Rihanna Performs First Concert In 8 Years At A Pre-Wedding Bash

Author Autumn Hawkins

March 4th 11:18 AM

Lucky guests at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding in Jamnagar, India, you could see Rihanna front and center as she performed her first concert in eight years there on Friday (March 1). Ambani is the son of multi-billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and Nita Ambani, founder of the Reliance Foundation. Merchant is the daughter of Viren Merchant, the CEO of Encore Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., and entrepreneur Shaila Merchant.

The couple are set to get married on July 12, and had Rihanna be a part of their multi-day celebration. According to AP, RiRi was in good company with other U.S. billionaires Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, who also made the event,

“The show was the best,” Rihanna told paparazzi post-concert per in a video shared by a fan account on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I haven’t done a real show in eight years.”

Rihanna Performs At Super Bowl & Oscars

Despite Friday’s pre-wedding being her first concert since 2016’s Anti World Tour, the Grammy-winning artist has had two dynamic public performances in the last year. First, it was her Super Bowl performance where she performed a medley of her biggest tracks.

Her setlist was:

“Bitch Better Have My Money”
“Where Have You Been”
“Only Girl”
“We Found Love”
“Rude Boy”
“Work”
“Wild Thoughts”
“Pour It Up”
“All Of The Lights”
“Run This Town”
“Diamonds”

A month later, Rihanna performed at the Oscars for the first time. She performed “Lift Me Up,” her first song in six years at the time. “Lift Me Up” was co-written by Rihanna, Tems, Ludwig Göransson, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler. The record is nominated for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars. This was Rihanna’s first Academy Award nomination.

What’s Next For Rihanna?

Her partner A$AP Rocky said that new music for the singer was on the way last month. However, no official announcements have been made at this time.

Black Women Making History In Music, Sports, & More

• Beyoncé

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  In 2023, Beyoncé became the winningest GRAMMY holder with 32 GRAMMYs earned in her career. The singer received her 32nd GRAMMY at the 65th Annual Grammys Awards with her acceptance of Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance. Prior to her win for Renaissance, conductor Georg Solti had the most GRAMMY wins with 31.That was her fourth win of the night following her acceptance of Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Plastic Off The Sofa," Best R&B Song for "Cuff It," and Best Dance/Electronic Recording for "Break My Soul." Her Renaissance World Tour which accompanied the album, became one of the highest-grossing tours ever-- grossing more than $461 million according to Forbes.

• Serena Williams

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  Tennis and Serena Williams are a match made in heaven, which has been proven over the course of her successful career. Williams has earned 23 Grand Slam titles, the second most of any female athlete in the sport. She is also the first Black woman to win a singles championship in the 31-year history of the U.S. Open era. She also joined Althea Gibson as only the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam. In 2022, Williams said that she would retire from the sport after telling Vogue in her cover story that she is "evolving away from tennis." She later walked back her statement in 2023 to CBS, saying that the word "retirement" doesn't really fit her; however, she has not announced any plans to return to tennis.

• Michelle Obama

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  Michelle Obama made history as the first Black woman to become a First Lady of the United States when her husband, Barack Obama, was elected President of the United States in 2008.  Similarly, Barack also made history with the election, becoming the first Black President of the United States. However, Michelle's successes don't stop with a title as she was a Grammy nominee for her memoir The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times. The former First Lady campaigned for health through Let's Move! -- an initiative for children's nutrition and physical activity nationwide. During her second term, she fronted the Reach Higher Initiative aimed at young adults to pursue a higher education. She herself has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. She married Barrack in 1992, and the two share two daughters: Malia and Sasha Obama.
• Kamala Harris

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  Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian-American vice president when she was elected into office in 2021. Prior to her vice presidency, she was the Attorney General of California and District Attorney of San Francisco. Harris was born in Oakland, California, and is the daughter of immigrants. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer scientist, and her father, Donald Harris, is an economist and professor at Stanford University. Kamala is a Howard University and University of California Hastings College of Law graduate. She married Douglas Emhoff in 2014 and shares his two children, Ella and Cole, from a previous relationship.

• Rihanna

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  Rihanna's latest achievement was that she currently has the most-watched Super Bowl performance with 121 million viewers. Prior to her performance being the most-watched in history was Katy Perry's 2015 Super Bowl Halftime Show. Rihanna actually made another Super Bowl performance achievement as the first pregnant person to perform at the Super Bowl. She announced (and later confirmed) that she was pregnant with her and A$AP Rocky's second child, whom they welcomed in May. In fashion, the model was also the first Black brand ambassador for Dior in 2015 and has made her home country of Barbados proud as the first Bajan billionaire in 2022.

• Simone Biles

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  It's impossible to think of gymnastics and not think of Simone Biles. The Olympian was the first African-American all-around world champion. She also has the most all-around titles in the women's competition, with six. With a total of 30 medals -23 of which are gold- Biles is the most-decorated gymnast in World Championship history. In 2023, she got the Yurchenko double pike move renamed after her after landing it at the World Championship. The year prior, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden.
• Ketanji Brown Jackson

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  Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made history as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022 and sworn in later that year. Brown Jackson, previously a public defender and federal appeals court judge, was sworn in shortly after Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement became official. She previously clerked for Breyer from 1999-2000. She graduated from Harvard University as an undergrad, and she received her legal education at its law school. She married Patrick Graves Jackson in 1996, and the couple share two daughters.

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Author Autumn Hawkins

Category:

• Celebs
• Hot Augusta
• Music News

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Rihanna