It’s fair to say that Saturday Night Live has been pulling out all the stops to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Kicking things off on Friday night, the long-running NBC sketch show, which is also known for its diverse selection of musical guests, took over NYC’s Radio City Music Hall for a three hour concert that combined a star-studded lineup of musicians with celebrity cameos and numerous callbacks to some of the series’ best loved sketches.
Alongside solo appearances from the likes of Jack White, Snoop Dogg, Backstreet Boys, Jelly Roll and others, many of the concert highlights came in the form of surprise duets and collaborations.
One particularly notable performance came from the surviving members of Nirvana – Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear – who were joined on guitar and vocals by Post Malone for a performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Introduced by Adam Sandler as Post Nirvana, the performance – which you can watch in the clip below – see Malone turning in a pretty impressive Kurt Cobain impression, if you ask us.
Post Malone and Nirvana at the #SNL50 Anniversary concert. pic.twitter.com/0rwqRBHMMxFebruary 15, 2025
Another standout moment came from Robyn, who was joined on stage for a performance of her emo-electronic classic Dancing On My Own by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, the two wearing suits and sporting dance moves that channelled Byrne’s iconic performance in Stop Making Sense.
Elsewhere, the concert saw a reunion of Fugees members Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean performing Killing Me Softly With His Song and Lost Ones, the latter from Hill’s classic solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Third member, Pras Michél, who has been embroiled in legal disputes with Hill in recent years, wasn’t involved.
Lady Gaga performed on stage with Lonely Island comedian and SNL alumni Andy Samberg, initially starting a botched version of Shallow, from A Star is Born, before pivoting to play Dick in a Box, with Lady Gaga filling in for Justin Timberlake. This kicked off a medley of Lonely Island tracks, which saw the pair joined by former SNL cast member Chris Parnell, Bad Bunny for I Just Had Sex, T-Pain singing I’m On A Boat, and Eddie Vedder for Jack Sparrow.
Other notable moments included comedian and drummer Fred Armisen joining Devo for Uncontrollable Urge, Armisen, Bowen Yang, and Sarah Sherman performing Love Shack with the B-52s and Cher singing If I Could Turn Back Time. Also, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St. Vincent, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band teamed up for a medley of Bowie’s Heroes and Arcade Fire’s Wake Up.
The weekend of specials was rounded off on Sunday night with a three-hour episode of SNL, which was more sketch-focused but still packed with impressive musical guests. Of Sunday’s performances, Paul McCartney's excellent closing run of Abbey Road trio Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, and The End provided a standout moment.
Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard also duetted on a cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s classic Nothing Compares 2 U, a song with a notable SNL history due to O’Conner controversially ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II when she performed on the show in 1992.
The show also saw Sabrina Carpenter duetting with Paul Simon on Homeward Bound. Lil Wayne also performed a medley of his hits with The Roots as his backing band.
Watch an assortment of highlights in the clips below.
Paul McCartney performing to conclude the SNL 50th anniversary special. pic.twitter.com/MVi9aSKW4DFebruary 17, 2025
