Kendrick Lamar became the first-ever solo rapper to headline the Super Bowl halftime show during last night’s championship game at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

A week after his sweep at the Grammy Awards, the American rapper delivered a 13-minute medley of greatest hits including Humble, Squabble Up and the smash Drake diss track Not Like Us to cap the halftime show, sponsored by Apple Music.

Lamar was expected to have reached more than 120 million TV viewers who had tuned in to see the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22, denying them an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl.

Emceed by actor Samuel L Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam, Lamar’s performance featured special guests SZA on tracks Luther and All The Stars, and tennis star Serena Williams, who performed the Crip Walk – a notorious Los Angeles dance move.

Not Like Us, the Drake diss track which has earned Lamar one billion streams on Spotify and five Grammy Awards, was deemed the pinnacle of the performance by critics. It comes as Drake’s lawyers sue Lamar’s record label Universal Music Group over the track, accusing it of trying to “create a viral hit” out of a song that made “false factual allegations” about the star.

Lamar was expected to have reached more than 120 million TV viewers

Another talking point of the performance was at the climax of the 13-minute set, when a protester climbed on top of Lamar’s black Buick GNX car and unfurled a combined Palestinian and Sudanese flag, before being tackled by security officers. The NFL later said in a statement that the protester was part of the 400-member cast who took part in the show.

Since 2020, the Super Bowl halftime show has been produced in collaboration with Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation, which has brought headliners including Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Eminem, Rihanna and Usher.

Super Bowl LIX also featured artists including Lady Gaga, who kicked off the championship game with a special tribute to New Orleans, Jon Baptiste, who performed the National Anthem, and Post Malone who headlined the Super Bowl 2025 Tailgate Concert.

Following their Super Bowl halftime performance, Kendrick Lamar and SZA today announced a UK and Europe leg of their Grand National Tour.

The outing, presented by Live Nation, pgLang and Top Dawg Entertainment, will take over 13 stadiums across Europe and the United Kingdom this summer. The list of fresh tour dates includes:

Jun 10 – Detroit, MI – Ford Field

Jun 12 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre

Jun 16 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium

Jun 18 – Washington, DC – Northwest Stadium

Jul 2 – Cologne, Germany – RheinEnergieSTADION

Jul 4 – Frankfurt, Germany – Deutsche Bank Park

Jul 8 – Glasgow, UK – Hampden Park

Jul 10 – Birmingham, UK – Villa Park

Jul 13 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Johan Cruijff ArenA

Jul 15 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena

Jul 19 – Cardiff, UK – Principality Stadium

Jul 22 – London, UK – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Jul 27 – Lisbon, Portugal – Estadio do Restelo

Jul 30 – Barcelona, Spain – Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

Aug 2 – Rome, Italy – Stadio Olimpico

Aug 6 – Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy

Aug 9 – Stockholm, Sweden – 3Arena

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Live Nation has forged a groundbreaking multi-year partnership with the NFL to produce the post-game ceremony of the Super Bowl for the next three years.

The “milestone” deal begins this year after Super Bowl LIX, which takes place on Sunday (9 February) at the Superdome in New Orleans. Kendrick Lamar and SZA are set to deliver this year’s halftime show, on which Jay-Z’s Roc Nation consults with NFL.

An official press release states that the partnership “reflects both Live Nation and NFL’s commitment to delivering the best fan experiences and to raising the bar for live entertainment”.

Building on the excitement of the Super Bowl’s pre-game and halftime shows, Live Nation aims to deliver a “spectacular” trophy ceremony that captures the NFL and its global presence. Redefining the post-game experience, the ceremony is set to become a key feature of the Super Bowl.

“The Super Bowl is such an iconic event – we jumped at the opportunity to partner with the NFL for the post-game ceremony”

“The Super Bowl is such an iconic event – we jumped at the opportunity to partner with the NFL for the post-game ceremony,” says SVP special operations at Live Nation, James Massing. “Continually innovating the fan experience and game presentation is what makes the NFL best in class and we are proud to play our part in this legendary moment.”

