Arcade Fire and Bad Bunny have been confirmed as the final musical guests for the current season of Saturday Night Live.
SNL shared the line-ups for the last three shows of the current run via their social media yesterday (April 24).
On May 3, Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson will host alongside musical guest Benson Boone. On May 10, Arcade Fire will join host Walton Goggins, star of the latest season of The White Lotus. Lastly, on May 17, Bad Bunny is the musical guest alongside host Scarlett Johansson.
The upcoming show will mark Arcade Fire’s sixth appearance on SNL. They first performed on the show in November 2007, which coincided with the release of their album ‘Neon Bible’, and most recently in May 2022, to promote their album ‘WE’.
In February, the band took to the stage with David Byrne and St. Vincent to cover David Bowie‘s ‘Heroes’ during the 50th-anniversary celebrations of SNL.
The band, fronted by Win Butler, announced their new album ‘Pink Elephant’ earlier this month, releasing first single ‘Year Of The Snake’ followed by the title track earlier today (April 25). Their upcoming SNL appearance will follow the LP’s release on May 9, and precede a one-off gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 14. Visit here for tickets.
They have also confirmed that instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry will miss their ‘Pink Elephant’ tour due to being on paternity leave.
The full ‘Pink Elephant’ record will see the band adopt a “cinematic mystical punk” sound. It spans 42 minutes and comprises 10 new songs, all of which were recorded at Butler and Chassagne’s own Good News Recording Studio in New Orleans. Pre-order/pre-save here.
‘Pink Elephant’ marks the first Arcade Fire album since allegations of sexual misconduct arose against Butler in 2022. Five people came forward to accuse the singer of inappropriate behaviour, and the accusations also led to Feist leaving the band’s tour early. Butler responded to the allegations in a lengthy statement, claiming he was “very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behaviour” but maintaining that “these relationships were all consensual”.
The SNL season 50 finale will be Bad Bunny’s third time on the show, after previous performances in February 2021 and doing double duty as both host and musical guest in October 2023.
Bad Bunny’s performance will come ahead of his next slate of shows, a 21-date residency in his hometown of Puerto Rico – check out the full schedule here. He will also appear alongside Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2, which arrives on Netflix on July 25.
