Lady Gaga had to book it fast off the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards stage tonight (Sept. 7) because she had another gig to attend.
The “Abracadabra” singer made a quick exit after accepting the award for Artist of the Year this evening.
“I wish I could stay and watch all these amazing performances, but I have to go back to Madison Square Garden,” she ended her speech, during which she dedicated the award win to the audience.
Why Madison Square Garden, though? Fans wondering where Gaga had to rush off to will be relieved to hear Mother Monster was also slated to perform a concert tonight as part of her Mayhem Ball tour, not far from the VMAs.
According to the official Mayhem Ball event page on the Madison Square Garden website, Gaga will be hitting the stage late tonight at MSG.
“Please be advised that Lady Gaga will be going on stage closer to 9:30PM ET tonight. Doors will still open at 7:00PM as scheduled. Please plan accordingly,” the page reads.
The stage delay is to accommodate Gaga traveling from the UBS Arena in the Elmont area of Long Island, New York to Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan.
According to driving directions via Google Maps, the journey between venues should take the pop icon about 41 minutes not accounting for traffic, giving Gaga just over an hour between her Artist of the Year acceptance speech and her opening song on tour.
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Meanwhile, Gaga, who is up for 12 VMAs tonight, pre-taped her 2025 VMAs performance yesterday (Sept. 6) to accommodate her tour schedule.
Lady Gaga is currently performing on her eighth concert tour, The Mayhem Ball, in support of her 2025 album Mayhem.
The tour launched on July 16, 2025, at the T‑Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will conclude on Jan. 30, 2026, at Tokyo Dome in Japan.
The 63-show tour will see Gaga trek across North America, Europe, Asia and more. Initially planned as a brief promotional concert series, the tour was scheduled due to fan demand, bringing Gaga to major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Miami.
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