Seventeen years ago, five months before the release of her debut album, The Fame, she made her first appearance in Miami during what would turn out to be a consequential week in her rise to the top of the pop pantheon. Dressed in a ruffled silk shirt, aviators, tights, black ankle boots, and mirrored disco-ball booty shorts, Gaga performed a medley of future hits at the Armani Exchange party at the Raleigh to a small crowd of VIPs and media.
At the time, the stage setup for the woman who will bring a full-on opera house to the arena stage for three nights — on Sunday, August 31; Monday, September 1; and Wednesday, September 3 — consisted of two backup dancers in bodysuits, tights, and sailor caps; a disco ball; and supporting DJ VH1, known today as writer Brendan Jay Sullivan. He would go on to write a book about his early days working with the singer, titled Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives (2013).
Gaga's week in Miami was a pivotal one in her early career. She celebrated her final pre-fame birthday here, played Winter Music Conference and an after-hours set at a legendary Miami gay club, and jetted off to shoot a now-infamous music video immediately after leaving town.
Thankfully, though smartphones hadn't quite taken over our lives yet, the week was well-documented by nightlife photographers and — unbeknownst to them at the time — some of the luckiest music journalists on the planet. See some of that footage below to watch a star be born in real time.
Lady Gaga's First Performance in Miami
Although it would be another five months before the release of her debut album, Gaga brought three Fame tracks to the rooftop at the Raleigh on that sunny day in late March. Though she sang live, the loud playback often drowned her out, particularly during "Paparazzi." She closed the performance by arching over a disco ball and humping the air. She'd go on to release music videos for all the songs she performed that day — "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich," "Paparazzi," and "Just Dance" — and the latter two would be Top 10 hits by the following year. "Just Dance" went No. 1 ten months after this appearance."Changing the World One Sequin at a Time"
Gaga also did some press while she was here. In this teaser, she utters a line she used to say often in early interviews: "My name is Lady Gaga, and I'm changing the world one sequin at a time."As it turns out, a former New Times staffer is responsible for the existence of this clip, which still goes viral from time to time.
Kris Conesa was one of the lucky journalists invited to the Raleigh penthouse that week. At the time, he was an editor for PlumTV, which broadcast locally in Miami Beach.
Conesa stopped in throughout the week to hibernate from WMC craziness. He saw Paul Oakenfield and Tommy Lee there — the latter can be seen grabbing a drink at the bar in the final seconds of Gaga’s interview clip.
Conesa says he and his producer had finished filming for the day when Gaga walked in. Her appearance was striking enough that he insisted they interview her. "I didn’t have headphones on, so I couldn’t hear what she was actually saying. I was just kind of filming, and Michael, the other producer, was asking her questions. Then we kind of packed it up and said, 'Okay, we got some B-roll.'"
Thirteen months later, his editor offered him tickets to see Lady Gaga in New York City. (Given the timeline, this would have been one of her Fame Ball shows at Terminal 5.)
"I went to this concert as a fan," says Conesa. When he returned to Miami, he went to Plum TV for an on-camera assignment.
"I was in the studio and I saw a commercial, and it was the video that I had taken at the Raleigh," he remembers of his lightbulb moment. "At the bottom, it said, 'Lady Gaga.' I’m like, 'Holy shit!' That’s when it clicked for me — 13 months later, after I had already been to a Lady Gaga concert — that I knew who this person was, and that we had interviewed her."
Her Final Pre-Fame (and Pre-Fame) Birthday
Gaga, born March 28, 1986, also celebrated her final birthday as a relative unknown in Miami that week. Sullivan memorialized the event in an Instagram post on her birthday last year."We celebrated your 22nd together in Miami after playing two sets during Winter Music Conference," he wrote. "Then we slept for two hours and flew to LA to wear the same outfits in your first music video for 'Just Dance.'"
The last image in the post is a flyer for Gaga's show at Score Nightclub on March 27, 2008. Yes, in 2008, you could see Lady Gaga at Score for free. Yes, there are photos of Gaga straddling shirtless men and disco balls. You can also see pictures of the future phenom celebrating her birthday with a — you guessed it — disco ball cake.
"No, They're Actually Disco Panties"
This five-minute interview with film producer Louie La Vella offers an illuminating glimpse into the creativity that would follow."I'm a very visual artist," says Gaga, and she's not just referring to her costumes — she had a clear vision of the kind of artist she wanted to be.
"When I'm writing, I'm thinking about the video and the clothes," she says. "I'm a writer, but I'm also a dancer, I'm a singer, I make clothes, I help to come up with all the ideas for the video...I really am involved in everything."
Gaga also mentions she's four days away from shooting a music video with prolific director Melina Matsoukas. That would be "Just Dance," in which she wears a DIY bra and lightning bolt tie (a nod to David Bowie), matching the mirrored hotpants she wore in Miami that day. Just don't make the same mistake La Vella made and call them shorts — they're disco panties.
Lady Gaga. 8 p.m. Sunday, August 31; Monday, September 1; and Wednesday, September 3; the Kaseya Center, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 786-777-1000; kaseyacenter.com. Tickets cost $593 to $994 via ticketmaster.com.
