“Tony, we’re all so grateful to have witnessed your talent, your generosity, your creativity, your kindness, and your service through all the years,” Lady Gaga told Tony Bennett on stage at his last-ever performance back in August.
The touching final moments of the show, which took place at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall over the summer, was part of the CBS and EW’s cohosted One Last Time concert special that aired Sunday night. Both Bennett and Gaga performed individual songs, as well as duets from their second collaborative album Love for Sale.
At the very end of the event, Bennett thanked Gaga for her words before she helped walk him off stage for the last time.
“Mr. Bennett, it would be my honor to escort you off the stage,” she said, taking his arm as they walked out to a standing ovation from the crowd.
“It’s not a sad story,” Gaga later said about Bennett and the final chapter of his career coming to an end due to his Alzheimers disease. “It’s emotional. It’s hard to watch somebody change. I think what’s been beautiful about this and what’s been challenging is to see how it affects him in some ways, but to see how it doesn’t affect his talent. I think he really pushed through something to give the world the gift of knowing that things can change and you can still be magnificent.”
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