The music icon is set to play the first show at the venue on September 28
Elton John will add another milestone to his legendary career when he becomes the first artist to perform at the brand-new Apple Music Hall in London on Monday, September 28. The 79-year-old music icon has been selected to officially launch the new 600-capacity venue inside the historic Battersea Power Station, where Apple’s UK headquarters are also located. John’s appearance will give Apple Music Hall a particularly high-profile opening night, placing one of Britain’s most celebrated performers in an unusually intimate setting just three years after he concluded his massive Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. Rather than marking a return to full-scale touring, the performance is a special one-off engagement and the first in a series of exclusive concerts Apple Music has scheduled at the new venue.
The Elton John announcement arrived just days after Apple unveiled Apple Music Hall, which was specifically created to combine the intimacy of a small concert venue with production technology normally associated with arena-level performances. Located alongside the River Thames within Battersea Power Station, the 600-person room takes architectural inspiration from its famous surroundings, incorporating heritage brickwork, fluted arches and bronze balconies, while a large glass wall provides views toward the building’s concourse and the river. The venue includes a reconfigurable 38-foot-wide stage that can accommodate conventional front-facing concerts as well as more immersive configurations, allowing major artists accustomed to playing arenas and stadiums to dramatically scale down the audience without sacrificing production possibilities.
Technology is naturally a major part of Apple Music Hall’s identity. The room contains a 48-speaker sound system built to provide an immersive Spatial Audio experience, while more than 16 broadcast-camera inputs and the ability to incorporate iPhone footage make the venue capable of producing professionally filmed concerts from within the building. Two dedicated recording and mixing studios allow performances to be captured as multitrack recordings and mixed in Spatial Audio, while a dedicated video control room can handle multicamera productions and broadcasts. In practical terms, an artist can enter Apple Music Hall, perform an intimate concert for several hundred people and emerge with a broadcast-ready audio mix and professionally captured video of the show. Apple intends to use those capabilities to extend performances beyond the limited number of fans who can physically fit inside the room.
The opening of Apple Music Hall also represents something of a return to the live-concert business for Apple, which previously established a major presence in London through the iTunes Festival. Launched in 2007, that series eventually became the Apple Music Festival and brought an extraordinary collection of artists to intimate London stages before ending after 2016. Apple Music Hall takes that concept considerably further because Apple now has a permanent venue built around live performance, recording and broadcasting rather than staging a temporary annual festival. “Apple’s deep love for music dates all the way back to the very beginning, from the launch of the iPod to the long-running iTunes Music Festival to the debut of Apple Music,” Apple vice president of Apple Music and International Content Oliver Schusser said when the venue was announced. He described the hall as another step in Apple’s commitment to supporting artists and their fans.
Elton John will launch what is already an eclectic opening season. Following his September 28 performance, rapper Baby Keem will take over Apple Music Hall on October 2, followed by rising British singer Skye Newman on October 7. Pop star Troye Sivan is scheduled for October 13, while acclaimed British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks will perform October 22. Nigerian superstar Burna Boy follows on October 29. Electronic duo Chase & Status will headline the venue on November 26 before Charli xcx closes the currently announced run with a December 2 performance. That means the first eight confirmed Apple Music Hall concerts are Elton John on September 28, Baby Keem on October 2, Skye Newman on October 7, Troye Sivan on October 13, Arlo Parks on October 22, Burna Boy on October 29, Chase & Status on November 26 and Charli xcx on December 2.
The lineup immediately demonstrates the broad musical range Apple appears to envision for the hall. John brings more than five decades of pop and rock history to opening night, while Baby Keem represents contemporary hip-hop, Newman is among Britain’s emerging pop talents, Sivan and Charli xcx are major figures in modern pop, Parks brings an indie and alternative sensibility, Burna Boy brings Afrobeats to the stage, and Chase & Status represent Britain’s electronic and drum-and-bass scene. Apple has partnered with independent UK concert promoter Communion ONE to assist with bookings and promotion, while ticketing will be handled by DICE. Communion ONE managing director Mazin Tappuni called Apple Music Hall a venue “like nothing fans will have ever seen before,” emphasizing both its production capabilities and the ability to livestream performances to audiences around the world.
Tickets for the first three concerts — Elton John on September 28, Baby Keem on October 2 and Skye Newman on October 7 — are scheduled to go on sale at 9 a.m. BST on Monday, September 28, meaning fans hoping to attend the historic first concert will have to secure their Elton John tickets on the same day as the performance. Tickets for those initial shows have been listed at £40, an unusually modest price considering the stature of the artists and the hall’s tiny 600-person capacity. Additional ticket information for the later concerts is expected separately.
Few artists could provide Apple Music Hall with a more fitting opening than Elton John. One of Britain’s most successful recording artists and live performers, John spent decades performing everywhere from clubs and theaters to arenas and stadiums before ending his touring career with Farewell Yellow Brick Road in 2023. The Apple Music Hall appearance gives fans the rare opportunity to see him in a room holding only 600 people — an enormous contrast with the stadiums and arenas that defined the final decades of his touring career. His presence also gives Apple’s newest music venture an immediate connection to British pop history while establishing the kind of star power the company hopes can coexist with emerging talent at the venue.
When Elton John takes the stage on September 28, the performance will therefore represent more than simply another concert. It will inaugurate a venue that Apple hopes can operate simultaneously as an intimate concert hall, recording studio, broadcast facility and global showcase for artists. With just 600 people able to experience the opening performance inside Battersea Power Station, John’s concert promises to be dramatically smaller than the shows most fans have become accustomed to seeing him play. At the same time, the initial schedule — spanning Elton John, Baby Keem, Skye Newman, Troye Sivan, Arlo Parks, Burna Boy, Chase & Status and Charli xcx — suggests Apple Music Hall intends to bridge generations and genres while using its technology to turn intimate London concerts into events capable of reaching music fans far beyond the walls of the venue.