Lady Gaga has cut short her final Chromatica Ball world tour performance in Miami after a lightning storm forced her from the stage.
The Born This Way singer shared an emotional video on Instagram, apologising to her 53 million followers and telling them it wasn’t safe for the show to carry on as “even when the rain sort of stopped there was lightning that was striking right down to the ground, so close to us”.
The Chromatica Ball world tour began in Dusseldorf on 17 July, and has travelled to London, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, Arnhem (in the Netherlands), Toronto and numerous US states.
The September 17 performance at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, on Saturday night was the final night of the tour. She had to abandon the show with just six songs to go.
In the two-and-a-half-minute video, in which Gaga is still dressed in her latex bodysuit and stage make-up, she says through tears: “We really tried to finish the show tonight in Miami but we couldn’t”.
She goes on: “I know that for a really long time, I’ve always wanted to be like that hard core, bad b****, but what I really want is to also be responsible and loving and I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to anybody in the audience or to any member of my crew, my band, my dancers.”
While speaking she’s holding some red roses, which she refers to saying: “So I’m sorry that we didn’t get to do the epic performance of Rain On Me in the rain but what’s more worth it to me is life, and to whoever threw these to me on stage (the roses) I will cherish them forever.”
Gaga – who has previously spoken about her battles with depression, anxiety, PTSD and fibromyalgia – goes on to say that it had taken a lot to “get back to a place where I could perform and be healthy, and I hope you know that part of why I decided not to finish the show is because I am healthy and it’s a healthy decision for all of you and for myself as well”.
She concluded: “I’d rather be dry, but we’re all alive so go home and be safe and I’ll see you the next time I’m on stage and until then Chromatica will never be over because Chromatica is about healing and Chromatica is about knowing that you’re enough and I feel enough tonight even though I didn’t get to finish, I really feel like enough, so thank you for giving me that, I love you.”
Chromatica was her sixth studio album, released in May 2020 and featuring collaborations with Ariana Grande, Elton John and South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was Gaga’s sixth consecutive number-one on the Billboard 200 (the US music album charts).
In 2021, she released a remix version of Chromatica, called Dawn Of Chromatica, and featured further collaborations with artists such as Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama.
In a second written Instagram post, Gaga added: “I’m sorry I couldn’t finish the show it was too dangerous the lightening was being unpredictable and changing moment by moment, I love you.
“Look, for years some of you have called me ‘mother monster,’ in my heart I knew it was better to keep you safe. Thank you for believing in me.
“This was the greatest tour of my life and I will cherish this moment forever-it took a long time for me to heal, but I did.”
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The star, whose real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, rose to fame after the release of her debut album The Fame in 2008.
She has won 13 Grammy awards, and an Oscar for co-writing the song Shallow from the 2018 hit film A Star Is Born.