SNL50: The Homecoming Concert — a nearly three-and-a-half-hour extravaganza produced by SNL creator/producer Lorne Michaels and Mark Ronson — took place at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall tonight. The event featured popular musicians young and old who have performed on NBC’s sketch comedy series over the decades, and the audience was filled with people who worked on the show in some form or another, so there were a lot of reaction shots of delighted celebrities. Even many of the commercials starred past SNL characters, and the show is just one part of the program’s 50th anniversary weekend festivities, which culminate with a prime time SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration special airing Sunday night.

The concert opened with a Blues Brothers tribute. The night’s host, former cast member Jimmy Fallon (who also turns 50 this year), sang Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” backed by house band the Roots.

Miley Cyrus covered Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with Brittany Howard (whose Alabama Shakes recently announced a reunion tour) and followed it with her own “Flowers” which she dedicated to Michaels.

Miley Cyrus performing ‘This Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by the ICONIC Queen with The Roots at SNL 50th Anniversary Show. pic.twitter.com/lLQJQlSVee

— ͛ (@COWBOYREQUIEM) February 15, 2025

Bad Bunny performed “Baile Inolvidable” and “DTMF,” two singles from his recent album Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

Bill Murray, who has been playing covers sets with His Blood Brothers on tour this year, took the stage as his Nick The Lounge Singer character and sang Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “You’re All I Need To Get By” with fellow former cast members Paul Shaffer (on piano) and Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, and Cecily Strong (on vocals).

Eddie Vedder covered Tom Petty’s “The Waiting,” and in the middle shouted out some beloved cast members who had died. Then he teased a few bars of Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ “Less Than Zero” before switching to Pearl Jam’s “Corduroy.” It was an homage to Costello’s performance on SNL in ’77, when he did a bit of “Less Than Zero” before launching into “Radio Radio,” which he was not supposed to play.

#SNLHomecoming Eddie Vedder on on SNL's departed: "I'll just say one word, one name. And just think,
imagine. If she were here. Gilda." pic.twitter.com/7uUGCR2vwZ

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) February 15, 2025

After former cast member Tracy Morgan sang his Astronaut Jones theme song, the B-52s did “Love Shack” with former cast member Fred Armisen on drums. Current cast members Sarah Sherman and Bowen Yang joined them to sing the “bang bang” parts.

Backstreet Boys did “I Want It That Way” and the crowd of celebrities was super into that one. At one point Brian Littrell put the mic in Jerry Seinfeld’s face to sing along.

Devo, again with Armisen on drums, did “Uncontrollable Urge.”

Current Hot 100 leader Lady Gaga started playing “Shallow” on piano with former cast member Andy Samberg goofily singing the Bradley Cooper part. Then the pair kicked off a segment celebrating the Lonely Island. They sang “Dick In A Box” and a little “Motherlover” before Chris Parnell joined Sandberg to rap their “Lazy Sunday.” At one point the music switched to Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off” (Parnell yelled “Mustaaaard”) and they rapped over that. The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone, dressed as a Magnolia Bakery cupcake and holding a Laser Cat, pretended to get shot while Imogen Heap’s “Hide And Seek” played à la the “Dear Sister” digital short. Bad Bunny sang some “I Just Had Sex,” T-Pain sang some “I’m On A Boat,” Eddie Vedder (dressed as a pirate) sang some “Jack Sparrow,” and then everyone came together with a gospel choir for a mashup finale.

Fugees’ Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, after a short pre-taped segment filmed in a car, reunited in the wake of their controversially canceled US tour to perform “Lost Ones,” “Ex-Factor,” “911,” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”

Gastayer returned, now with former cast member Will Ferrell, and reprised their Marty and Bobbi-Mohan Culp characters, singing a medley of popular songs including Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Then Jelly Roll covered three Johnny Cash songs — “I Walk The Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “Ring Of Fire” — and Brandi Carlile did “The Joke.”

Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer as Marty Culp and Bobbi Mohan-Culp performing "Not Like Us" on #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/EjDesq9Faa

— clubheartbreak (@clubheartbreak) February 15, 2025

Mumford & Sons did “I Will Wait” before Jerry Douglas joined them on dobro to cover Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer,” which Marcus Mumford noted was performed on the third-ever episode of SNL and again on the first one after 9/11.

Snoop Dogg, introduced by Gasteyer as Martha Stewart, did “Gin & Juice” and was joined by Jelly Roll for their recent Tom Petty-sampling Dr. Dre collab “Last Dance With Mary Jane.”

Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St. Vincent, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed David Bowie’s “Heroes” and Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up.”

#SNLHomecoming #Heroes Arcade Fire, David Byrne, St Vincent and Preservation Hall Jazz Band pay tribute to David Bowie #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/yN0s65pwDW

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) February 15, 2025

Bonnie Raitt did “Thing Called Love” and was joined by Coldplay’s Chris Martin on piano for “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”

Adam Sandler then introduced “Post Nirvana” — the surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear fronted by Post Malone. (Only Malone and Grohl were previously announced on the lineup; the Nirvana reunion was a surprise just like their performance at Fire Aid a couple of weeks ago.) They did “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a hit that actually does not appear on Posty’s upcoming Record Store Day release Post Malone Tribute To Nirvana.

Post Malone and Nirvana’s full performance at the #SNL50 Anniversary Concert. #PostNirvana pic.twitter.com/FUJT1Rikvx

— Pop Truther (@poptruther) February 15, 2025

Former SNL writer and current recurring host John Mulaney threatened to “talk for thirty minutes then sing ‘Touch Of Grey’ by the Grateful Dead” before recalling the time Michaels denied his request to cut the second Linkin Park song from a show so his sketch could get on. “Can you imagine if we didn’t get that version of ‘Bleed It Out’ at 12:45 in the morning?” Then he introduced Robyn and David Byrne, who sang “Dancing On My Own” and “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” together in matching suits. The celebrity audience liked this segment as much as they liked Backstreet Boys.

David Byrne and Robyn Byrne perform This Must Be The Place at #SNL50 🥺🥰pic.twitter.com/yMZAgOCkFD

— Lunar Surfer (@TheLunarSurfer) February 15, 2025

Rudolph and Armisen reprised their Beyoncé and Prince impressions to introduce Cher, who did “If I Could Turn Back Time.”

Yang, wearing the gloves Grohl gave him backstage, introduced his “favorite artist in the world,” Lady Gaga, who returned to do “Shallow” for real this time.

Then Jack White and his band closed with a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” and the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”

SNL 50 Performance
byu/docinwestchester injackwhite

Cyrus, Howard, and the Roots will return for Sunday night’s anniversary special, plus Paul McCartney, Sabrina Carpenter, Paul Simon, and Lil Wayne. In a new New York feature, it was revealed that Lorne Michaels tried hard to get Bruce Springsteen to do a 50th anniversary performance of “Born To Run” as part of this weekend’s celebraton. Maybe he’ll be a surprise addition. Or maybe we’ll have to wait for the 60th.