Lady Gaga covers halt in show, ‘I’ll be up here when I’m in my 80s’
Somewhere a legend was smiling.
Lady Gaga evoked spirit of the late legend and her former collaborator Tony Bennett during a pause in her performance Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Gaga broke from “Die With a Smile” as the sound cut from the stage. The moment seemed prompted by a technical snag at the start of the number, as posted on social media (including @GagaNotify on X). Her reps have not verified the reason for the break in the action.
As the song halted, Gaga called back, “Can you hear me back there?” and waved her arms to keep the crowd energized.
Some attendees felt Bruno Mars, who dueted on the hit, was arriving unbilled. A fan on @themayhemball X account is heard shouting,”Is Bruno here? Oh my god, is Bruno here?”
Yeah, no.
After the false start, Gaga turned to an impromptu monologue.
“Every night after the show, I go over every second in my head,” Gaga told the crowd during the pause. “I go over every step that I took, and I go over and over it in my head to make it perfect for you because you deserve the best.”
She went on, “The reason I want to be my best for you up here is, there was a time when I really couldn’t be my best, and I’m just so happy I can give you my best now … Maybe, one day, long from now, I’ll be up here when I’m in my 80s, and in my 90s, like Tony Bennett. I’ll be doing these songs, and new songs, and old tunes, and I’ll have long grey hair down to the floor, singing my heart out.”
The 37-year-old superstar stood and applauded the crowd, then went back to to the piano for “Vanish Into You.”
Gaga and Bennett appeared together twice during “Jazz + Piano” at Dolby Live in 2019. The two first appeared together in Las Vegas at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve Weekend 2014 album and subsequent world tour.
In her first show after his death in September 2023, Gaga told the crowd, which included Bennett’s widow, Susan, “This whole show was for Tony. Everything. The opening number, the middle number, all the diamonds. All the musical instruments, all the conducting, all the improvisation, was in his memory.”
Gaga was to play the finale of her three-show “Mayhem Ball” run at T-Mobile on Saturday.
Full transcript of Lady Gaga’s emotional speech at Night 2 of the MAYHEM Ball. 🖤 https://t.co/mRHDFXdh3f pic.twitter.com/E31uVUctne
— Gaga Notify (@gaganotify) July 19, 2025
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
