The story behind Lady Gaga’s surprise makeup-free moment mid-concert

Lady Gaga went makeup-free on stage as she kicked off her MAYHEM Ball tour in Las Vegas. The 14-time Grammy winner took over the T-Mobile Arena on her 3-day show in Las Vegas on July 16, 18, and 19, 2025, blending hits from her MAYHEM album and several fan favorites from her extensive catalog.

One song on her setlist is How Bad Do You Want Me, the ninth track on her latest album. During her performance of the song, Lady Gaga stunned fans by switching from her signature avant-garde look to a barefaced appearance. According to concert videos from her Las Vegas shows, the encore begins with the singer wiping her face with a towel backstage, discarding her makeup and costume.

From the backstage video of her makeup-free appearance in a black bodysuit, leather trench coat, and a baseball cap, as she began her performance of How Bad Do You Want Me, she takes her barefaced performance back to the stage. However, as much as it's a surprise to see The Star Is Born singer go makeup-free during a concert, it wasn't the first time she ditched the glam for a performance.

She also ditched her makeup and her Versace gown as she performed Hold My Hand at the Oscars in 2023. Instead of the outfit and glam that she donned on the red carpet, Lady Gaga opted for a barefaced look, wearing a plain black T-shirt and jeans for the performance.

---

Lady Gaga goes back on the road again for the MAYHEM Ball tour

Her three shows in Las Vegas are just the beginning, as Lady Gaga returns on the road again for MAYHEM Ball, her latest tour following the Chromatica Ball in 2022. Her next stop will be at Chase Center in San Francisco, where she will perform three additional shows, before embarking on a 4-date concert at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

She is set to tour the US extensively, with stops in Seattle, New York, Miami, and Chicago, featuring a 6-date show. The singer will also travel to Toronto in September before embarking on an overseas tour with concert dates in London, Manchester, Stockholm, Milan, Barcelona, Berlin, and more. The MAYHEM Ball Tour is expected to end with four concerts at the Tokyo Dome in Japan at the end of January 2026.

Lady Gaga released Mayhem on March 7, which spent a week at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 200 list a few weeks after its rollout. While the singer didn't plan to follow up the album release with a world tour, she said that the reception of her latest album changed her mind. In an Instagram post in March announcing the tour, she said:

"I wasn't planning on the tour this year after my shows in Singapore but the incredible response to the new album inspired me to keep things going."

She added that the tour came together "super quickly" and was hammered down in just a few weeks. The singer also opened up about choosing arenas for the tour, saying that it will allow her to "control the details of the show," something that she can't do in stadiums.

---

Stay tuned for more Lady Gaga news as her MAYHEM Ball tour gets underway.

Edited by Maithreyi S