Super Bowl
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Post Malone shook off his pre-game jitters and delivered a rousing performance of “America the Beautiful” ahead of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday (Feb. 11). With a guitar in tow, Posty showcased his range, hitting myriad high notes.
The multi-hyphenate was among a starry lineup that included pregame performers Reba McEntire and Andra Day. The country icon tackled the national anthem, while Day sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Before his performance, Posty touched on his nervousness in an interview with Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis. “Nerve-racking. I’m very nervous, but excited. I’m excited. It’s just fun and super-epic to be able to go out and sing a song so many beautiful artists have sang before. I’m just gonna do my best, just do my best, and give it what I got,” he said.
Posty revealed how his dad helped calm his anxiety leading up to his rendition. “My dad told me, ‘You’ll never make everybody happy, so just be yourself and do your best at everything you do.’ Do it your way and do it with love,” Malone said.
After Malone, McEntire and Day, Usher will be tonight’s grand musical show, as he was named the halftime performer. Following the likes of Beyonce, Dr. Dre and Bruno Mars, to name a few, Usher will look to cement his place in history as one of the more memorable performers in modern history.
“It will definitely be an event,” he told Billboard of his halftime set. “There are special guests. And I’ve considered new songs. But you know, it’s 12 to 15 minutes. So it’s really hard to determine what moment matters more than others, especially with a new song. But there’s the dance, the wardrobe, the lighting, how long you stay in a song, the fact that the audience may sing along … It’s a lot. So I’m trying my hardest not to overthink it.
Watch Post Malone’s take on “America the Beautiful” above.
Super Bowl LVIII is officially underway, and Reba McEntire helped kick things off on Sunday (Feb. 11) with a heartfelt performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the San Francisco 49ers took on the Kansas City Chiefs for the NFL championship. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With […]
Andra Day has officially added herself to a historic line of annual pre-Super Bowl performances by singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the 2024 Super Bowl, this year held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Taking to the field just minutes ahead of this year’s kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco […]
Taylor Swift‘s widely talked about arrival to the 2024 Super Bowl from Toyko is here. Baby, let the games begin!
On Sunday (Feb. 11), Swift was shown getting to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium — where the Kansas City Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers — via a video from CBS. She was joined by friends including “Karma” partner Ice Spice, actress Blake Lively and stylist/designer Ashley Avignone, and Swift’s mother, Andrea.
There to support boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift paired a red Chiefs bomber jacket (WEAR by Erin Andrews) and her signature red lip with black jeans and a black tank top, and accessorized her sweet Super Bowl look with an “87” necklace and football purse, and heart earrings; 87 is Travis’ jersey number.
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Swift was game-ready with her hair pulled back in a cute ponytail styled with a small braid.
In another clip shared by fans on social media, the pop star was spotted in a suite hugging Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce, who also took a moment to introduce himself to Ice Spice.
Swift rushed from the Tokyo Dome to a private jet at Haneda Airport right after her Feb. 10 show, the Associated Press reported on Saturday. At her Tokyo concerts, Travis Kelce jerseys and hats were spotted among the crowd’s Eras-inspired fashion.
At a press conference on Monday, Travis gushed over his girlfriend’s recent Grammys night, where she took home two awards and surprised viewers with the announcement of a new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
“She’s unbelievable,” Travis gushed. “She’s re-writing the history books herself, and I told her I’d have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with some hardware too.”
While Swift cheers on Kelce from the sidelines, another musical guest will be taking the stage for the Super Bowl Halftime Show presented by Apple Music: R&B icon Usher.
See Swift’s arrival to the 2024 Super Bowl below.
Adele is sticking up for Taylor Swift. The British songstress, 35, told her Weekends With Adele audience in Las Vegas on Saturday (Feb. 10) that the pop superstar, 34, has made the NFL “more enjoyable to watch” and defended the singer against those criticizing her attendance at Kansas City Chiefs games in support of boyfriend […]
Drake‘s on Taylor Swift‘s team for the 2024 Super Bowl. He appears to have bet more than a million in cryptocurrency that the Kansas City Chiefs will defeat the San Francisco 49ers on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 11).
