Lady Gaga has revealed that she came down with COVID during five shows on her ‘Chromatica Ball’ tour in 2022.
The singer-songwriter, who attended the fan premiere of her upcoming concert film Gaga Chromatica Ball in Los Angeles last night (May 23), said she was ill on the tour during a Q&A with Access Hollywood‘s Scott Evans ahead of the screening.
She said: “I shared it with everyone on my team. I said, ‘I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable at work and you don’t have to perform and you don’t have to work that day, but I’m going to do the show’ because I just didn’t want to let all the fans down. And the way that I saw it also is like the fans were all putting themselves in harm’s way every day coming to the show.”
Reflecting on the tour, Gaga said that both it and the album: “In a lot of ways was the end of a time of my life and the beginning of a totally new one. And I feel like that time is actually maybe a few albums of time that I was sort of saying goodbye to old wounds or scars or challenges and with this tour, I felt really renewed to do something entirely different.”
.@Ladygaga reveals she performed 5 concerts with COVID. pic.twitter.com/zTKf90AFmO
— Marc Malkin (@marcmalkin) May 24, 2024
The upcoming concert film, which took place at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California in September 2022, is due to arrive on HBO Max tomorrow (May 25). No UK date has yet been set.
Sharing a recent trailer, she wrote in an Instagram post: “Revisiting the tour leaves me speechless the way we had each other – you all showed up for music and art in a big way, and with a level of excitement and freedom that I will never forget. Stadium after stadium. Sold out crowds. The deafening singalongs.”
“‘Chromatica’ was colourful revenge. The chaos of it all became pure energy and life. With a texture best experienced live.”
In March, Gaga said that she had been “writing some of my best music in as long as I can remember”. Prior to that, she teased that she was working on new music in a social media post earlier that month.
The last time Gaga released music as a solo musician was with 2020’s ‘Chromatica‘, which NME praised in a four-star review stating: “Gaga has fully embraced creating a pure pop album. The record is littered with catchy choruses and glossy production – but it goes deeper than that.”
The singer also recently announced she will return to Vegas with a ‘Jazz & Piano’ residency, a series she first launched in 2019. Gaga’s stay will kick off in June this year, and will run until July. You can purchase any remaining tickets here.
