Apple Music Hall Unveils First Lineup as Elton John Set to Open Next Week
Set to debut on September 28, Apple's newly built venue Apple Music Hall will welcome Elton John as its opening act, with Charli XCX, Chase & Status, Baby Keem and more to follow. The first round of tickets goes on sale at the same time.
The new venue inside Battersea Power Station holds just 600 people—yet the opening act is none other than Elton John. On Monday, September 28, he'll deliver the first-ever performance at Apple Music Hall, Apple's newly built space in London, officially launching a venue billed as offering "the intimacy of a small club with the production capability of a major arena."
More than who's taking the stage, it's the venue's own specs that deserve a closer look. Inside, there's a 38-foot-wide reconfigurable stage paired with a Spatial Audio system built from 48 speakers, plus two dedicated recording and mixing rooms. The whole space is wired to support more than 16 cameras and comes with its own broadcast control room, allowing performances to be recorded and streamed live worldwide. With a capacity of just 600 backed by this level of infrastructure, the venue functions less like a music hall and more like a small television studio.
The first-announced lineup spans generations and genres: after Elton John, Baby Keem takes the stage on October 2, followed by Skye Newman on October 7, then Troye Sivan (October 13), Arlo Parks (October 22), and Burna Boy (October 29). Chase & Status take over on November 26, with Charli XCX closing out the first run of shows on December 2. Tickets for the Elton John, Baby Keem, and Skye Newman shows go on sale at 9am on September 28 — check the Apple Music Hall official website for details.
Elton John's "Farewell Tour" Was Never Really Quiet
Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour wrapped up in July 2023 at Stockholm's Tele2 Arena after more than 300 shows, with the singer calling his exit from touring "the best thing in the world." But over the past two-plus years, his calendar has never really gone quiet: in October 2024, he made a surprise appearance at Dua Lipa's orchestral show at the Royal Albert Hall, joining her for a duet of "Cold Heart"; last March, he and Brandi Carlile played a show at the London Palladium to unveil their joint album "Who Believes In Angels?," weaving in classics like "Tiny Dancer," "Your Song," and "Bennie And The Jets," and the following month the pair appeared together on "Saturday Night Live." He's also served as a special guest performer at the Singapore Grand Prix, paid tribute to Brian Wilson with a cover of "God Only Knows" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, and later took the stage at Rock In Rio in Brazil. The Apple Music Hall opening show marks the latest entry in this "post-retirement" itinerary — not the last one, either: he's already announced two makeup shows in Mexico City on October 2 and 3, rescheduled from pandemic-era postponements.
Charli XCX released her album "Music, Fashion, Film" this past July and is currently on the road for the accompanying tour of the same name. NME gave the album four stars, describing it as "a snapshot of an artist deep in her creative core," and praising it as "a celebration of art itself — and its power to let you step outside your own boundaries in pursuit of something new."