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“I can’t bet against the swifties,” Drake wrote Saturday on Instagram, where he posted a screenshot of a $1,150,000 bet on Stake. Should the Chiefs win, his estimated payout is $2,346,000.
Drake has an endorsement deal with Stake, an online crypto casino where users bet on sports games and play traditional casino games.
Swift (and many of her fans) will be cheering on the singer’s boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, at the big game on Sunday. She’s wrapped her fourth Eras show in Tokyo and is expected to make it to Las Vegas to support Kelce while she’s on break from her tour until Friday, when she plays Melbourne, Australia.
The Embassy of Japan assured Swifties that the pop icon will have time to attend the Super Bowl after her Eras Tour concerts in Tokyo.
“Despite the 12-hour flight and 17-hour time difference, the Embassy can confidently Speak Now to say that if she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins,” read a statement released last week. “We know that many people in Japan are excited to experience Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, so we wanted to confirm that anyone concerned can be Fearless in knowing that this talented performer can wow Japanese audiences and still make it to Las Vegas to support the Chiefs when they take the field for the Super Bowl wearing Red.”
Swift rushed from the Tokyo Dome to a private jet at Haneda Airport right after her Feb. 10 show, the Associated Press reports, likely embarking on the long journey to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. At her Tokyo concerts, Travis Kelce jerseys and hats were spotted among the crowd’s Swift-inspired looks.
During a press conference on Monday, Kelce gushed over his girlfriend’s exciting night at the Grammys, where she announced her next album, The Tortured Poets Department, and became the first artist to win album of the year four times.
“She’s unbelievable,” said the NFL player. “She’s re-writing the history books herself, and I told her I’d have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with some hardware too.”
Pay attention future pop stars: Usher’s strategy for harnessing the Super Bowl’s massive audience into sellout headliner concerts is a master class in how to parlay a career milestone into a legacy solidifying tour.
The R&B icon has been able to capture the pre-game buzz around his performance at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime show with a carefully coordinated presale campaign for his fall Past Present Future tour. Once hardcore fans grabbed their tickets (most went on sale Feb. 9), Usher’s team started expanding the dates based on demand to make sure there will still be plenty of tickets available for the general public on the Monday (Feb. 12) after the game.
So far, there have been 360,000 tickets sold in presale for the Past Present Future tour, according to Live Nation Global Touring chairman Arthur Fogel, and dates have expended from 24 to 44 across the U.S. since the initial presale launched on Thursday (Feb 8). Billboard estimates that when the remaining tickets will go on sale Monday after the Super Bowl, the Past Present Future tour with be Usher’s highest grossing tour ever.
“The success of tour began several years ago when Usher launched his residency in Vegas, which re-established his greatness,” Fogel says. “Now he is building off that success with his current tour and the presales prove there is unprecedented demand to see him perform live.”
Ever since Usher was announced as the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show headliner, his touring team — manager Ron Lafitte, agent and WME partner John Marx and Live Nation promoters Colin Lewis and Fogel — have been building an arena touring strategy that fully capitalizes on the big game’s huge audience. Last year’s win by the Kansas City Chiefs over the Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Ariz., was watched by more than 115 million viewers in the U.S., making it not only the most watched Super Bowl in history, but also the most popular TV program of all time in America.
Despite the huge viewership, the last five artists to play the Super Bowl halftime show have not announced headlining tours after their performance. And those who did, like Justin Timberlake in 2018 and Beyonce in 2017, didn’t have any tickets on sale so quickly after the event.
Usher wasn’t going to let the momentum go to waste, though. Days after his Super Bowl Halftime performance was locked in, Marx began plotting out an arena tour. His charge from Usher was to try and replicate the intimacy of his Las Vegas residency shows, first in 2021 at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and then at the 2022-2023 My Way Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
“He wanted to play more multi-night runs in bigger cities,” Marx told Billboard, noting that Usher enjoyed the excitement multi-night engagements generated.
In total, Usher is playing 44 shows in 17 markets (locations for three of dates have not yet been announced). The Past Present Future tour will officially launch in Washington, D.C. (Aug. 20) and includes a four-night stop at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center (Sept. 6-10), four nights at the yet-to-be-opened Inuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. (Sept. 17-24), three nights in Miami at the Kaseya Center (Oct. 11-14), three nights at State Farm Arena in Atlanta (Oct. 17-20), and three nights at the United Center in Chicago (Oct 28-31).
