FUSE TV - Lady Gaga Gets Intimate at SXSW 2014

If any pop star in the world is suited to SXSW, it's Lady Gaga. An equal mix of arty intentions, dancefloor libido and Warholian premeditation, Gaga brings an aura of joy and inspiration wherever she goes.

Case in point: Lady Gaga Live at the Doritos #BoldStage, her debut performance at SXSW on Thursday night. Gaga transformed Austin's Stubb's BBQ into the Doritos #BoldStage for one night only in order to give an intimate Gaga experience to 2,000 fans, and it was a night that combined her arty inclinations with her pop sensibility and her loyalty to her roots.

Even in a venue as intimate as Stubb's, Gaga didn't lighten up on her stage show. The concert opened with a leather-bikini clad Gaga roasting over an open spit while her dancers rejoiced around her.

Obviously, she escaped her stage show ropes to perform a variety of ARTPOP gems, from "MANiCURE" to "Swine" to an ebullient "Gypsy" that was the ecstatic musical highlight of the night. 

Performance-wise, the most memorable moment of the evening was undoubtedly when Gaga sat down at a drum set and began pounding away while her NYC friend Millie Brown—a self-described regurgitation painter—drank bright green paint and proceeded to puke it directly onto Gaga. Jaded industry folk remained unperturbed, but for those actually enjoying SXSW, it was safe to say no one had seen anything like that during this year's fest.