Every Day I Think About This Person Yelling Like Toad During A Lady Gaga Gig

Lady Gaga’s new album Chromatica drops this Friday, which means it’s as good a time as any to reminisce upon one of the most important events in the singer’s career: that time someone screamed at one of her gigs and sounded exactly like the Nintendo character Toad.

That’s not to diminish the significant achievements of Lady Gaga, in any way. She’s had one of the most varied and fascinating careers in modern pop, shifting through personas and constantly reinventing herself.

And that’s not even to mention her performance in A Star Is Born, a singularly moving portrayal of a musician hitting out on their own.

All I’m saying is, the Toad moment was so iconic — so downright unforgettable — that it would stand as a marker on the timeline of any musician, no matter how big.

I’d love to give you more context, but unfortunately I can’t. All I can tell you is this: Gaga was onstage in Brooklyn in 2013, alone with a piano while singing ‘Dope’, hitting one of the most emotional notes in her entire career, when a fan decided to join in and scream their adulation. Only, for whatever reason, that fan’s voice perfectly resembled the garbled cries of Mario’s mushroom-headed friend.

I mean, just listen, and let the thing wash over you:

The best live performance moment ever was when Lady Gaga hit a note so well that Toad starting losing his mind in the audience pic.twitter.com/1zGfccqQXy

— Tim (@timmac23) May 14, 2020

What more is there to say? God bless Lady Gaga. And God bless the world’s most emotional and supportive Toad. Watch the full performance below — the Toad yell really hits differently when you’ve gone through the entire emotional rollercoaster.