JAY-Z Extra Innings Yankee Stadium Night Three: 8 Best Moments

Good things truly come to those who wait. Just ask the people who waited for hours outside of a locked Yankee Stadium on Sunday night (July 12) for the final show of Jay-Z‘s three-night run, a 44-song set that featured everyone from Beyoncé and Rihanna to the Clipse and Usher.

Concluding his stadium takeover with a show that prioritized the two albums celebrating milestone anniversaries — 30 years of Reasonable Doubt and 25 years of The Blueprint — Jay shut down New York City on Sunday-going-into-Monday due to a more than three-hour delay. Before Club Confessions commenced, the official social media pages for Yankee Stadium shared posts encouraging people to arrive early. Nonetheless, due to a general lack of communication and organization, as well as some overzealous fans, tens of thousands of ticketholders were stuck outside of Yankee Stadium for nearly four hours, pushing Hov’s Extra Innings Concert into the wee hours of the morning.

Some fans without tickets rushed the gates and trampled security personnel, successfully entering the venue while people who dropped thousands of dollars were completely iced out of the building as officials worked to get a handle on the situation. Around the scheduled start time for the show (8 p.m. ET), Yankee Stadium shut down every entrance, leaving the streets surrounding the venue choked with thousands of frustrated ticketholders, some of whom had to call medics after waiting for hours without access to water or a bathroom. After stadium security and the NYPD got the situation somewhat under control, the stadium quickly filled up, with the proper show finally kicking off well past midnight.

From Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter to Nas and Eminem, Hov’s first two Yankee Stadium shows were certainly not lacking in star power, but he truly topped himself with Extra Innings. After a triumphant opening sequence anchored by “Brooklyn’s Finest,” a nostalgic mashup of “Marcy Me” and “Where I’m From,” and the American Gangster single “I Know,” Jay brought out Harlem’s very own Teyana Taylor, who battled through sound issues to deliver a soulful rendition of Mary J. Blige’s “Can’t Knock the Hustle” hook. Queen Bey, who handled those duties on Friday (June 10), returned for a visually stunning “Drunk in Love” performance, assisted by Lebanese all-female alternative precision dance group The Mayyas.

Rihanna also made her long-awaited return to the stage, effortlessly shutting down the stadium with “Run This Town” and “B—h Better Have My Money.” It’s one thing to get off-cycle superstars for guest appearances, but it’s a completely different feat to peel an artist away from their own stadium tour to celebrate your own career milestone.

But, then again, this is Hov we’re talking about, so naturally, Usher popped up for “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)” and a mashup of “Throwback” and “Part II (On the Run).” The ATL delegation also sent Jermaine Dupri, while Jeezy repped South Carolina. In a nod to Jay’s impactful collaborations across regions, Virginia also received a loving showcase, featuring a six-song Pharrell Williams cameo that ended with Clipse popping out for “Grindin’.” From Swizz Beatz to The-Dream to Jadakiss and Fat Joe, Extra Innings stands as one of the best major hip-hop shows in recent memory — a testament to legacy and consistency at the highest level.

Here are the 8 best moments of Jay-Z’s Extra Innings Yankee Stadium show.

The Snowman Makes a Summertime Visit

When news started to circulate that Jeezy had cancelled the Sunday night show for his ongoing The Legend of the Snowman Las Vegas residency, social media immediately convinced itself that the South Carolina MC would be making a surprise appearance at Extra Innings. They were right.

Jeezy popped out for his and Jay’s fan-favorite “Seen It All” and “Go Crazy,” delivering an admirable showcase of mutual love and respect, lyrical dexterity, and live performance ability.
Usher Brings R&B Tour Tease to Yankee Stadium

Usher took a brief break from his sexed-up joint R&B Tour with Chris Brown to pop out for Extra Innings on Sunday night.

