Was Lady Gaga's Olympics Opening Ceremony performance pre-recorded? "Spectators booed and regretted" having bought tickets, journalist says

Lady Gaga's performance at the Olympics opening ceremony on July 26, was arguably one of the most awaited parts of the entire event. In an exclusive interview with Variety which got published on Sunday, Paris Olympics Director of Dance, Maud Le Pladec made a revelation that Gaga's performance of Zizi Jeanmaire's Mon Truc En Plumes, was actually pre-recorded several hours back.

According to Maud Le Pladec, this was done for safety purposes. According to Le Pladec, due to the unfavorable weather conditions, the performance wasn't done live. She further added that the performance almost got canceled due to rain. Meanwhile, France 3 journalist Yannick Le Gall told The Telegraph about the ambiance when Gaga's performance began. Le Gall stated:

"We were in front of Lady Gaga’s set, and by the time the music started, the staircase was empty. Spectators booed and regretted having paid €180 to see nothing."

Variety reported that the Bad Romance singer was at the venue watching her performance on screen from her dressing room before she headed back to her hotel. Maud Le Pladec told Variety that Lady Gaga wanted to continue with the performance in any way, which led to the idea of pre-recording.

Lady Gaga at the Opening Ceremony - Olympic Games Paris 2024. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Le Pladec spoke about Gaga's performance and added:

"Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain."

Despite being a 4-minute long act, according to Le Pladec, it was the "most artistically challenging" one in the opening ceremony.

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Maud Le Pladec spoke about the reasons why Lady Gaga's performance couldn't happen in the rain

Maud Le Pladec gave insights into what happened on the day of July 26, when the Olympics opening ceremony was scheduled to take place. As mentioned, Lady Gaga's much-awaited performance wasn't actually live but had to be recorded hours before. Le Pladec told Variety that there were plenty of reasons that she couldn't perform in rain. She told Variety,

"The soil would have been slippery. She was wearing heels, very near the water, there were stairs… We had to be extremely cautious."

The choreographer added:

"We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rain. [Gaga] wanted to do it absolutely so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it."

It had also been revealed that the show required props collected from the now-closed Parisian cabaret theater Le Lido and several custom costumes from Dior.

Representatives of the singer have not made any comment on the situation as of now.

Variety has reported that it was Thomas Jolly who came up with the idea of opting for performing a song by Zizi Jeanmaire. Jolly had also directed the much-controversial act of the opening ceremony which resembled The Last Supper.

Le Pladec shed more light on the performance by Gaga, while having the exclusive conversation with Variety. She revealed that Nicolas Huchard also worked alongside her to choreograph Lady Gaga's performance. The choreographer added that Gaga was adamant on making the act feel as authentic as possible.

This meant that the choreography had to include a little bit of everything from singing, dancing, glamor, and humor. The singer was further described as a perfectionist according to Le Pladec. She continued:

"She wanted to make a show à la Française. She puts so much effort and thought into everything she does and she has a very developed creative process."

Despite so many precautions to avoid any mess during Gaga's performance, certain issues still turned up. This included some technical difficulties which impacted her vocals. A backup dancer of Gaga further slipped mid-performance. The dancer then continued the performance, after staying on the ground for a few seconds post-fall, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.

The overall opening ceremony received reviews from critics who didn't seem too impressed. Nick Hilton, working for The Independent, gave a two-star review for the entire performance. According to Hilton,

"Despite some silver linings, including a hotly-anticipated Céline Dion comeback, the cloudy ceremony was too much filler, too little killer."

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This year's Olympics Opening Ceremony was a little different since this was the first time that it wasn't held inside a stadium, and was on the Seine River. The boats carried the athletes along the river even when it was raining. Several artists like heavy-metal band Gojira, Celine Dion, and Lady Gaga performed at the ceremony.

The Independent had reported that the unfavorable weather conditions on July 26 didn't just impact Gaga's performance, but the organizers had to cancel several other plans. The bad weather was one of the many problems that led to a rocky beginning of the 2024 Olympics held in Paris.