Here’s Alicia Keys at Apple Grand Central for 50th anniversary experience [Gallery]

Michael Burkhardt | Mar 13 2026 - 5:33 pm PT

Apple today held an impromptu 50th anniversary celebration at its Grand Central store, featuring renowned artist Alicia Keys. This is the first of many that’ll take place around the world, and Apple Grand Central was just the kickoff! I had the honor of getting to attend the performance, and I’ll be sharing all of my photos here.

First and foremost, I just have to say that this was one of the coolest events I’ve ever been invited to. The performance itself was incredible, but the impromptu nature of it all also made it quite an appealing moment. We didn’t know anything about it up until yesterday, when Parker Ortolani shared on Twitter that the store would be closed for some sort of event.

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Was one of the many people heading into Grand Central yesterday (to see Big East Tournament) and when I bought the train tickets it said to expect congestion in the concourse because of a special event that was going on. Got off the train an saw a crowd (and a large security presence). Asked someone what was going on and they said Alisha Keys going to play. Hung out for a little bit and got to see it. It was short but awesome. A free surprise performance by a great artist for all the people in Grand Central is a great way to kick off the 50 year celebration!

(Also there’s no way they could have announced with a lot of advanced notice. The crowd would have shut down the train station. Having something at the store like that necessarily has tradeoffs but they found a way to do something cool and free for a large group of the general public. Awesome in my book.)

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Apple CEO Tim Cook was in attendance, as well as hardware SVP John Ternus, marketing SVP Greg Joswiak, and retail SVP Deirdre O’Brien.

All in all, this is an awesome idea for celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary, and I cannot wait to see what’s next! Some of my photos are below, and you can also check out 9to5Mac on Twitter for some video.

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Michael Burkhardt mbrkhrdt

Michael is a 9to5Mac Reporter, leading all of our Apple news coverage on weekends and reviewing the newest Apple products and accessories. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer, and started the weekly Indie App Spotlight series, which has covered hundreds of blooming new apps since it launched. In his free time, he enjoys shooting street photography around New York City on his Sony A7RV.

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