There’s a brand-new concert movie on the horizon, and this time it’s coming from pop sensation Lady Gaga. Right off the bat from filming Joker: Folie a Deux, Mother Monster announced on Instagram that the Gaga Chromatica Ball concert special will premiere on HBO on May 25, and will be available to stream on Max the same day.
Filmed at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in front of a sold-out crowd of 52,000, the HBO Original takes us back to summer 2022, when Gaga embarked on her Chromatica Ball tour. The show itself lasted around 130 minutes, during which she saturated the setlist with hits from her 2020 album Chromatica and Oscar-winning film A Star Is Born (2018). She also performed old favorites Poker Face, Bad Romance, and The Edge of Glory, among others.
There’s been no update on the special’s runtime, but we’d expect this to be announced closer to the release date. You can watch the trailer below:
In addition to performing, Gaga has taken on the roles of director and producer to bring us what HBO Programming EVP Nina Rosenstein describes as a “breathtaking concert special” in the HBO press release announcing the film. While Gaga is billed as ‘producer, director, and creator’ of Gaga Chromatica Ball, the special is executive-produced by Arthur Fogel, John Janick, Steve Berman, and her longtime manager Bobby Campbell.
Gaga Chromatica Ball arrives at the beginning of the US Memorial Day weekend, becoming part of the concert movie craze that has inundated the best streaming services in recent years.
Analysis: the concert movie craze continues
Although the streaming age has ignited a concert movie craze, many people seem to forget that artists and bands have been making films of their live show for years. I have a feeling this is because concert movies gained something of an ‘uncool’ reputation in the 2010s – just look at the films by One Direction and Justin Bieber.
But now, concert specials have attained new heights of popularity, with their releases becoming events in themselves. Just look at Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour movie on Disney Plus, and the cinematic release of Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, which saw fans swarm movie theaters in silver and chrome outfits.
Gaga appeared to pick up on this craze early on, taking to Instagram in June 2023 to reveal that a film version of her Chromatica Ball tour was on the way – before the rumors of Taylor and Beyoncé’s concert specials had even started circulating.
Gaga joins a long line of artists with special concert features to their name, and I’d expect Gaga Chromatica Ball to be nothing less than a smash hit – and I can’t wait to relive my summer highlight of 2022.
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