Tim Tubito, NFL’s senior director of event presentation & content, adds: “The post-game ceremony is a celebration for the winning team, their fans and the culmination of an unforgettable NFL season. We are excited for Live Nation to bring their expertise and passion to this tradition over the next three years.”

The partnership builds on the success of Live Nation’s production of Machine Gun Kelly at the half-time show during the NFL’s game in Munich last year, celebrating the league’s final international game of the 2024 regular season.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Viewership for Netflix’s Christmas Day live-streaming of two NFL games actually peaked with Beyoncé’s halftime performance, it has been announced, potentially signalling a valuable new market for the streaming giant.

For its first live-broadcast football games — part of a three-year deal of Christmas Day games — Beyoncé delivered a show-stopping halftime performance for Netflix, bringing in an average viewership of 27 million.

Average viewership during the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens matchup was roughly 24m, per Nielsen. Between the set of games – the other earlier in the day between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers – Netflix reported a total of 65m watchers from across 218 countries and territories.

Its standalone special, the Beyoncé Bowl, has racked up another 50 million views on Netflix. The performance marked the first-ever halftime show for a Christmas NFL game.

“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, in a statement.

Beyoncé Bowl was produced by the star’s in-house team, Parkwood Entertainment, and film/TV production service Jesse Collins Entertainment, which also worked on both Usher and Rihanna’s respective Super Bowl halftime shows in 2024 and 2023.

With a performance crew of over 500, drenched in winter white, the 13-minute halftime performance marked the debut performance of her Grammy-nominated Cowboy Carter, with a tour announcement heavily rumoured to be coming in the next week.

“Artists aren’t just looking at the audio file or the creation of the LP or album”

A roof-raising, non-stop medley of songs, the 13-minute spectacle also featured Cowboy Carter collaborators Shaboozey, Post Malone, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Tiera Kennedy and nearly 200 members of Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band.

Artists are increasingly looking at concert filming, something the Houston native is aware of: Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé sitting as the 5th top-grossing concert film of all time and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is a Netflix staple. Seemingly every major artist — Taylor Swift, Coldplay, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo — has an accompanying film to capture their live performances.

In 2024 Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour film became the highest grossing in history in the concert or documentary genre, bringing in almost $300m at the box office before going on to generate even more income from streaming platforms.

“Artists aren’t just looking at the audio file or the creation of the LP or album. They’re far more engaged and looking at how audio/visual works in multiple platforms, in which cinema is just one,” said Marc Allenby, CEO of film distribution firm Trafalgar Releasing, to IQ. The London-based company led the distribution of the Renaissance film worldwide.

For tours where demand outweighs supply, an online alternative can be an accessible — and long-lasting — way for artists to reach their fanbases. The 99-time Grammy-nominated artist sold 2.8 million tickets on her Renaissance World Tour, grossing nearly US $580m, per Billboard Boxscore.

IQ will be digging deeper into the issue of concerts designed for broadcast and streaming in its next issue. 

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo will allow major stadiums and arenas to reopen with a capacity of 10% from 23 February.

The guidelines for reopening will be based on the testing pilot programme conducted by the NFL team Buffalo Bills at the weekend, in which 6,700 fans who presented negative tests, and agreed to contact tracing, attended the game socially distanced

In order for stadiums and arenas to reopen at 10%, all fans and staff planning to attend an event will need to provide a negative PCR test within the 72 hours prior. Fans must also be temperature checked upon entering a venue and will be required to wear face coverings while in attendance.

Indoor arenas must observe enhanced air filtration, ventilation and purification standards, as well as socially distanced seating configurations. The permission applies to stadiums and arenas with a capacity of 10,000 or more.

The Barclays Center (cap. 19,000) in Brooklyn has already announced plans for their first event and will welcome fans back to the arena on 23 February for a basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings.

“While we continue to fight Covid on multiple fronts, we must also get this economy reopened intelligently and in a balanced way,” said governor Cuomo.

