Key Takeaways
- JAY-Z led the sold-out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Beyoncé, who celebrated turning 45 from a VIP suite.
- The rapper also honored the 20th anniversary of Beyoncé’s B’Day during his first solo UK headline show in more than a decade.
- Idris Elba, DJ Khaled and Giggs joined the JAŸ-Z30 tour stop, while Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunited as the Fugees for three classics.
Jay-Z turned the first London stop of his JAŸ-Z30 tour into a birthday serenade of his wife, Beyoncé, who was celebrating turning 45th birthday from a VIP suite.
On Friday (September 24), Bey spent the special occasion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, watching from the stands as the 25-time Grammy winner celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint and other classic material.
"It's a young lady's birthday," Jay-Z told the crowd during his set, joking that they wanted Beyoncé to perform on her birthday.
The Brooklyn native also acknowledged that the week honored the 20th anniversary of Beyoncé’s second solo album, B’Day, before inviting fans to celebrate his wife with a song.
"The only thing I'm gonna ask you for tonight is if we can all just sing happy birthday to her. Just really quickly," he said.
As the crowd sang, she appeared on the stadium's jumbotrons wearing a hoodie, blowing kisses and waving while among friends, along with her security guard Julius
The concert itself was JAY-Z's first solo headline show in the U.K. in more than a decade, his last being an October 2013 date at The O2 on the Magna Carta World Tour. In July, Hov performed a three-night residency at Yankee Stadium.
Idris Elba opened the show with the spoken intro from Jay-Z's American Gangster album. DJ Khaled and British rapper Giggs joined Hov onstage, but the biggest surprise came when Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunited as the Fugees, running through their timeless anthems "Ready or Not," "Killing Me Softly," and "Fu-Gee-La."
JAY-Z returns to the London stadium Saturday (September 5) before heading to Paris's Stade de France on September 10 and closing the run with two Inglewood dates at SoFi Stadium on October 23 and 24.
