A lightning storm brought an early end to the closing show of Lady Gaga’s The Chromatica Ball world tour.

Gaga was nearing the end of her performance at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium in Florida on 17 September when the adverse weather forced her to halt proceedings.

The BBC reports the star had about six songs left in her set when she announced the cancellation to the 65,000-strong crowd, saying: “I don’t want to put your life in danger.”

She later told fans on Instagram: “I’m sorry I couldn’t finish the show, it was too dangerous the lightning was being unpredictable and changing moment by moment.

“This was the greatest tour of my life and I will cherish this moment forever”

“Thank you for believing in me,” she added. “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.”

The Live Nation-promoted summer stadium tour kicked off earlier this summer with a sold-out show in Düsseldorf, Germany and went on to make stops in Stockholm, Paris, Arnhem, London, Toronto, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Hershey, Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston.

Last month’s tour date at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania smashed the record for the highest-grossing show in the venue’s history, previously set by the Rolling Stones in 2005. Her 19 August show at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts broke the venue’s record for the highest single show, with over 37,200 fans in attendance.

“The show is incredible and everyone was blown away”

More than 280,000 tickets were sold for the six-date European leg earlier this summer, which wrapped up in late July with two sold-out shows at Tottenham Hotspur stadium (cap. 62,850) in London.

Solo’s John Giddings, who worked as the European tour coordinator for Live Nation, told IQ at the time: “The show is incredible and everyone was blown away. She’s proved herself to be a world-class superstar and this is her coming of age.

“Selling 280,000 tickets is fantastic. After the pandemic, you’re a) worried about selling tickets and b) worried that the people who have bought tickets either won’t come or will ask for a refund because they’ve got Covid. So it was a fantastic success to have all these people turn up.”

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John Giddings has told IQ how the European leg of Lady Gaga’s rescheduled worldwide stadium tour triumphed over prevailing issues.

More than 280,000 tickets sold for the six-date leg of The Chromatica Ball, which wrapped last weekend with two sold-out shows at Tottenham Hotspur stadium (cap. 62,850) in London.

The Live Nation-promoted tour, which also visited stadiums in Germany, Sweden, France and the Netherlands, marked the first-ever public live performances of Gaga’s #1 selling and Grammy-award-winning album Chromatica (2020).

“The show is incredible and everyone was blown away,” says Giddings, who worked as the European tour coordinator for Live Nation. “She’s proved herself to be a world-class superstar and this is her coming of age.

“Selling 280,000 tickets is fantastic,” he continues. “After the pandemic, you’re a) worried about selling tickets and b) worried that the people who have bought tickets either won’t come or will ask for a refund because they’ve got Covid. So it was a fantastic success to have all these people turn up.”

While Gaga’s packed venues bucked the no-show trend that some tours are still experiencing, the Solo boss says the European leg faced some of the same challenges, from staff shortages to illnesses to production costs.

“The problems of touring are two or three times worse than they were before the pandemic”

“First of all, you’ve got Brexit, so you have to import and export to each country,” he explains. “Then there’s the pandemic to go with it because – remember – countries like Germany are still a bit behind and you have to wear masks on planes and things like that.”

Countering the ongoing prevalence of Covid-19, the tour required crew to take a test and put on a mask before going backstage. “It was like the old days in the UK when you couldn’t walk down the road without taking a test first,” he says.

Add in the rising cost of fuel (which Giddings says costs at least a third more than it did pre-pandemic) and uncertainty around cancelled planes and trains, and The Chromatica Ball became a triumph over adversity.

The outcome, Giddings says, was an “incredibly successful tour” which garnered glowing reviews across the board. VICE said Gaga’s London show was “a once-in-a-lifetime artist playing a once-in-a-lifetime show” while NME hailed it “a thrilling, high-concept return from pop’s finest” and Evening Standard says it was “as perfect as a performance gets”.

The tour even broke some personal records for Gaga, who performed for her largest audience to date – 78,500 attendees – at Paris’ Stade de France.

But it was the shows at Tottenham Hotspur stadium that proved to be the standout dates for the Isle of Wight boss. “I have to give a gold star to Tottenham Hotspur stadium because it was fantastic and they really looked after us well,” says Giddings. “There was brilliant sound and the production looked incredible in there. The way it was built is perfect for a show.”

The Chromatica Ball tour continues across North America and Asia for 14 more shows with stadium stops in Canada, the US and Japan.

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Lady Gaga has extended her previously announced summer 2022 stadium tour, spanning 14 cities worldwide.

The Chromatica Ball, presented by Live Nation, kicks off on 17 July in Dusseldorf and closes on 10 September in California.

In addition to cities announced before the pandemic, the blockbuster tour adds eight new markets to the schedule.

The CAA-repped act is due in Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Paris, Arnhem, London, Toronto, Washington, New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In addition to cities announced before the pandemic, the blockbuster tour adds eight new markets to the schedule

The 15-date run includes two shows – the second newly added – at the 62,850-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The tour will mark her first-ever public live performances from the #1 selling and Grammy-winning 2020 album Chromatica.

The Chromatica Ball will follow Gaga’s recently announced Las Vegas residency this spring.

See all dates for The Chromatica Ball below.

7/17 Düsseldorf. DE Merkur Spiel- Arena
7/21 Stockholm. SW Friends Arena
7/24 Paris, FR Stade de France
7/26 Arnhem, NL GelreDome
7/29 London, UK Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
7/30 London, UK Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
8/06 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
8/08 Washington, DC Nationals Park
8/11 East Rutherford, NJ Metlife Stadium
8/15 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field
8/19 Boston, MA Fenway Park
8/23 Dallas, TX Globe Life Field
8/26 Atlanta, GA Truist Park
9/8 San Francisco, CA Oracle Park
9/10 Los Angeles, CA Dodger Stadium

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