Watch Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams join Jay-Z at Paris 30th anniversary show
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Jay-Z's 30th anniversary tour reached Paris, where he brought out Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake as surprise guests at a sold-out Stade de France, adding two more high-profile names to a run already notable for its stacked guest lists. Timberlake's appearance is particularly notable given the pair have rarely performed together since their 2013 "Legends of the Summer" stadium tour, aside from a brief cameo at Timberlake's Wireless set that same year. The Paris date continues a celebration marking 25 years since "The Blueprint" and 30 years since his debut "Reasonable Doubt".
Pharrell joined Jay-Z for a four-song stretch including "Excuse Me Miss", "La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)", "Frontin'" and "Allure", after which Timberlake appeared for "Holy Grail" and his own "Until the End of Time". The full set also featured "N***** in Paris", "Empire State of Mind", "99 Problems" and "Run This Town" among other hits. Earlier tour stops saw Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Nas, Rihanna and others join at New York's Yankee Stadium, while Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Giggs, DJ Khaled and Idris Elba featured across two nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
- Jay-Z brought out Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams in Paris
- Timberlake's appearance is his first with Jay-Z since 2013's joint tour
- Show marks 30 years since "Reasonable Doubt", 25 since "The Blueprint"
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Jay-Z has been marking a major career milestone with a run of stadium shows, celebrating 30 years since his debut album "Reasonable Doubt" and 25 years since "The Blueprint", two records widely seen as central to his standing as one of hip-hop's most influential artists. Each stop on the tour has become known for surprise guest appearances, with previous dates in New York and London featuring stars such as Beyoncé, Eminem, Rihanna and Lauryn Hill joining him on stage.
Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake are both long-time collaborators of Jay-Z from different points in his career. Pharrell, one half of the production duo the Neptunes, worked with Jay-Z on several early hits, while Timberlake is a former boy band member turned solo star who has occasionally performed alongside him, most notably during a joint stadium tour in 2013.
The tour matters as much for its scale and star power as for what it represents: a look back at three decades of Jay-Z's influence on music, with each city's guest list offering a rotating snapshot of the artists who have crossed paths with him along the way.
Full account
Jay-Z surprised fans in Paris on 10 September 2026 when he brought out Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams as guests during a sold-out show at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The concert was the latest stop on his ongoing run of anniversary shows, staged to mark 30 years since his debut album 'Reasonable Doubt' and 25 years since 'The Blueprint'. After opening with a string of solo cuts including 'On to the Next One', 'Tom Ford' and 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.)', the rapper introduced his two well-known collaborators to the stage in turn, adding to what has already been a summer full of star-studded cameos across the tour.
Timberlake's appearance proved the more emotionally charged of the two, given the pair's long history together. He joined Jay-Z for 'Holy Grail', the 2013 hit from 'Magna Carta Holy Grail' on which he originally featured, before staying on to perform his own 'Until the End of Time', a track he recorded with Beyoncé for the deluxe edition of 'FutureSex/LoveSounds'. The reunion was notable partly because the two have rarely shared a stage since their 2013 'Legends of the Summer' stadium tour together, aside from a brief unannounced Jay-Z cameo at one of Timberlake's Wireless Festival sets that same year. Fan and official footage circulating online showed the pair entering to a dramatic backlit staging before launching into the song together.
Pharrell Williams also made the trip to Paris, performing a run of songs closely associated with his own back catalogue and his production work, including 'Frontin'' and 'Excuse Me Miss'. One outlet's account also lists 'Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)' among his selections and describes him closing his segment with a snippet of the French national anthem sung a cappella, while another account instead has him running through 'La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)' and 'Allure' from 'The Black Album'. Both accounts agree, however, that he stayed on stage for several songs rather than making a single fleeting appearance, continuing his frequent role as one of Jay-Z's most reliable collaborators throughout this anniversary run.
The Paris date follows a lengthy string of celebratory shows this year. Jay-Z began the run with three nights at Yankee Stadium in New York in July, drawing an extensive list of guests said to include Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Eminem, Usher, Nas, Rihanna, Slick Rick and Teyana Taylor, among others. He then took the tour to London for two nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where accounts vary slightly on exactly who appeared alongside headline names Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, with mentions of Idris Elba and DJ Khaled in one report and Sampha and Dave in another. The celebrations are set to conclude with two further shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on 23 and 24 October.
Where outlets differ
The two reports give slightly different Pharrell Williams setlists: one names 'Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)', 'Frontin'' and 'Excuse Me Miss' plus 'Allure', while the other lists 'Excuse Me Miss', 'La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)', 'Frontin'' and 'Allure' — both agree 'Allure' and 'Frontin'' featured.
Only one source describes Pharrell closing his set with a snippet of the French national anthem, and only that source gives detailed descriptions of what Timberlake and Pharrell were wearing on stage.
Accounts of the earlier Tottenham Hotspur Stadium shows differ on guests: one mentions Giggs and DJ Khaled alongside Idris Elba, while the other mentions Sampha and Dave instead, alongside Idris Elba.
One report frames the Timberlake reunion mainly through nostalgia for their 2013 'Legends of the Summer' tour, while the other focuses more on production details of the performance, such as the staging and Timberlake's on-stage outfit.
Only one source explicitly confirms the upcoming Los Angeles dates at SoFi Stadium on 23–24 October.
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