Lady Gaga Goes To The Middle

The woman who made pop weird is now playing around with being normal. Or her version of it.

- Lindsay Zoladz

It’s late June at Radio City Music Hall, and Lady Gaga is playing a joke on Tony Bennett, or maybe—it’s always a little hard to tell with her—Lady Gaga is playing a joke on us. This is the third of four nights that the unlikely-yet-somehow-inevitable May December pair have sold out and the latest stop on their “Cheek to Cheek” tour, which runs into early August and follows their chart topping 2014 album of jazz standards. Gaga has just finished an explosive, gusty, and gloriously butch rendition of the old Cher hit “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Her look: ruby-red stilettos, punky print T-shirt, well-tailored jacket and pants. It’s her first official show stopper of the night. Showcasing her growl lower register, her version of the song has a feeling of aggression rather than resignation—the way she sings it, you’d swear she was the one holding the gun. The crowd applauds. She leans toward us conspiratorially. “Don’t tell Tony,” she says with that signature New York–theater–kid affect, “but this is his suit.”