“Sales are beyond anyone’s wildest dreams right now,” Marx says, noting that even more U.S. dates could be added and that a U.K. and European tour will be announced in the future. “Quite honestly, we’re just getting started,” he adds. “Everything I’ve seen and heard has made it clear to me that people everywhere really want to be at these shows.”
This may be one of the best weeks ever in the career of country music’s cult hero Zach Bryan.
It began on Sunday (Feb 4), when the 27-year-old singer-songwriter took home his first Grammy Award for best country duo/group performance for “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves. The following day (Feb. 5) he released a viral video cover of Bon Iver’s “Emma,” which showed his intense musical range, along with a strategically placed American Spirit and Bud Light can. On Tuesday (Feb. 6), the Oklahoma native dropped the video for “Nine Ball,” starring Matthew McConaughey. The next day, his self-titled 2023 album “Zach Bryan” went platinum. And on Friday (Feb. 9), at the Bud Light Backyard Tour, he launched his partnership with Anheuser-Busch during Super Bowl LVIII weekend. The company will sponsor his North American Quittin’ Time arena tour, which starts March 6 at Chicago’s United Center.
In his first live appearance since the Grammy win, Bryan portrayed every bit the gracious, grit–and-drive frontman that his fanatics crave, while endearing himself to the uninitiated who came through to see what the hype is about.
Taking the stage at 11 p.m. on the nose, after a swinging soulful set from Leon Bridges, Bryan electrified the sold-out crowd at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan with his powerful growling chorus on “Open the Gate,” from 2022’s American Heartbreak.
The can-drinking crowd of cowboy hats and boots blended with the leather-jacket-clad emo-country lovers and those geared-up in Chiefs/49ers merch — just as Bryan’s brand of Americana, indie-rock country appeals to all those groups.
From there the setlist bounced between his independent roots and his commercial success. Addressing the sold-out audience for the first time before 2019’s “Godspeed,” he said, “It is such an honor to be after [Leon Bridges]. Thank you so much to Bud Light for having us. You’ve been so kind to us. I do this at every show but I am going to do it. Cheers to Las Vegas, having a good time,” raising his can to the crowd.
During “Overtime,” Bryan got everybody going with a sing-along to the rock-and-roll-driven bluegrass jam session where he took a trip around the stage and ended up with the drum kit. Then, the question of the hour popped up: “Is everyone ready for the Super Bowl?”
Bryan’s energy on stage, his Oklahoma roots — and his ambassadorship into a “new wave of country” — draws recollection to a late ’80s Garth Brooks. And while undoubtedly he is more red dirt in his genre, the showmanship, storytelling and love of varying musical styles runs complementary. It’s also impossible to not get a Bob Dylan nod from the spoken-word riffs on some of his deepest lyrics.
Moving through his recent, yet deep autobiographical catalog, Bryan openly addressed the imprint that his U.S. military background has both on his art and his psychology.
“I was in the Navy for a really, really long time and I wrote this song ‘Tishomingo’ about going home, and I hope you guys don’t hate it,” Brayn said as the stage, awash in red lighting, reminded everyone of the backyard concert vibe that Bud Light wants to evoke.
He then lit the crowd up with a string of new classics “Nine Ball,” “Eastside of Sorrow,” “Dawns” (which elicited the most audience participation of the night), “Highway Boys” and “Quittin’ Time.”
It’s not uncommon for a Zach Bryan show to get a good percentage of the backing track from the audience. Band member Reed “Two Show” Connolly’s banjo solo on “Quittin’ Time,” was one of the highlights of the night as was Bryan’s message to the “Highway Boys,” also known as the band “these guys behind me are my best friends in the entire world … been to about every state together.”
After a five-minute pause, between main set and encore, Bryan and his eight-member band returned for a double-song encore, addressing as country music’s biggest news of the week, a tribute to the late Toby Keith with “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” with the words, “America lost a really important Oklahoma boy this week,” before closing out the almost 90-minute show with “Revival.”
