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From the moment she descended from the ceiling of the MGM Park concert hall by zipline – beatific, armour-plated, well-coiffed and peak-shouldered – it seemed inevitable that Lady Gaga should invite comparisons between her legendary Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl LI half-time show and the first night of Enigma, the performer’s yearlong Las Vegas residency, which has begun in a spectacular fashion. And though both would see the 32-year-old arrive from on high – her descent by no means a reflection of an artist at peak performance – it’s there where comparisons between the two largely end.
It’s fitting that Enigma, a two-hour tour-de-force that has drawn rave reviews across the board, should arrive at a time when Gaga’s awards season campaign, already well underway, begins to shift into another gear. If ever you needed proof that Gaga is a star reborn (though hers arguably never faded), it’s apparently Enigma.
“Her debut is proof she will be the one to reinvent Vegas the way she reinvented the art of popstardom,” writes New York magazine. “For a show that at first seemed like an excuse to remind us what Gaga is best at, it ended up becoming a show that confirms and begins her legacy”, Rolling Stone declares of the opening night performance, the first of Enigma’s pop-skewing instalment; Jazz & Piano, a reworked show featuring pared back versions of Gaga’s catalogue and classics from the American songbook will begin on January 20. Billboard calls Enigma a birthright,” an absolutely delicious smorgasbord of pop music, performance art and fantastic futurism”; at Variety, a “very Good Romance” pun was apparently irresistible.
But what of those of us who for whom the likelihood of scoring one of the 5,200 nightly tickets is a mere fantasy in line with the narrative woven throughout Enigma, which sees Gaga interacting with the eponymous motion-captured alien avatar Enigma, supposedly a manifestation of “the mystery of you”, something like the overlap on a Venn diagram illustrating Gaga’s past and future selves. For answers, we turn to the exhaustive documentary filmmaking of legion fans who’ve captured Enigma’s many highlights in 4K. Cue Applause.
We begin with An opening number that encompasses Just Dance, a zipline entrance and a keytar
Scene-stealing costumes are obviously a recurring feature, the result of a collaboration between creative director Nicola Formichetti and Gaga’s sister, the designer Natali Germanotta
There’s Effortless banter
And Paparazzi sung from a flying orb
Naturally, The iconic deep cut Scheiße and Judas are performed atop a giant, many-pronged robot
And a cover of David Bowie’s I’m Afraid of Americans features a shout-out to donald trump
Before the show ends with a tearful encore performance of the 2019 Academy Award-winning Best Original Song, Shallow
Tile and cover image: Lady Gaga/Instagram
