Lady Gaga headlined the first night of Coachella 2025 on Friday, and the pop superstar graced the California desert with a high-octane, extravagant five-act set, which is being described as one of the festival’s best-ever shows.

The Context

The 39-year-old made her return to the desert for her second headline set with a mammoth 21-song set. Her set featured gothic visuals including skulls, gargoyles and angels, as well as a chess board dance battle, a nod to the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2005 show, “It’s Only a Game.”

Also dubbed “GAGACHELLA,” the two-hour show was creative directed by choreographer Parris Goebel and featured multiple costumes by designers Peri Rosenzweig and Nick Royal of Hardstyle, Dilara Findikoglu and Marni.

“I love you so much. I wanted to make a romantic gesture to you this year amid these times of mayhem. I decided to build you an opera house in the desert,” Gaga said while speaking to the crowd. “For all the love and all the joy and all the strength you’ve given me my whole life. Sometimes I feel like it went into a dream when I was like 20 years old and I’ve been in a dream ever since then…”

What Songs Did Lady Gaga play at Coachella?

Gaga’s set included 21 songs over a five-act setlist: here are all the songs she played.

Act I: Of Velvet and Vice

“Bloody Mary,” “Abracadabra,” “Judas,” “Scheisse,” “Garden of Eden,” “Poker Face.”

Act II: And She Fell Into A Gothic Dream

“Perfect Celebrity,” “Disease,” “Paparazzi,” “Alejandro,” “The Beast.”

Act II: The Beautiful Nightmare That Knows Her Name

“Killah,” “Zombieboy,” “Die With a Smile,” How Bad Do U Want Me“

Act IV: To Wake Her Is To Lose Her

“Shadow Of a Man,” “Kill for Love,” “Born This Way,” “Shallow,” “Vanish Into You”

Act V: Eternal Aria of the Monster Heart

“Bad Romance.”

What Are Lady Gaga’s Fans Saying?

Following the performance, social media has been alight with Gaga fans, or “Little Monsters,” as they’re known, praising the concert.

“I have no words,” one social media user wrote. “All I can say is this Lady Gafa [sic] set might be the greatest coachella set of all time.”

Another post on X, formerly Twitter, which has currently been viewed 1.6 million times read: “Officially Lady Gaga’s performance at Coachella marked as THE BEST performance in HISTORY.”

This sentiment was a popular one, with another social media user writing: “lady gaga… you might have just taken that #1 sport for best coachella performance of all time.” That post has currently been viewed over 700,000 times.

The set has also been lauded by critics, with The Guardian giving it a five-star review, describing it as “a fully realized vision of a pop master, a testament to years of hard-earned experience at the highest level, and a banger dance part with production and delivery in a league above her peers.”

The Rolling Stone wrote that Gaga has proved “why she’s a once-in-a-generation pop icon during Coachella set.”

What Are the Satanic Allegations About Lady Gaga’s Set?

The heavy feature of gothic imagery in Gaga’s set has sparked some criticism and upset online, with some users describing it as “satanic.”

One X user wrote: “‘Satanic rituals’ during Lady Gaga’s performance at Coachella is being praised …This is NOT art. This is NOT theater. This IS demonic and it must end.”

Another social media user wrote: “Lady Gaga performed a satanic ritual during Coachella,” and called the set “disgusting,” while another user described it as “unsettling.”

This interpretation of Gaga’s performances is nothing new. Prior to her Super Bowl performance in 2017, Alex Jones‘ right-wing organization Infowars had shared concerns she would perform a Satanic ritual, and her 2009 song “Bad Romance,” has previously been dissected by conspiracy theorists for alleged symbolism related to sacrifice.

But it’s not something that she or her fans take seriously, rather for her fans, it’s a sign of the singer’s enduring popularity.

“Satanic rituals, fighting dopplegangers, chess queen dance battles, zombies, unsettling crutch walks… Our girl is back,” one X user wrote, while another posted, “satanic and blasphemous is back, we are so back.”

Can You Watch Lady Gaga’s Coachella Set?

While Gaga’s set was live-streamed, the full set has not been shared online by Coachella.