Diana Ross, Jack White and more

It could be a party for the ages: A blockbuster celebration of Detroit music will bring Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean and a host of other big names to the restored Michigan Central train station as the historic site launches its grand reopening. for a global audience.

Eminem and his manager, Paul Rosenberg, are billed as executive producers of the Thursday night show. The concert is being run by Ford Motor Co., which spent nearly $1 billion renovating the venue and unveiled the artist lineup Monday morning after weeks of preparation.

Titled “Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central,” the event will be broadcast live on Peacock and then air Sunday on NBC as a prime-time special.

The 90-minute, genre-spanning concert — whose lineup includes hip-hop duo Slum Village, gospel stars Kierra Sheard and the Clark Sisters, techno-house DJ Theo Parrish and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra — will mark the biggest convergence of local star power. on a Detroit stage for decades.

The show will also feature guest artists such as Jelly Roll, Fantasia, Common and Melissa Etheridge, paying homage to the city’s rich musical heritage.

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Additional acts are booked for the event, sources told the Detroit Free Press. Monday’s official announcement says the concert will include “surprise special guests.”

Michigan Central Station Reopening:everything you need to know

Presenters will include Detroit Lions stars and veterans such as Barry Sanders, Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown, as well as comedian Mike Epps and actress Sophia Bush.

The concert can be watched live at 8:30 p.m. Thursday on Peacock, the streaming service operated by NBC Universal, and will be repurposed for a one-hour NBC special broadcast nationally at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Six weeks after the NFL draft took place downtown, Michigan Central’s gig is poised to give Detroit another prominent role in the city’s ongoing revival.

The details were revealed Monday by Ford and Michigan Central after weeks of growing buzz and intrigue surrounding the free event, which will host 15,000 people at Roosevelt Park in Corktown, across from the restored train station. The tickets have already been distributed.

More:Michigan Central Station renovation is ‘a little revenge’ for Ford CEO Jim Farley

The concert is a landmark moment for Ford as it unveils the resurrected Michigan Central after a six-year, $950 million rehabilitation of the 13-story depot and its surrounding 30-acre campus, just west of downtown Detroit.

“We wanted to celebrate the reopening of Michigan Central Station in style and make it an unforgettable evening for Detroiters and spectators around the world,” Bill Ford, Ford executive chairman, said in a statement Monday.

“I am honored and grateful that so many of Detroit’s musical legends, sports heroes, artists and innovators will join us to celebrate the city we all love and the bright future we are creating together .”

Streaming and television production is led by Jesse Collins Entertainment, a Los Angeles company that has overseen Super Bowl halftime shows, the Emmy Awards, the BET Honors and other events.

For Ross, the glittering Motown star who grew up in the former Brewster housing project two miles northeast of the station, the Michigan Central show will be the first homecoming show since 2016.

White, who led the White Stripes to rock fame before finding success with the Raconteurs and as a solo artist, grew up in southwest Detroit, not far from Central Michigan. He last played here in April 2022 – a two-night affair at the Masonic Temple that included an onstage proposal and wedding to his now-wife, Olivia Jean.

Local rapper Big Sean, who kicked off the NFL draft in April with a live performance, was featured prominently in Ford’s public festivities in 2018 when the automaker purchased the station property.

These and other artists announced Monday constitute the most notable concentration of marquee Detroit talent to share a bill in many years – likely dating back to the 1960s and the Motortown Revues that brought together Motown’s top artists at venues such as Fox. Theater.

If Eminem were to perform, it would be the rapper’s first hometown concert in nearly a decade, not counting his onstage appearances with touring artists such as Ed Sheeran and 50 Cent. His last headlining stand in Detroit was a double bill at Comerica Park in August 2014 with Rihanna.

Some out-of-town artists arrive with obvious ties to Detroit: R&B star Fantasia, for example, has appeared in Aretha Franklin tributes over the years, including a 2019 Grammy special. a duet with the Queen of Soul on the 2007 single “Put You Up on Game.”

Jelly Roll, the country-rock-rap phenomenon from Tennessee, has often gushed about his love of Bob Seger and Eminem. (And he’ll probably be multitasking via private jet the night of the Detroit show, when he’s also scheduled to headline a music festival in Iowa.)

Ford’s announcement Monday touts the station event as a showcase of “the spirit and soul of Detroit through an incredible lineup of musical performances, short films, appearances by local leaders and creators telling stories of innovation and culture from across the city and region. .”

Michigan Central Station was the tallest railroad depot in the world when it opened in 1913 and eventually served more than 4,000 rail passengers per day. It was abandoned in the 1980s and became a global symbol of Detroit’s decadence before its $90 million purchase in 2018 by Ford, which plans to put 2,500 employees on campus by 2028.

Other occupiers include startups and other businesses, with restaurants and retail spaces planned to roll out in the coming months.

Following Thursday’s concert, Michigan Central will host daily public tours of the restored station through June 17. Tours will then be available on Fridays and Saturdays until August.

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