Lady Gaga honoured the late Tony Bennett as she resumed her Las Vegas residency.
The 37-year-old singer played her first ‘Jazz and Piano’ show since the death of her friend and frequent collaborator at the age of 96 in July and in footage captured by audience members at the performance on Thursday (31.08.23), Gaga dedicated a song to Tony’s wife Susan Benedetto – who was thought to be in attendance.
The ‘Rain on Me’ singer said: “Susan, everybody in this audience loves you so much.
“The truth is I didn’t know exactly what to say about Tony because this whole show was for Tony, everything. The opening number, the middle number, all the diamonds, all the musical instruments, all the conducting, all the improvisation was in his memory.”
Gaga then revealed how Tony – who she collaborated with on the albums ‘Cheek to Cheek’ and ‘Love for Sale’ – would have wanted her to continue with the performance.
She explained before performing a slowed-down version of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ : “But if I know Tony well, I know he would be real mad at me for being sad, so I couldn’t come out here and be sad. I sung this song while Tony was still alive, and I’m going to sing it now even though he’s gone, because he’ll never be gone.”
Gaga had previously vowed to keep “celebrating” the legendary entertainer in a social media post last month to mark what would have been Bennett’s 97th birthday.
She wrote on Instagram: “Happy Birthday Tony. August 3rd is Tony Bennett Day. A day for smiling. But I’ll be celebrating you a lot more than once a year. I’ll celebrate you every time I’m on stage singing jazz music, every time I’m with your family, every time I walk down the streets of New York I’ll look around and remember all you did for this city and the whole world.(sic)”