Before the first chords were struck at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, Radio City Music Hall was abuzz with a feeling of fraternity. A recently tattoo
Before the first chords were struck at SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, Radio City Music Hall was abuzz with a feeling of fraternity. A recently tattoo-less Pete Davidson was all smiles in the lobby, as Jon Hamm caught up with Paul Rudd. Claire Danes and her husband Hugh Dancy made their way to their seats, past Alec Baldwin and Liev Schreiber trying to order a drink at the bar after it closed. In the theater, more A-list stars like Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep and former SNL favorites like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Kristin Wiig, took their seats to celebrate 50 years of musical moments from comedy’s longest running institution, brought to you by Lorne Michaels.
Like many star-studded events, The Homecoming Concert was a bit of a tough room, at least at first. “Everybody here is famous,” remarked Michael Che, warming up the crowd before the show began. “Can you tell I am in hell?” Che’s torment wouldn’t last long as the night’s real emcee, Jimmy Fallon, would soon come out and open the show with a goofy yet endearing performance of “Soul Man” backed by his Tonight Show band, The Roots, and approximately twenty-five Blues Brothers dancers.
The first major musical guest, a fearless Miley Cyrus, decided to attack the room with gusto, calling out the renowned audience members as she saw them, like Rudd, Emma Stone, and Adam Sandler. “Y’all are doing the Grammys shit where you’re famous and don’t sing along,” she said, instructing the crowds to get on its feet. To be fair to the stars, an announcer repeatedly instructed the audience to stay in their seats and out of the aisles to avoid getting hit by cameras whizzing up and down the aisle before the show began.
But after receiving the green lightweight from Miley, everyone was on their feet. Bad Bunny had the audience grooving to two songs off of his exceptional modern album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos, despite focusing his performance more on the fans in the pit closest to the stage rather than the celebs in the orchestra seats. Things really popped off when the Backstreet Boys came out and effectively led a massive sing along to “I Want It That Way.” And leave it to Lorne to get famously tardy legend Lauryn Hill to show up to a performance on time. She reunited with her Fugees bandmate Wyclef Jean for a show-stopping medley of some of their greatest hits like, “Killing Me Softly.”
However, not every musical performance necessarily lit up the room. A very game Jelly Roll did his best covering songs by Johnny Cash, even going into the audience, but it fell a little flat. So did Bill Murray’s return as Nick Valentine, although Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, and a very pregnant Cecily Strong sounded great nailing three part harmony while backing him up. And Snoop Dogg’s performance “Gin and Juice” received a frostier response in the room than what you’d expect for the beloved rap icon, but, then again, maybe the audience remembered that just a few weeks ago he was performing at an event related to Donald Trump’s inauguration.
What SNL ultimately does best is comedy, so it’s fitting that the highlights of the were when music and comedy intermingled. Some of those moments were miniature, like Tracy Morgan earnestly singing the theme song to his absurd sketch “Astronaut Jones.” Others were huge, like Andy Samberg’s epic Lonely Island medley, which covered the trio’s greatest hits like “Lazy Sunday” and “I’m on a Boat”. He was joined by his SNL collaborators Chris Parnell and Jorma Taccone, as well as Bad Bunny, T-Pain, and a Lady Gaga, stepping in for an absent Justin Timberlake, singing “Dick in a Box” with Samberg at the piano before stepping away to reveal a gift wrapped package over her nether regions.
COMMENTS