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Lady Gaga launches Dive Bar Tour to 'go back to her roots'

The 'Perfect Illusion' singer will play in three undisclosed US venues later this month

Jess Denham
Monday 03 October 2016 13:12 BST
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Lady Gaga gave her first performances in New York dive bars
Lady Gaga gave her first performances in New York dive bars (Getty)

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Lady Gaga might be set to rock the Super Bowl next year but that doesn’t stop the Grammy-winning singer from remembering her roots.

The “Perfect Illusion” songwriter has announced that she will be playing at a string of dive bars in support of her upcoming album Joanne, with the Bud Light X Dive Bar Tour kicking off this coming Wednesday at an undisclosed tiny venue in the US.

Fans will be able to livestream Gaga’s gig through the beer company’s Facebook Live at 10pm, so nobody will have to miss out on hearing the premiere of her new song “Million Reasons”.

“My first performances were in dive bars in New York City and around the country, so working with Bud Light to go back to my roots to perform songs from my new album Joanne is such an exciting way to connect with my fans and share this music with them for the first time,” Gaga said in a statement, adding that the “raw Americana vibe” of her new music is best suited to these styles of venue.


“Perfect Illusion” received a mixed reception from fans and critics when Gaga first performed it at London’s Moth club last month. She later appeared on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, when she revealed that the song is about social media, and the “many fake things around, things that appear to be real”.

“People feel pressured to live up to that perfect illusion in their real lives,” she said. “This is about accepting that and letting go. I’m not saying not to use your phone, I’m not that crazy. I think social media is great. But there’s also a lot of things that are on the internet that aren’t reality.”


Gaga’s return has been hyped for months and excitement was ranked up further when she revealed that she has recorded a duet with Florence + the Machine’s Florence Welch.

“There’s a feature on the album that I think you will be very excited about,” she told host Nick Grimshaw. “Me and Florence Welch did a duet together. I started to work on an idea for a song that I really wanted to do with a girl. You’ll see why when you see what the song is about.

“I just thought, ‘Who do I want to sing with?’ She’s really to me if not the best, one of the greatest vocalists in the world. She’s incredible.”

Joanne is due out on 21 October, with three dates so far scheduled for Gaga’s Dive Bar Tour on 5, 20 and 27 October.

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