VIPs inside Yankee Stadium were obvious to the chaos outside Jay-Z show, his musical director Adam Blackstone says
The stars inside Jay-Z’s “Extra Innings” show didn’t even know about the pandemonium outside Yankee Stadium until around an hour before it began, we’re told.
On Sunday night, as concertgoers streamed into the final night of a three-night stand at the Bronx landmark, hordes of fans broke through security, forcing the Bronx venue into lockdown.
Thousands of Hova devotees were forced to wait for hours while security got the situation under control. But we’re told that VIPs were blissfully unaware of the situation.
“I have not experienced anything like that, mainly because, [with] us thankfully being in a secure safe space, we didn’t know what was going on outside,” Jay-Z’s musical co-director Adam Blackstone said.
The concert was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. with Blackstone — who, along with Young Guru and Omar Edwards, who help put the show together — hitting the stage at 9 p.m. to play bass.
But before the show he tells us he was backstage getting ready with some of the guest performers on the bill.
“I was with Teyana [Taylor, who sang the Mary J. Blige part from ‘Can’t Knock The Hustle’ at the show], Usher and Jeezy – [they’re all] in their routines… It’s very much tunnel vision… It wasn’t until we started getting pushed back that I started asking questions,” he said.
Fans weren’t the only ones waiting for hours to enter the stadium. A source told Page Six Fabolous and “Abbot Elementary” star Janelle James “were stuck outside for three hours.”
“Fabolous got in pretty quick. He was close to [the] front and recognized, but Janelle was at the suite entrance… A security guard recognized her, and they let her in and then people bumrushed behind her. They were trying to hold people back. It was so bad,” the concertgoer said.
The rowdy crowd pushed the show into the next morning, with the first song only starting at 12:15 a.m. on Monday. Blackstone, however, described the wait as “a small monkey wrench in the plans.”
“Safety was always the first priority. Jay made it very known he didn’t want anything to happen to anybody…. He did what he thought was best,” he said.
And based on the reviews, “it was worth the wait,” Blackstone added.
The final show brought out surprise guests such as Taylor, Usher, Pharrell, Clipse, Swizz Beatz, and Beyoncé, who also performed on night one, along with their 14-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. “She has a lot of her daddy and mama’s drive inside of her. She wants it to be perfect on perfect on perfect,” he said.
Rihanna, who also counts Blackstone as a longtime music collaborator, even returned to the stage for the final night of Jay-Z’s historic three-night run at the stadium. She performed “Run This Town” and “Bitch Better Have My Money” in front of the sold-out crowd that included her partner, A$AP Rocky and their 10-month-old daughter, Rocki.
“I missed this s–t, y’all! New York, I love you guys!” Rihanna told the crowd before exiting the stage.
Rihanna’s last major public stage moment before Jay-Z’s show was the 2023 Super Bowl, where Blackstone served as her musical director and bassist for her half time show. Sunday night’s reunion “was nice,” Blackstone said.
Blackstone hugged the “Umbrella” singer on her way out, and, “I was just like, I remembered in that moment, this is why [she’s] one of the best in the world. The crowd reaction. We miss her!” he said.
“The world is waiting,” he added about Riri’s pending return to music.
In the meantime, Blackstone’s off to another stadium.
On Tuesday, he’ll serve as the musical director of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
