GAGA, Lady · Lower East Side, N.Y.
Under the stage name, another one.
Carnegie Hill · Greenwich Village · Upper West Side · 2004 to 2012
Before the Lower East Side, a girls’ school on Fifth Avenue, a talent show at NYU and, later, a family table off Central Park West.
2004 · 1 E 91st St
A yearbook photograph shows Stefani Germanotta with her father at a dance in her senior year at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in 2004.
A working girls’ school: see the old Kahn mansion from Fifth Avenue and East 91st Street, by Museum Mile.
2005 · 566 LaGuardia Pl
She studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for a few semesters. In 2005, as an undergraduate, she sang two of her own songs at the UltraViolet Live talent show at the Skirball Center and came third.
NYU’s theatre on LaGuardia Place, by Washington Square Park; it stages international theatre and dance.
2012 · 70 W 68th St
Her parents opened Joanne Trattoria with the chef Art Smith in 2012, in the old Vince & Eddie’s, where she used to eat. The spaghetti and meatballs are made with the family’s own sauce.
Her parents’ Italian restaurant, open daily: check its hours, which change by day.
West 68th Street, Upper West Side
Her parents’ Italian restaurant at 70 West 68th Street, owned by her father, Joe Germanotta. Hours change by day: check before you go.
See hoursThe Village and the Lower East Side · 2005 to 2007
Her start was made of small rooms and the people in them: a bartender, a DJ, a go-go dancer, a songwriters’ night. Eight rooms are on the file. Turn the knob, or pick a tab.
In 2006 she played the New Writers Showcase at the Cutting Room, where she met the producer Rob Fusari. The songs they wrote together helped get her signed to Island Def Jam, which dropped her before she recorded anything. The Cutting Room has since moved to Murray Hill.
THE BITTER END
147 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
2005–2007
Open mic. Covers, then her own songs.
Card 1 of 8, filed under B: The Bitter End.
2005–2007 · 147 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
Covers and early songs of her own at the Bitter End’s open-mic nights.
From 2005 to 2007 she played open-mic nights at the Bitter End: covers and early songs of her own, Paparazzi among them. In 2016 she came back and played on its roof to launch Joanne. She also sang at the Bitter End and the Mercury Lounge while paying her dues downtown. Fred Weintraub opened the club in 1961. He chipped the crumbling plaster off a wall and found the red brick that became its backdrop.
Still a music club on Bleecker Street, with its red brick wall behind the stage.
Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
The Bleecker Street club, open since 1961, where she played open-mic nights from 2005 to 2007, in front of the red brick wall.
See what’s on
2006–2007 · Lower East Side
She lived in a one-bedroom walk-up on Stanton Street, above what is now the Only NY shop. She worked on songs there that went on to her first album, The Fame.
After NYU she waitressed at Cornelia Street Café and spent her tips on photocopied flyers for her shows. She played the Knitting Factory too, which has since moved to Brooklyn.
Her old flat is a private home above a shop: the street only, please.
Lollapalooza · Grant Park, Chicago
A few hundred at the BMI Stage
Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue played the small BMI Stage on a Saturday afternoon. They were not on the official line-up. A few hundred people turned up. She sang new electro-pop songs in fishnets and a mirrored bra.
She sang and played keyboard; recordings of the set show a sparse stage and a distracted crowd. A few months later she signed to Streamline Records, an Interscope imprint.
Grant Park runs from the Chicago River to McFetridge Drive along Lake Michigan. Buckingham Fountain, built in 1927, is its centrepiece.
Chicago’s lakefront park, open to all, with Buckingham Fountain at its centre; Lollapalooza fills it each summer.
Lady Starlight, a go-go dancer at St. Jerome’s, later opened Gaga’s Russian and South American tours as DJ.
5 February 2017 · Houston
NRG Stadium opened in 2002, the first NFL ground with a retractable roof. It holds 72,220.
The roof is shut. Open it.
That rooftop opening was filmed in advance, with her on the roof. Getting from the roof to the floor live would have been too hard. Three hundred drones made the flag behind her.