The event marked Bud Light’s expansion into country music and serves as the launchpad for Bud Light Backyard Tour shows throughout 2024 at country music events and festivals across the country, including Stagecoach, CMA Fest and more. In an emotional moment, Bryan shared, “I was in the Navy for eight years … we’ve donated $27 million to Folds of Honor [a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the families of fallen and disabled service members and first responders]. Starting March, part of every Bud Light sold on tour will be donated to Folds of Honor, and I am going to match it.”
See Bryan’s full setlist below.
“Open the Gate”“Godspeed”“Overtime”“Fifth of May”“Tishomingo”“Nine Ball”“Eastside of Sorrow”“Dawns”“Highway Boys”“Quittin’ Time”“Condemned”“Oklahoma Smokeshow”“Heading South”“Hey Driver”“Something in the Orange”“Burn, Burn, Burn”“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” (Toby Keith cover)“Revival”
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Source: Foundation to Combat Antisemitism / FCAS
The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) has announced it will be running a Super Bowl LVIII commercial that will feature Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a confidante of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jones helped King draft his historic “I Have a Dream” speech which he delivered at March on Washington back on August 28, 1963. Now a lawyer, entrepreneur, and investment banker, Jones was also King’s legal counsel and one of his strategic advisors. Currently, Jones is the Chairman of the Spill the Honey Foundation, which was founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and acts to fight against racism and antisemitism via art and education.
The commercial’s goal is to foster unity between Black and Jewish groups in the face of hate.
“I know I can speak for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when I say without a doubt that the Civil Rights movement (including the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Acts) would not have occurred without the unwavering and largely unsung efforts of the Jewish people,” said Dr. Jones in a statement. “With hate on the rise, it is as important as ever that all of us stand together and speak out. Silence is not an option. I’m glad that I have lived long enough to partner with Robert Kraft and FCAS to continue to spread the message to the widest possible audience – the Super Bowl.”
Added Robert Kraft, “The work Dr. Jones has done over the course of his entire life and career is the embodiment of FCAS’ mission to build bridges and stand up to Jewish hate and all forms of hate. In the time we have spent together and through his work, I have become a huge fan of Dr. Jones, and I am proud to spotlight all that he has done for our nation.”
Watch Kraft give Jones the news below. Super Bowl LVIII kicks off Sunday, February 11 at 6:30PM ET.
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Will she make it in time?
Taylor Swift’s last song was still ringing in the ears of thousands of fans at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night (Feb. 10) when the singer rushed to a private jet at Haneda airport, presumably embarking on an intensely scrutinized journey to see her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, play in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
“We’re all gonna go on a great adventure,” Swift earlier told the crowd. She was speaking of the music, but it might also describe her prospective race against time, which was to cross nine time zones and the international date line.
With a final bow at the end of her sold-out show, clad in a blue sequined outfit, the crowd screaming, strobe lights pulsing, confetti falling, Swift disappeared beneath the stage — and her journey to the other side of the world began.
Her expected trip to see Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday, U.S. time, has fired imaginations, and speculation, for weeks.
“I hope she can return in time. It’s so romantic,” said office worker Hitomi Takahashi, 29, who bought matching Taylor Swift sweatshirts with her friend and was taking photos just outside of the Tokyo Dome.
It wasn’t immediately clear late Saturday if Swift’s plane had left. About an hour after the end of the concert, Associated Press journalists were near Haneda’s private jet area when minivans drove up and someone went inside the gate area as four to five people carrying large black umbrellas obstructed the view of the person.
At Saturday night’s concert, there was plenty of evidence of the unique cultural phenomenon that is the Swift-Kelce relationship, a nexus of professional football and the huge star power of Swift. In addition to people wearing sequined dresses celebrating Swift in the packed Tokyo Dome, there were Travis Kelce jerseys and hats and other gear celebrating the Chiefs. Some in Tokyo spent thousands of dollars to attend the pop superstar’s concerts this week.
“Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone,” Swift sang Saturday.
She won’t find that Sunday in Las Vegas when a sold-out crowd, not to mention millions around the world, will be watching her.
If she makes it, that is.