On Sunday night, Jay Z headlined the 2017 Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia. Hov's performance was, not very surprisingly, streamed live on Tidal. You can watch his full performance above and below.
The showing comes less than two months before he'll kick-off his 4:44 Tour, which is set to run from October 27 through December 21. In the meantime, he also gave a rare interview on the Rap Radar podcast, which you can read all about both here and here.
Jay’s setlist ran through songs from The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, The Black Album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, The Blueprint 3, 4:44, among others. With Beyoncé at the festival watching artists like Migos and Cardi B, many in attendance believed she would make a surprise appearance during Hov’s performance. Her birthday (Sept. 4) was just around the corner, and her husband made sure to give her a special shout out. “Shout out to Beyoncé,” he said. “Beautiful Bey is in the house tonight. Happy Birthday my love."
Despite how great it would be to see a Bey-Z collaboration live, Hov politely dispelled any rumors. “"She’s not working tonight but that’s a beautiful gesture,” he said in response to Beyoncé chants. “Thank you very much."
During his hour-long set on the Rocky Stage, he did little talking, allowing his numerous hits to bring the energy levels way up. But when he did take a break to speak, he showed love to comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory and gave a moment of silence to the city of Houston and survivors of Hurricane Harvey.
Later in the evening, Hov instructed fans to sing Happy Birthday (plus the Stevie Wonder version) to Beyoncé, and they happily did so.
Hov didn’t wrap up his time without giving one more tribute. He performed two songs from Collision Course to honor the life of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, who committed suicide in July.
Instead of ending the night there, he surprised fans by moving to the Liberty Stage for an encore. He brought out Meek Mill for “Dreams and Nightmares (Intro)” just for the hometown Philly crowd. “That fucking song is incredible,” he said afterwards.
With Young Guru and Just Blaze on the wheels, he performed more classics, including his favorite song “Allure.” You can check out the entire setlist, below.
Rocky Stage
Bam w/ Damien Marley
Public Service Announcement
Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)
Caught Their Eyes
No Church in the Wild
Lucifer
Run This Town
Where I’m From
Marcy Me
Empire State of Mind
FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt
Beach Is Better
Family Feud
U Don’t Know
Moonlight
The Story of O.J.
Ni**as in Paris (x 2)
Jigga My Nigga
H to the Izzo
Dirt Off Your Shoulders
On to the Next One
I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
Big Pimpin’ (Extended Version)
99 Problems // Points of Authority // 99 Problems
Hard Knock Life
Numb/Encore
Encore (Liberty Stage)
Meek Mill - Dreams & Nightmares (Intro)
Don’t You Know
Hola' Hovito
Money Ain’t a Thang
Can I Get A
Allure