118 million watching on Fox
On 5 February 2017 she played the Super Bowl LI halftime show at NRG Stadium. The show began with her singing on the roof; that part was filmed in advance. Live, she was lowered from the rafters onto a raised platform.
The NFL called it the most-watched musical performance ever, with nearly 118 million watching on Fox.
Home of the Houston Texans and the rodeo; you need a ticket to an event to get in.
Midtown · 2010 to 2021
July 2010 and February 2011
In July 2010 she headlined three sold-out nights of the Monster Ball tour at the Garden. Two more shows there in February 2011 were filmed for an HBO special that aired in May 2011; Liza Minnelli and Paul McCartney were in the audience.
An arena over Penn Station; a 60-minute tour goes backstage and into a suite.
Midtown
A 60-minute guided tour of the arena where she played the Monster Ball in 2010 and 2011: backstage, a suite and the bridge under the ceiling. Adults from $48.
Book a tour
3 and 5 August 2021
On 3 and 5 August 2021 she sang with Tony Bennett at Radio City, in One Last Time. They were billed as his last New York concerts. They became his last performances of all.
The first night, 3 August 2021, was his 95th birthday. Both nights were phone-free. The two Radio City nights became Tony Bennett’s last performances: his doctor told him to cancel the tour dates that followed.
Its 60-minute tour takes in the Grand Foyer, the Roxy Suite and the Great Stage.
Sixth Avenue, Midtown
A 60-minute tour of the hall where she sang with Tony Bennett in August 2021: the Grand Foyer, the Roxy Suite and the Great Stage. Adults from $44.
Book a tour
14 places you can visit. Her Stanton Street flat is a private home, so it is named but not pinned and shown by its street sign; Sacred Heart is a working school, seen from the street; Cornelia Street Café and St. Jerome’s have closed, so their pins mark the buildings.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. NYU’s theatre on LaGuardia Place, by Washington Square Park; it stages international theatre and dance.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The café has gone; Cornelia Street is one short block off Bleecker Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a music club on Bleecker Street, with its red brick wall behind the stage.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A small rock room on East Houston Street with shows most nights; doors usually open at 6pm.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The dive bar has gone; another bar has had the space since. See the block from Rivington Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a cheap dive bar with fake-wood walls and sports trophies; she still tells visitors to go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a bar and music venue under the old piano shop’s sign, with two small stages.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel: glass walls floor to ceiling and views over Manhattan.
566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village
She studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for a few semesters.
NYU’s theatre on LaGuardia Place, by Washington Square Park; it stages international theatre and dance.
29 Cornelia Street, West Village
After she left NYU she waitressed at Cornelia Street Café and paid for photocopied flyers for her shows with her tips.
The café has gone; Cornelia Street is one short block off Bleecker Street.
147 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
From 2005 to 2007 she played open-mic nights at the Bitter End: covers and early songs of her own, Paparazzi among them.
Still a music club on Bleecker Street, with its red brick wall behind the stage.
217 East Houston Street, Lower East Side
Before The Fame, Stefani Germanotta paid her dues go-go dancing and singing in clubs like the Mercury Lounge and the Bitter End.
A small rock room on East Houston Street with shows most nights; doors usually open at 6pm.
155 Rivington Street, near Suffolk Street
St. Jerome’s, a Lower East Side dive bar, was where she worked as a go-go dancer and got her start.
The dive bar has gone; another bar has had the space since. See the block from Rivington Street.
123 Rivington Street, Lower East Side
At this dive bar in 2005 she met the bartender Luc Carl. They went out on and off for six years.
Still a cheap dive bar with fake-wood walls and sports trophies; she still tells visitors to go.
158 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side
The DJ Brendan Jay Sullivan booked her for a Sunday-night series at Pianos.
Still a bar and music venue under the old piano shop’s sign, with two small stages.
107 Rivington Street, Lower East Side
After a Killers show at Madison Square Garden in 2006 she went to the band’s after-party here.
A working hotel: glass walls floor to ceiling and views over Manhattan.
