaos.”
The singer’s landmark set comes after she hit out at ageism in the music industry, promising fans she was just getting started. Back in March, she said: “Even though the world might consider a woman in her late 30s to be old for a pop star – which is insane – I promise that I’m just getting warmed up.”
Lady Gaga’s Coachella performance was the best thing I have ever SEEN
— Gottmik (@gottmik) April 12, 2025
