Lady Gaga made a triumphant return to the stage on Sunday, opening The Chromatica Ball Summer Stadium tour at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany in her singular avant-garde style. The tour marks her first since 2018. Chromatica was released in May of 2020, with the tour originally slated to take place in June of the same year, but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Performing in quintessentially Gaga style, the superstar appeared in dramatic, theatrical fashion. Keeping with the theme of a strong shoulder, the musician dressed in a fire-engine red quilted patent leather jacket with nothing underneath except for tape over her nipples for one look. Another outfit featured an all-gray leather look with high-waisted, baggy trousers.
She adorned a black latex mock-neck bodysuit, fishnet stockings, and a bug-eyed headpiece for another, a cutout leather harness, and a metallic pleated sculptural gown. She donned black leather fingerless opera gloves and thigh-high black leather boots with a blood red deconstructed layered dress with sky-high arched shoulders.
Jamming out on a piano adorned with a mystical thorn sculpture, Gaga was surrounded by her little monsters to create a truly memorable ambiance. “The stage was inspired by brutalist architecture, materials, textures, crudity, transparency — a real savage and hard look at yourself, what you’ve been through,” she said while addressing her 53.1 million Instagram followers before opening the tour.
“I wanted to tell a story with abstractions and art, so the show celebrates things that I have always loved, like art and fashion and dance and music and technology, poetry, and the way all of those things work together. Everybody has worked so hard on this show and we love you so much. We’re so grateful,” she said. “I want to allow you all to interpret this show in the way that you want to, but I will say that it really documents the many different stages and sides of grief.”
She continued, “I want to really thank you for sticking it out with me and loving me through the different iterations of my artistry as well as me as a person. I feel more clear today than I have in a long time and more pain-free than I have in ages.”
She posted a photo of the stage on Instagram Sunday writing, “WELCOME TO MY MUSEUM OF BRUTALITY.” Performing for a sold-out audience of 54,000, according to People, the occasion marked Gaga’s first time playing tunes live from Chromatica. With a 20-song set list, Gaga included the dance anthem of the pandemic “Rain on Me,” “Stupid Love,” and “911” from her sixth studio album along with her classics like “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” and her Academy-Award winning original song “Shallow,” closing out the concert with her Top Gun: Maverick single “Hold My Hand.”
Produced by Live Nation, the Chromatica Ball will make its way through Europe, Asia, and North America for a total of 20 performances.