“While we continue to fight Covid on multiple fronts, we must also get this economy re-opened intelligently”

“Live sports and entertainment have long been engrained in the fabric of New York and the inability to hold events has only added to the isolation we have all felt at the hands of this virus.

“Thankfully, our pilot program to reopen Buffalo Bills games to fans was an unparalleled success and now we are taking that model and expanding it to other large venues across the state to not only reinvigorate local economies, but also help bring some fun and joy back into people’s lives as safely as possible.”

Cuomo has also announced that the state will host concerts for the first time in a year as part of the New York Arts Revival programme he announced in January.

More than 300 pop-up gigs will take place between 20 February and 6 September (Labor Day) at venues including the Apollo Theater, Harlem Stage, La Mama, and Alice Busch Opera Theatre.

The governor says the gigs will visit flexible venues with no fixed seating so event formats can be reconfigured to allow adequate social distancing.

In January, Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to US president Joe Biden, predicted that live performances could resume this autumn, depending on how widely the Covid-19 vaccine can be distributed by then.

Fauci suggested that if between 70% and 85% of the US population would have to be vaccinated, venues with good ventilation and proper air filters could open without social distancing – though some theatres may ask audience members to continue to wear masks.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Endeavor has confirmed the acquisition of a majority stake in On Location Experiences, a luxury hospitality firm formerly part of the US’s National Football League (NFL).

The deal, reportedly worth US$660 million, sees Endeavor – the parent company of global booking agency WME Entertainment, among others – acquire On Location from its current owners, RedBird Capital Partners, Bruin Sports Capital, the Carlyle Group and 32 Equity. The NFL remains a minority shareholder through 32 Equity.

News of the acquisition was first reported last September, ahead of Endeavor’s ultimately scrapped initial public offering.

“By bringing together a leader like On Location with Endeavor’s access and reach, we can advance the way consumers and brands think about money-can’t-buy experiences,” says Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor.

“Partnering with the NFL will enable us to leverage the best-in-class executions around one of the biggest events in the world, the Super Bowl, and extend this same level of service and experiences to other sports and entertainment properties globally.”

“Together […] we can advance the way consumers and brands think about money-can’t-buy experiences”

On Location organises experiences for both corporate clients and fans around major sports and entertainment events, including the Super Bowl Music Fest, which last year featured Cardi B, Bruno Mars and Aerosmith.

“We are excited to partner with Endeavor to grow On Location Experiences globally,” comments NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

“We are committed to offering NFL fans unique and first-class experiences at our events. On Location shares this commitment and delivers value for its partners and delights fans at events around the world.”

The new Endeavor-owned On Location Experiences will be led by president Paul Caine, formerly of Bloomberg, Time Inc. and Westwood One.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

New York attorney-general Eric Schneiderman, known in the live entertainment world as a crusader against ticket bots, has succeeded in his efforts to force the National Football League (NFL) to abandon its price floor for match tickets, under which American football fans were “forced to pay inflated prices for even the least desirable NFL games”.

Under the previous arrangement, ratified by all 32 NFL teams, secondary sellers were not permitted to list inventory on NFL’s officially sanctioned resale sites at a price lower than the face value of the ticket.

As the result of an investigation by Schneiderman, the league has abandoned the price floor and agreed to pay US$100,000 towards legal costs.

“My office will continue to fight for the rights of sports fans and concertgoers by ensuring that secondary markets are free and competitive”

“No sports fan should be forced to buy, or sell, a ticket at an artificially inflated price,” Schneiderman said yesterday. “Under the NFL’s price floor scheme, fans were forced to pay inflated prices for even the least desirable NFL games. That is a slap to both sports fans and free markets. My office will continue to fight for the rights of sports fans and concertgoers by ensuring that secondary markets are free and competitive.

“In the meantime, I encourage every NFL team – and every team in professional sports – to heed the call of all sports fans and remove price floors from every team-authorized secondary ticket market.”

The attorney-general in April fined several concert ticket resellers found to be using ticket bots $2.7 million and moved to introduce harsher penalties for future offenders.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.