Woman Gaga bid a tearful farewell to her landmark Jazz & Piano concert events at Las Vegas’ Dolby Dwell Theater inside Park MGM on Saturday, July 6. All through the two-hour efficiency, Gaga hinted at an eventual return to the Strip, gave a shout-out to her dad and boyfriend in attendance, and praised her jazz mentor, Tony Bennett.
In the course of the finale, she poked the viewers with a cheeky, “I can’t consider that is the final time we’re going to do that. No, it’s not, we’ll do it once more …” All through this run of Jazz & Piano, which started on June 19, Gaga teased a possible new residency, telling audiences, “… once we come again, we hope you’ll come again, we’ll have a brand-new present for you.” At one other time, she confirmed it will be “pop.”
This primary Las Vegas residency flip from Gaga started as two reveals: the progressive pop Enigma, which opened on Dec. 28, 2018, adopted by Jazz & Piano on Jan. 20, 2019. Twin residencies with fully various kinds of music was a groundbreaking notion; no artist had beforehand tried it in Las Vegas.
Woman Gaga Jazz & Piano drew inspiration from the Nice American Songbook. Additionally, it featured jazz rearrangements of Gaga’s hottest work, together with “Paparazzi,” “Born This Approach,” and “Unhealthy Romance,” which intensify the lyrics in ways in which the pop variations don’t. These additions allowed an viewers that could be greatest acquainted with her from her work with Tony Bennett on their collaborative albums Cheek to Cheek (2014) and Love for Sale (2021) to get to know her as a lyricist.
Over its 48 performances, Jazz & Piano skilled a rollercoaster of highs and lows, together with a 21-month pause, Bennett’s passing and an Oscar win for greatest track for A Star is Born.
Opening evening noticed Gaga and Bennett take the stage collectively. “You realize this man proper right here: When everybody was calling me a tramp, he was calling me a woman. We love you, Tony,” Gaga stated when introducing her then 92-year-old duet companion. They lovingly belted by means of “Woman is a Tramp” and “Cheek to Cheek.”
The ultimate run, the eighth iteration of Jazz & Piano, carried on most of the residency’s traditions whereas including new surprises that her little monsters love.
The present began with a black and white video of Gaga and her bandmates backstage warming as much as Nat King Cole’s “Orange Coloured Sky” broadcast on the side-stage screens. The band, with conductor Michael Bearden, trumpeter and bandleader Brian Newman, pianist and organist Alex Smith, saxophonist Steve Kortyka, drummer Donald Barrett, and bassist Daniel Foose backed by a full orchestra, took the stage and kicked off the night with the basic Vegas anthem “Luck Be A Woman,” as they’ve 47 different instances.
As he did on opening evening again in 2019 when he appeared in individual, Bennett, who handed away final July, at age 96, launched the star through voiceover: “Women and gents, the unimaginable Woman Gaga.” Even after his loss of life, Bennett remained an omnipresent a part of the present.
Each be aware sang and performed on closing evening felt like a protracted, raspy, soulful goodbye love letter delivered within the “wisegal” showroom banter for which her jazz persona “the “Woman” has grow to be recognized.
“Las Vegas, you might be in for a deal with … it’s Saturday, and you’re going to really feel like shit on Monday and within the morning, too,” Gaga promised. “That is the final present of this residency in Las Vegas, which implies tonight we’ll make you sick. You may be so sick, however the very best is but to come back.”
This assertion launched Sinatra’s tune of the identical identify. Modifying the lyrics of “The Finest is But to Come” to “Las Vegas, I’m gonna educate you to fly.”
A visibly emotional Gaga gave each track its send-off, her band matching the power with blow-out instrumentation and the sell-out crowd gushing with adoration by means of a number of standing ovations.
There have been particular friends within the viewers. 4 songs in, Gaga shouted out her father, Joe Germanotta. After downing a glass of whiskey in a single gulp, she stated, “My daddy taught me how to do this—my daddy is within the viewers tonight, thanks, dad—name me irresponsible …”
Within the lead-up to “Do I Love You,” Gaga referred to as out boyfriend Michael Polansky. “I don’t know for those who introduced anyone you’re keen on tonight, however I introduced anyone with me that I like, Mr. Michael Polansky. I can’t deliver you up on stage, however you might be at all times in my coronary heart, honey,” she stated.
The costumes have modified all through the years with glowing new additions, and for this stretch of dates, the wardrobe acquired a whole revamp. Gaga’s re-assessment of the night, with its ornate bejeweled necklace and headpiece, felt as if it got here from Elizabeth Taylor’s 1963 flip as Cleopatra. Gaga sat at her piano within the robe and stated, “‘Born This Approach’ is all the things I stand for.”
Every run launched setlist modifications. In 2021, in promotion of a second album with Bennett, Love for Sale, Gaga added “Love for Sale,” “Let’s Do It,” “Do I Love You,” and “You’re the Prime,” along with “Rags to Riches” and “Mambo Italiano.” In 2023, the revised setlist included “The Finest Is But to Come,” “Sway,” “Steppin’ Out with My Child,” “It Don’t Imply a Factor (If It Ain’t Bought That Swing),” and her personal “Silly Love.” “Americano” got here on board in 2024.
Closing evening put a highlight on prolonged solos from the band. Newman unforgettably glided by means of “The Finest is But to Come” and “Paparazzi,” demonstrating the extent of what a real grasp can do with a trumpet. Barrett pounded by means of drum solos and Smith’s work on the keys fully reinvented the sounds a piano can produce.
The ultimate set earlier than the encore commenced with “La Vie En Rose.” Gaga’s model stands as much as the unique, not like another try. She carried out the Edith Piaf basic in shadow, a lead into the whispering hang-out of “Unhealthy Romance,” with the articulation of each phrase a dalliance between vice grip and petal smooth.
As Jazz & Piano ended with its final two tunes, Gaga promised the gang, “I’m not going to cease singing jazz … this one’s for you, Tone.”
The second-to-last track, Bennett’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” started with Gaga dropping her mic and belting unamplified to the 5,200-seat theater.
Ending with “I’m tremendous emotional, however there’s no crying in baseball and thanking the viewers for serving to us protect the legacy of jazz. … I’m going to die an previous woman singing this music on this stage.” Gaga then made her approach round and shook the palms of every orchestra member.
All through the five-and-a-half-year residency, varied pop-up experiences helped to create a complete Gaga universe in Las Vegas.
In Might 2019, the Haus of Gaga mini museum opened alongside the theater. It showcased clothes and accessories from the singer’s archive, together with the notorious “meat costume.” Donations benefitted the Born This Approach Basis, a nonprofit that Gaga and her mom, Cynthia Germanotta, co-founded.
Brian Newman’s “After Darkish” late-night lounge gig debuted at NoMad’s The Library in June 2019. Gaga ceaselessly popped in to hitch her bandleader on stage within the intimate setting. Newman produced the soundtrack model of “La Vie En Rose” for A Star Is Born and was her bandleader and trumpeter for “Cheek to Cheek.” Each Gaga and Newman have the identical Miles Davis trumpet tattoo on their proper arms, based mostly on a sketch by Bennett.
Whereas remaining numbers received’t be obtainable for just a few months, Jazz & Piano is estimated to have earned greater than $100 million, inserting it within the high 10 Las Vegas residencies. This fall, Woman Gaga will star as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux and has teased a forthcoming seventh studio album.