Exclusive: How Jay-Z Pulled Off A Surprise Packed Show In New York’s Summer

For Krug it is appropriate. He manages many of the concerts at Yankee Stadium and says that between baseball and NYCFC soccer matches at the venue, he can arrange one or two a year, usually with a major artist like Paul McCartney or Madonna. “So that’s one of the reasons we’re a little bit, say, selective or particular about who it is,” he says, “because we really want to make sure we have the best artist in the small window that we have.”

Like the Knicks’ victory, the World Cup, and perhaps even Swift’s wedding, Jay-Z’s anniversary shows show an appreciation for IRL events, shared experiences of watching music or an NBA team.

A recent research The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra found that 78 percent of respondents believed that acting is one of the arts in which “AI will not affect human creativity.” Meanwhile, artists like Phoebe Bridgers too select smartphone-free displays so that their concerts will be more harmonious.

The mini-residency is also the latest in a series of local initiatives planned for the celebrations Reasonable Suspicion and The Blueprint. Ahead of the Yankee Stadium concert, Jay-Z teamed up with Spotify to capture parts of the New York City subway, working with the Brooklyn Public Library on the special “JAŸ-Z30” library cardsand set up a pop-up shop in Dumbo in the warehouse where the products were displayed movie for “Dead Leaders.”

People want to know the truth, says Isra Ali, a professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU Steinhardt, and in those environments, “the value of face-to-face communication increases.” Jay-Z’s festival shows, then, are an opportunity for many artists, seemingly out of touch with the world, to connect with their hometowns.