The last time Lady Gaga performed in Boston, she packed over 37,200 people into Fenway Park and broke the record for the venue’s highest-attended single concert. On her prior tour, supporting her 2016 album “Joanne,” she sold out the ballpark two nights in a row. So what is her current “Mayhem Ball” doing at TD Garden, which is a fraction of the size, when the logical next step is Gillette?
Sunday night, the answer was apparent within the show’s gripping first minutes.
It was a scene of pure shock-pop: a glorified parade float glided to center stage, revealing a 25-foot structure cloaked in red fabric. Gaga’s petite frame poked out of the crimson heap of a “dress” like a cake topper. From her perch, she performed a trio of macabre pop gems: “Bloody Mary,” “Abracadabra,” and “Judas” (quite the choice on Palm Sunday). Behind her, the even taller set design mimicked an opera house, filigreed with vines and crests, and spat bursts of flames.
