Lady Gaga has given Dorito's a massive dollop of pukey PR after doing a stunt-filled performance at SXSW festival. When we say 'stunt', we don’t mean trapezing through the air or cartwheeling off of amps onto the drumkit. We mean proper, attention-grabbing stunts. The sort of stuff we’ve really come to expect of Gaga and no-one else.
Performing on the Doritos stage (despite Austin being all trendy and edgy and deliberately shabby, everything at SXSW is sponsored), she followed their #BoldStage hashtag-cum-mantra by incorporating some pretty bolshy elements into her set.
Joined by performance artist Millie Brown, Gaga performed her song Swine to a crowd of adoring fans before shouting, ‘I won’t play by your fucking rules, this is our world!’ then letting Millie throw up neon green paint down her white apron.
Wait, wait, wait. Throw up on her? Yes, throw up on her. Because that’s what Millie does. It’s her job. The Saint Martins art school alumnus makes art by swilling paint then vomiting it onto canvases. She previously vommed on Gaga as part of a performance art video that was seen on ShowStudio in 2011.
Gaga and Millie then mounted a bucking bronco, (except the bronco was the shape of a massive trussed-up hog, and the pig had an apple in its mouth). Gaga then continued singing and played the keyboard mounted on the bronco. Yes, it was a bucking-pig-bronco with a keyboard attached. And it had a ball-gag in its mouth in place of an apple. She then clung onto Millie for support as the bronco started spinning, and shouted ‘Fuck pop music, this is art pop!’
Leaning back, Gaga played the piano with her feet as Millie threw up all over her. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in watching, there’s a video of it.
Gaga then performed Aura on a rotating human-sized spit roast over a smoke machine and a fire, singing upside down while being prodded by leather-clad men wielding batons.
This might make absolutely no sense, but let us explain - the gig venue is part of Stubb’s BBQ, which serves food as well as putting on gigs, and Texas is king of barbecue culture, it might have been a nod to that. It’s all a bit bonkers and grotesque, but it's all fitting with Gaga's ARTPop schtick.
To secure entry to the gig, the 2000 fans had to do something really bold then share it on social media. Luckily they didn’t have to go around getting art students to puke on them, and they could do things like swapping a piece of clothing with a stranger or changing their Facebook status to an untruth.
All in all, the fans seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. And if Dorito’s have a smoky BBQ pork flavour range coming out, they’re laughing all the way to the (piggy) bank.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.