Stay
The glass hotel where she wrote a song after the Killers’ after-party.
Rivington Street, Lower East Side
The glass tower at 107 Rivington Street where she went to the Killers’ after-party in 2006 and wrote a song that night. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls, some rooms with balconies and soaking tubs.
Check roomsGo there
A night at the Bitter End or the Mercury Lounge, dinner at Joanne Trattoria, tours of Madison Square Garden and Radio City, and downtown music walks on the marketplace.
Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
The Bleecker Street club, open since 1961, where she played open-mic nights from 2005 to 2007, in front of the red brick wall.
See what’s onEast Houston Street
The small rock room at 217 East Houston Street still has bands most nights, with doors usually at 6pm.
See listingsWest 68th Street, Upper West Side
Her parents’ Italian restaurant at 70 West 68th Street, owned by her father, Joe Germanotta. Hours change by day: check before you go.
See hoursMidtown
A 60-minute guided tour of the arena where she played the Monster Ball in 2010 and 2011: backstage, a suite and the bridge under the ceiling. Adults from $48.
Book a tourSixth Avenue, Midtown
A 60-minute tour of the hall where she sang with Tony Bennett in August 2021: the Grand Foyer, the Roxy Suite and the Great Stage. Adults from $44.
Book a tourLower Manhattan
Live marketplace results for Lower East Side and Greenwich Village music walks. Check each itinerary for Rivington and Bleecker Streets.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
We found no Lady Gaga show or exhibition on or after today on an official page for these places. The Bitter End and the Mercury Lounge publish their own nightly listings.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
The DJ’s memoir of the Rivington Street years, an early biography, The Fame, The Fame Monster, Joanne and Cheek to Cheek.
Brendan Jay Sullivan
The DJ who booked her at Pianos on the Lower East Side years. Harper, 2013.
Find the bookMaureen Callahan
A biography of the early years. Hyperion, 2010.
Find the bookLady Gaga · CD, Cherrytree B0011805-02, 2008
The first album, worked on in the Stanton Street walk-up.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyLady Gaga · 2 × CD, 2009
The follow-up, toured as the Monster Ball, which played the Garden in 2010 and 2011.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyLady Gaga · CD, 2016
She played the Bitter End’s roof in 2016 to promote it.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyTony Bennett & Lady Gaga · CD, Streamline B0021494-02, 2014
Their first album together, of jazz standards.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 16 of 16 Moments
1 East 91st Street, Carnegie Hill
Stefani Germanotta’s senior year at the Convent of the Sacred Heart.
566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village
An NYU undergraduate sings two of her own songs at a talent show and comes third.
29 Cornelia Street, West Village
She waitresses after NYU and spends her tips on flyers for her shows.
147 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village
Covers and early songs of her own at the Bitter End’s open-mic nights.
217 East Houston Street, Lower East Side
She sings at the Mercury Lounge before The Fame.
Stanton Street, Lower East Side
In a one-bedroom walk-up she works on songs for The Fame.
155 Rivington Street, near Suffolk Street
She go-go dances and tends bar at St. Jerome’s, where Lady Starlight dances too.
123 Rivington Street, Lower East Side
She meets Luc Carl, the bartender at Welcome to the Johnsons.
158 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side
Booked for a Sunday-night series, she plays rock burlesque with Lady Starlight.
107 Rivington Street, Lower East Side
After the Killers play the Garden she goes to their after-party and writes Boys Boys Boys that night.
70 West 68th Street, Upper West Side
Her parents open Joanne Trattoria on West 68th Street.
Seventh and Eighth Avenues at 31st–33rd Streets, Midtown
Three sold-out nights of the Monster Ball, and two more filmed for HBO.
1260 Sixth Avenue, Midtown
Two nights with Tony Bennett, which became his last performances.
337 East Randolph Street, Chicago
Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue play a small side stage to a few hundred people.
She comes back to Lollapalooza as a headliner.
NRG Parkway, Houston
The Super Bowl LI halftime show: a rooftop opening filmed in advance, then a live descent from the rafters.
