From Rihanna Stomping on Tables to Madonna Taking Us There: The 7 Best Met Gala Performances to Date

It’s easy to forget that the Met Gala is, first and foremost, a prodigious charity fundraiser. And like other events of its kind, every year it includes a cocktail hour followed by a seated dinner, and finally (after foregoing any kind of silent auction torture) a performance. The Met being the Met, however, this capstone moment usually takes on an epic scale. Historically orchestrated in coordination with visionary maestro Baz Luhrmann, Met Gala performances have ranged from the cast of Billy Elliot swanning at the barre to Bruno Mars smashing it with pitch-perfect sincerity and Diana Ross serenading guests in a strapless feather contraption. On the Met stage, musical artists have collaborated, debuted new albums, and performed one-off songs never heard before or since. It’s a relief that, given where the show takes place, nobody has literally brought the house down. (Not yet, at least.) Here, seven of the best Met performances to date.

After defaulting to a virtual celebration in 2020 and delaying the party until September in 2021, the Met Gala returned to the First Monday in May in 2022, and what a thrill it was. In honor of that year’s exhibition, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” two American icons rocked out at the Temple of Dendur: Kacey Musgraves, who performed her swoon-worthy cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” from the soundtrack to Elvis, and Lenny Kravitz, who made the Met feel more like the MetLife Stadium with rousing versions of “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Fly Away,” and—what else?—“American Woman.”

For the 2018 Met Gala, marking the opening of “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” the one and only Madonna treated guests to spirited renditions of her 1989 hit “Like a Prayer” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” transforming the Great Hall’s dramatic staircase (and information desk!) into her stage for the evening. 

In 2016, Abel Tesfaye performed a litany of his top songs just as his album Beauty Behind the Madness was reaching a pop-culture fever pitch. At the crescendo of his set, Grandmaster Flash, who was serving as DJ that night, threw the show to Nas, who genuinely surprised guests by performing his ’90s hits—a rare thing indeed, given the crowd.

After storming the Met steps in the kind of exceedingly rare dress that deserves to be called a gown, Rihanna claimed the 2015 Met Gala as her own when during her performance, she stomped her way down the center dinner table where Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Alessandro Michele, and Jessica Chastain were all sitting (by this point, standing). It seemed only appropriate that she was singing “Bitch Better Have My Money” along the way.

Celebrating “Punk: Chaos to Couture” in 2013, guests were served dinner in the Charles Engelhard Court before flowing next door, where none other than Debbie Harry, clad in a Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy T-shirt, promised that one way or another, she would get ya, get ya, get ya. When Blondie’s set suddenly ended, guests turned 180 degrees to find Kanye West in leather pants and a (literally) star-studded skirt, ready to debut “On Sight” and “New Slaves,” the as-of-yet unheard songs off Yeezus. The year 2013 was also the first year that Kim Kardashian, West’s girlfriend at the time, attended the Met. He recognized the moment by singing a one-off song directed squarely at his future wife, who stood in the front row. The song’s key lyrics? “Cause baby you’re awesome/I’m also awesome.”

Florence Welch has the rare ability to shrink stadiums—seeing her live is like seeing a private show. So when Flo took to the Temple of Dendur at the 2011 Met Gala, which that year marked the debut of “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” all she needed was her fire-red hair, some good lighting, and that hauntingly resonant voice to move the audience to their feet (and maybe even to their tiptoes).

The original monster’s Met Gala spectacle—“Alejandro” dancers, a white grand piano, a rumored pre-show therapy session with Oprah backstage—not only marked the crest of her fame tsunami in 2010, it was also the biggest Met production to date, marking a point of no return for future performers.