Lady Gaga packed in an electric, sold-out crowd for her last show at Madison Square Garden (MSG) on Sunday, Sept. 7. Notably, she started her set later than the 8 p.m. start time because she was accepting her Artist of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). 

   This year, she won four VMAs total, proudly displaying them next to her during her performance of “Perfect Celebrity.” Between a late start to accept some of the most prestigious awards in music and showing off those awards during her set, this performance is uniquely Lady Gaga through and through.

   Lady Gaga breaks her performances into five acts for this tour: Act I: Of Velvet And Vice, Act II: And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream, Act III: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name, Act IV: Every Chessboard Has Two Queens and Finale: The Eternal Aria Of The Monster Heart. Her love for the art of performing is shown through her direction and detail.

   The production of the concert was spectacular. The lights, costume changes, sets and passion that goes into every show is unbelievable. It was clear the audience felt the same way, as the crowd’s energy never died down, and Lady Gaga made sure of it by telling the crowd to jump and dance throughout. When Lady Gaga tells you to, “Put your paws up, now jump,” you put your paws up and jump! 

   She sang some of her biggest hits including “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance” and performed two surprise songs, “The Edge of Glory” and “The Dead Dance.” The most electrifying part of the night was undoubtedly during “Born This Way.” Lady Gaga introduced the song by asking where the queer community in the audience was and the arena erupted in cheers.

   “Just in case you were wondering, we made this whole show with you in our heart, I hope you know that,” Lady Gaga said.

   Multiple times during the show Lady Gaga credited the queer community and New York for raising her, saying she is the luckiest girl ever. During “Born This Way,” unified, the crowd held their paws up, singing and dancing.

   Throughout her career, Lady Gaga has been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. She credits a lot of her success to the community and works hard to create a welcoming, safe space for everyone.

   For the occasion, many concert attendees went all out dressing up as Lady Gaga from different eras: some fans dressed as Lady Gaga as she appeared in the “Abracadabra” music video, and others donned the iconic outfits she wore during “The Fame” era. Fans showed up and served.

   Lady Gaga has such a bold stage presence that radiates true love for her fans and performing. It is safe to say she has earned her “superstar” status. Her fans clearly never get tired of her performances because before the show started, the screen showcased comments from “Little Monsters” – the name of Lady Gaga’s fan base. One message read that this was their ninth Lady Gaga show this year.

   Although, most of the setlist came from her most recent album, she sang her early big hits and even a couple of “ARTPOP” songs.

   Lady Gaga told the audience she plans to make music until she is old and gray. She then asked if we would still come to see and support her and MSG erupted in agreement.

   She was not originally planning to tour this year, but due to overwhelming positive feedback for her album “MAYHEM,” she decided to, and aren’t we glad she did.