Parris Goebel, the New Zealand–born co-creative director and choreographer behind Lady Gaga’s Coachella performance, is no stranger to working with major pop stars. She was responsible for choreographing Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show in 2023 and Doja Cat’s headlining set at last year’s Coachella. She’s created some of the most memorable moments in live concerts, including Doja’s rendition of “Demons” at Coachella—during which the pop star was covered in muppet-like blonde hair—and in music videos, with Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and “What Do You Mean?” And the way she brought Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball to the desert was no exception.

Presenting the performance as an opera, Goebel and Gaga took Coachella attendees on a journey through the pop star’s greatest hits and highlights from Mayhem, the synth-pop album she released in March. Just don’t ask Goebel for any spoilers in advance of Gaga’s Mayhem Ball tour, which kicks off in the United States in July; she gave a resounding “no comment” when asked how the tour and the now legendary Coachella set would differ. Vanity Fair: When did you start working with Lady Gaga on her Coachella performance?

Parris Goebel: Honestly, we started pretty late because we had the “Abracadabra” music video and her SNL performance. So I feel like we started later than we wanted to, about two months before Coachella, maybe even less. How many full run-throughs did you have before the first weekend?

I feel like we only managed to have one. One full dress rehearsal before the show. Parris Goebel at The Cinema at Selfridges on July 25, 2024 in London, England.

by Dave Benett/Getty Images. And what was that like? Mayhem!

We were all a bit pushed for time. A show on this level, you just never have enough time. It was such a highly produced show.

The lighting, the styling. Every look was custom-made. It just felt like no matter how hard all the departments were working, we just didn’t have enough time.

The day before was a rough run-through. Things were going wrong. I was like, Are we going to pull this off?

And then everything just was so smooth. It’s one of those “bad run-through, good show” instances. The dancers are the best of the best.

When you are working with people who are masters of their craft, when it’s show time, everything just falls into place. During the second weekend of Coachella, there was a microphone issue during Gaga’s performance. Did you have a contingency plan for that?

Well, you don’t expect that to happen. I don’t think we even thought of a backup plan. So yeah, I was gonna throw up as I was watching it happen.

There was a stagehand in [Gaga’s] cage skirt. He’s there for safety. And there are back doors in the skirt, so he passed the microphone up to her really quickly.

Gaga’s a pro. I loved how she played it off. What is the collaboration with Gaga like?

How did you come up with the concept of making it an opera with five acts? Gaga and I talk every day, and we’re constantly sharing ideas, photos, and inspiration. It just kind of came to me: What if we do an opera house, like Mayhem Opera House?

Throughout the rollout, we’ve been playing with the idea of what does Mayhem’s world look like? I’ve always had an obsession with theater. When I started working with Gaga, I very quickly learned that my wildest dreams and fantasies could transpire with her.

I texted her, “Let’s do an opera house.” And she texted back and said, “I love it. Let’s do it.” Lady Gaga performs at the Coachella Stage during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 11, 2025 in Indio, California. by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella.

How do you determine what songs to put into the set and their order? Gaga kept telling me she wanted to do the show of her dreams. And that meant we could not only do songs from her new album, but dive into her whole catalog and do the iconic songs and fan favorites.

We were just like, “How do we make the most iconic opening ever?” And we started throwing out song names. “What if we open with ‘Abracadabra’?” I said we have to do “Scheiße,” because it’s my favorite. “And what if we end the act with ‘Poker Face’?

It would be so unexpected.” I think people were expecting her to open with the new album, but we did this mash-up of new and old hits. I think it was the perfect blend to wake everyone up and say: She’s here! She’s back!

What was the inspiration behind “Poker Face” and the chessboard? Was the Alexander McQueen 2005 show an inspiration? Both of us are heavily inspired by McQueen.

He’s one of my favorite designers, and I’ve watched many documentaries on him. His fashion shows were just so ahead of their time. I don’t want to get too deep about the meaning of the “Poker Face” performance.

It’s been cool to see what the fans took from it. I think it’s pretty obvious it’s this battle between herself that she fights every day. But also at the end of the day, she’s a human being.

And I think people forget that. She has a really complex relationship with fame—the beauty and the darkness in it. It was cool to portray that in the “Poker Face” segment.