Gaga returned to her Jazz & Piano shows after taking a break to film 'Joker: Folie à Deus.'
Lady Gaga is back in Las Vegas! The 37-year-old Mother Monster resumed her Lady Gaga: Jazz & Piano at Dolby Live, located in Park MGM, residency on Thursday night, and made sure to pay tribute to the late Tony Bennett during the show.
Before her performance, the "Applause" singer teased her highly-anticipated return on Instagram, posting a selfie featuring her glam makeup, which included winged eyeliner and a bold red lip while holding up a playbill.
"IT’S OUR OPENING SHOW IN VEGAS BABY 1 hr 16 min till we hit the stage to SWING 🖤🎺" Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, captioned the pic.
Once the first show since Bennett's July death got underway, Gaga addressed her late collaborator's widow, Susan Crow, who was reportedly in the crowd.
"Susan, everybody in this audience loves you so much," Gaga said, before speaking about Bennett, whom she previously said she will 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, all the improvisation was in his memory," she said. "But if I know Tony well, I know that he would be real 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 pal with a performance of his song, "Fly Me to the Moon."
"I sung this song while Tony was still alive and I'm going to sing it now, even though he's gone, 'cause he'll never be gone," she said. "Susan, this is for you. I'm going to get through it. I promise. I'll never do it as well as Tony, but I'll try."
An eyewitness tells ET that Gaga paid special tribute to Bennett at the beginning of the show as well, by using his voice to introduce her over the speakers. Before she stepped out on stage, the crowd was treated to the late singer's voice saying, "Ladies and gentlemen... Lady Gaga."
After the show, Gaga also gave fans a look at herself, posing with her glam team while rocking a shiny tuxedo.
"THATS ALL FOLKS 🐰🥕 @fredericaspiras @sarahtannomakeup," Gaga captioned the shot.
The GRAMMY winner originally kicked off her jazz and piano residency in January 2019, and alternated performances with her pop show Enigma. She last performed the Jazz & Piano show in May 2022.
After that, Gaga took a walk on the dark side to take on the role of Harley Quinn for the upcoming film, Joker: Folie à Deux. The singer stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix as he reprises his role as the DC Comics villain The Joker. Phoenix previously won an Oscar for his role in 2019's Joker, which served as an origin story for his character.
Gaga wrapped filming Joker: Folie à Deux in April. Gaga is returning to Dolby Live at Park MGM for 12 shows total before wrapping on Oct. 5.
Gaga announced the new batch of shows after the Born This Way singer mourned the loss of late jazz icon Tony Bennett, with whom she worked for his 2011 Duets II album and 2014's Cheek to Cheek. The pair released their collaborative Love for Sale in 2021, which was Bennett's final album and won him his final GRAMMY Award.
Bennett died on July 21 in his hometown of New York City, just two weeks shy of his 97th birthday. While no specific cause of death has been announced, Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, sharing the news with the public in 2021.
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