Lady Gaga is back in Las Vegas! The 37-year-old Mother Monster resumed her “Lady Gaga: Jazz & Piano” residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM on Thursday night and made sure to pay tribute to the late Tony Bennett during the show.
Ahead of her performance, the “Applause” singer teased her highly anticipated return on Instagram, posting a selfie with her glamorous makeup, which included winged eyeliner and a bold red lip, while holding up a playbill.
“IT’S OUR OPENING SHOW IN VEGAS BABY. 1 hour and 16 minutes until we’re on stage with SWING 🖤🎺” Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, captioned the picture.
As the first show since Bennett’s death began in July, Gaga addressed her late colleague’s widow, Susan Crow, who was reportedly in the crowd.
“Susan, everyone in this audience loves you so much,” Gaga said, before talking about Bennett, who she previously said she would miss “forever.”
“The truth is, I didn’t know exactly what to say about Tony because this whole show was for Tony. Everything. The opening number, the middle numbers, all the diamonds, all the musical instruments, all the conducting, everything.” “Improvisation was in his memory,” she said. “But knowing Tony well, I know he would be really mad at me for being sad, so I couldn’t come out here and be sad.”
With that in mind, Gaga, who first collaborated with Bennett in 2011, explained that she decided to honor her late friend with a performance of his song “Fly Me to the Moon.”
“I sang this song when Tony was alive and I will sing it now even though he is gone because he will never be gone,” she said. “Susan, this is for you. I’ll make it. I promise it. I’ll never do it as well as Tony, but I’ll try.”
An eyewitness tells ET that Gaga also paid a special tribute to Bennett at the start of the show, introducing her with his voice over the speakers. Before she took the stage, the audience heard the late singer’s voice saying, “Ladies and gentlemen…Lady Gaga.”
After the show, Gaga also gave fans a glimpse of herself as she posed with her glam squad in a shiny tuxedo.
“THAT’S ALL 🐰🥕 @fredericaspiras @sarahtannomakeup,” Gaga captioned the photo.
The GRAMMY winner originally launched her jazz and piano residency in January 2019, alternating performances with her pop show Enigma. She last performed with the Jazz & Piano show in May 2022.
Gaga then went to the dark side and took on the role of Harley Quinn in the upcoming film Joker: Folie à Deux. The singer stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as DC Comics villain The Joker. Phoenix previously won an Oscar for his role in 2019’s “Joker,” which served as his character’s origin story.
Gaga finished filming Joker: Folie à Deux in April. Gaga returns to Dolby Live at Park MGM for a total of 12 shows before wrapping up on October 5th.
Gaga announced the new shows after the “Born This Way” singer mourned the loss of late jazz icon Tony Bennett, with whom she worked with on his 2011 album “Duets II” and “Cheek to Cheek.” worked together in 2014. The pair released their collaborative album Love for Sale in 2021, which was Bennett’s final album and earned him his final GRAMMY Award.
Bennett died on July 21 in his hometown of New York City, just two weeks before his 97th birthday. Although no specific cause of death was announced, Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016 and the news was shared with the public in 2021.
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