SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 1729 — Pictured: (l-r) Miley Cyrus performs “Bad Mood” in Studio 8H on … [+]
Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 50th anniversary all weekend including an all-star concert to kick off the festivities.
Also known as SNL, Saturday Night Live officially turns 50 on Oct. 11. However, the celebrating has already begun with the streaming release of the four-part docuseries SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night, as well as the three-hour documentary film Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music—which are both playing on Peacock.
Before SNL celebrates its 50th anniversary with a television special this weekend, several musical guests ranging from the show’s early days to the present will be playing SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert.
Famed Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels and Mark Ronson are executive producing the event, which will be streaming live from New York City’s Radio City Musical Hall on Peacock on Friday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
According to Peacock, the special will not only include musical performances but also comedy guests. The streamer noted that SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert “will bring together legendary Saturday Night Live hall-of-famers, iconic guests and surprise musical performances.”
Among the classic performers playing SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert is recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cher, as well as other musical legends including Bonnie Raitt, David Byrne of the Talking Heads and the B-52s.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 5 — Pictured: Musical guest Cher performs on November 21, 1987 — Photo … [+]
Who Else Is Playing The ‘SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert’?
Per Peacock, the other artists slated to play the Saturday Night Live Homecoming Concert Friday night include Arcade Fire, Backstreet Boys, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Chris Martin of Coldplay, DEVO, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Jelly Roll, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Mumford & Sons, Post Malone, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Robyn, The Roots and Wyclef Jean.
The 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live was also unofficially celebrated with the release of director Jason Reitman’s film Saturday Night, which chronicles the 90 minutes before the airing of the first episode of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975.
While the film creatively incorporated bits of several classic episodes of Saturday Night Live’s early years, the movie stayed partially true to the contents of the first episode of SNL. The film included singer, songwriter and keyboardist Billy Preston—played by Jon Batiste—as the show’s first musical guest, playing his classic hit Nothing from Nothing.
In reality, per NBC, both Preston and singer Janis Ian were the musical guests on the first episode of Saturday Night Live. According to the network, Preston performed Nothing from Nothing after the first sketch of the show (which featured John Belushi) and later performed Fancy Lady. In between, Janis Ian played her hits At Seventeen and In the Winter.
SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert streams live on Peacock on Friday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. The movie Saturday Night, meanwhile, recently began streaming on Netflix.