After first popping out to handle Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)” hook — and absolutely nailing that vocal — Usher made sure to flaunt this pecs and abs as he delivered more sultry and seductive love songs like his own “Throwback,” a Confessions cut on which JAŸ was originally supposed to be on, and Hov’s modern classic “Part II (On the Run).”
‘Dear Summer’ A Cappella

For many Hov stans, “Dear Summer” is Jay-Z operating at the peak of his powers. So it was easily one of the night’s main highlights when he performed the song a capella to kick off the final farewell segment of the show. Released in 2005 as the first solo Jay-Z song following his retirement from music in 2003, “Dear Summer” made for an emotional, grounding closer — even if the stadium had to help Jay through the verse! But nothing beats him quipping, “I ain’t saying it,” after pausing at the “I don’t talk s—r, I just flip it Un ya” line.
New York-Themed Closing Medley

From Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ongoing tenure and the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals championship victory, to World Cup buzz and Pride, this summer in NYC has been one for the memory books. Naturally, Hov corralled the Avengers of New York-themed musical anthems to close out Extra Innings, transitioning from a stream of Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” into “Empire State of Mind” (sans Alicia Keys this time), before bringing out Jadakiss and Fat Joe for “New York.”

Topping it all off with a shoutout to hometown heroes the Knicks — some of whom were present in the stadium on Sunday — Jay-Z tapped into a special moment of community and camaraderie with this run of tracks, especially after what an ordeal it was to get inside the building.
Jay-Z Addresses Four-Hour Delay

Sunday night’s security made for several spooky scenes ahead of Extra Innings, so it was commendable that JAŸ-Z started the show by addressing the situation as opposed to diving straight into the music.

“Let me explain the delay to you guys,” he began. “It was like 10,000 people outside, and they closed all the doors — because somebody rushed the doors — for you guys’ safety and for everybody’s safety outside. There’s 10,000 people outside; I didn’t want to start music and [get people trampled]. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience, but I had to make sure everybody’s okay. I appreciate y’all patience.”

While more communication from Yankee Stadium at the height of the mayhem would have been helpful, this was a proper start to an instantly iconic night.
Beyoncé Breaks Out Her ‘Surfboardt’

After immediately stealing the show with her pitch-perfect rendition of “Can’t Knock the Hustle” on Friday night, Beyoncé took Saturday off before returning with a whole new vibe for Sunday’s Extra Innings. Joined by the Mayyas, an avant-garde precision dance group hailing from Lebanon, Queen Bey traded her capris for bedazzled booty shorts to deliver the “Drunk In Love” set straight from her Cowboy Carter Tour. While her Friday night appearance still reigns supreme — that vocal is simply unmatched! — Beyoncé’s fluidity and attention to detail remind us that she truly is the greatest living entertainer.
Rihanna Returns

Rihanna took the stage for her first public performance since Super Bowl LVII three years ago, triumphantly singing her parts on the Blueprint 3 anthem “Run This Town.” “Y’all know I’m rusty, right? It’s been a while. Y’all with me right now?” she quipped after Jay ceded her the floor for a solo performance of “B—h Better Have My Money.” I miss this s—t, y’all! I love you guys!”

No one got a bigger response from the Sunday night crowd than Bad Gal RiRi, and her aura was simply one-of-one. The second her heels clicked down the tunnel walkway to the militant “Run This Town” beat, the entire stadium’s energy shifted. And that only happened for a select few artists on Sunday, a.k.a the true superstars. As she walked offstage, Rihanna appeared to be genuinely moved by the crowd’s reaction, so hopefully that inspires her to give us that long-awaited ANTI follow-up sooner rather than later.
Pharrell Sends Warning Shots

After Pharrell joined Jay for a second consecutive night — this time, for a super-medley of ’00s classics including “I Just Wanna Love U,” “Excuse Me Miss” and “Frontin’” — the music icon had some words to share with Yankee Stadium.

“They poked the bear & now the bear cut his hair,” Pharrell declared about Jay’s new shorn look. “And he got on his helmet. Now he bout to go to war. I hope you kill all them n—as … y’all know who I’m talking about.”

Between that warning shot and the video of Beyoncé cutting Jay-Z’s hair that opened each show this weekend, it’s clear that some kind of new music from the Brooklyn Boy is imminent. And if his Roots Freestyle is anything to go by, we’re all going to be in for a ride.