Jay-Z has opened an immersive installation in Trafalgar Square, days before he headlines Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and it is the second London pop-up he has run in a fortnight. The site opened on 1 September and stays up until 5 September, between 11am and 7pm each day.
The installation is built to put a visitor back in 2001. It uses televisions from the period to screen music videos, performances and programming from the year The Blueprint was released, and it is pitched around the album's 25th anniversary as much as the tour itself. Limited edition merchandise is available on site.
It follows the pop-up shop Jay-Z opened on 27 August at the UMusic Shop in Camden, on Chalk Farm Road at The Stables Market. That store carried merchandise made specifically for the UK dates and ran DJ sets every evening between 5pm and 7pm, with DJ Target, DJ Manny Norte, DJ Semtex and DJ Esi among those who played. It closes on 2 September.
Both sites exist to service the same two nights. The JAY-Z 30 world tour reaches Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 4 and 5 September, and the shows continue a run built around The Blueprint's anniversary and three decades of releases.
The tour opened with three nights at Yankee Stadium in New York, where the guest list ran to Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Usher, Eminem, Nas, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Slick Rick, Fat Joe, Jadakiss and Teyana Taylor. That opening stretch included the night Rihanna and Beyonce came out at Yankee Stadium.
After London, the rapper heads to Paris on 10 September before returning to the United States for shows in Los Angeles on 23 and 24 October, including a SoFi Stadium date that falls on Drake's birthday. Speculation continues about a follow-up to 2017's 4:44, and his catalogue keeps expanding into other formats, including an HBO docuseries premiering on 18 September. His remaining hip-hop dates are on the tour guide.
The facts
- The Trafalgar Square installation runs 1 to 5 September, 11am to 7pm daily.
- It screens music videos and period programming on televisions from the era.
- A pop-up shop opened at the UMusic Shop in Camden on 27 August.
- The Camden store ran DJ sets nightly between 5pm and 7pm.
- Jay-Z headlines Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 4 and 5 September.
- The tour marks 25 years of The Blueprint and 30 years of his releases.
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