Burna Boy will become the first Nigerian artist to headline New York’s prestigious Madison Square Garden next year, with the rapper announcing an historic one-off show dubbed ‘One Night In Space’.
The show is set to take place at the iconic stadium – which has a seating capacity of 20,789 – on Thursday April 28, 2022. Tickets go on sale at 12pm EST next Friday (December 17), with an artist presale kicking off two days earlier on Wednesday December 15. Fans can sign up for access to that presale via Seated.
2021 has been a monumental year for Burna Boy. He kicked it off with a performance of his hit ‘Way Too Big’ on Late Night With Seth Meyers, then linked up with WizKid for a stylish clip to accompany their collaborative track ‘Ginger’. He then joined Sia for a new version of her song ‘Hey Boy’, then featured on Headie One’s single ‘Siberia’.
March saw Burna Boy win his first Grammy Award, taking home the trophy for Best World Music Album with his fifth full-length effort, 2020’s ‘Twice As Tall’. His first solo tune for the year came in May with ‘Kilometre’, which he then followed up in October with the Polo G collab ‘Want It All’. During his performance at this year’s Parklife festival, he was joined by Manchester United footballer Paul Pogba.
Last month, Burna Boy – who fans can also catch at Primavera Sound next year – announced his ambitions to host a Live Aid-style concert to raise money for Africa. If he’s able to pull it off, he’ll do so “in the biggest stadium in the UK with any/all artists who care”.
“It’s just a dream right now but I expect the British Government to support this fully,” he said in a social media post detailing his idea. “After all, most of us are/were British colonies.” He tagged Boris Johnson, the UN and Global Citizen, the latter of whom recently hosted a mammoth 24-hour global concert raising awareness about a number of issues.
Speaking to NME last year, Burna Boy said: “There are so many situations where a fight needs to be had. A revolution is needed, and I want to inspire it. [With the album ‘Twice As Tall’] I’m painting a picture of what we already see every day, but maybe no one has painted the picture in an honest form before.”
Last year, Burna Boy used his platform to draw attention to police brutality happening in Nigeria and the End SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) movement that was combating it.
He called the protests “the most important moment in Nigeria’s history” and offered his support with a powerful performance at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards alongside Coldplay’s Chris Martin, as well as releasing the track ‘20 10 20’ which condemned the actions of Nigerian police.
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