Apple Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Alicia Keys at Grand Central

Apple began a month of global celebrations for its 50th anniversary on Friday, March 13 with a live concert at its Grand Central store in New York City.

The event featured 17-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys, who performed a career-spanning set from the station’s famous indoor steps.

Now, Keys has some history with Apple here. She was among the first musicians to release her entire catalogue in Spatial Audio on Apple Music and headlined an Apple Music Live performance. In 2024, she also collaborated on Alicia Keys: Rehearsal Room, which was one of the earliest immersive video experiences designed for the super expensive Apple Vision Pro.

Apple said it plans to hold similar gatherings throughout March to mark five decades since its founding. CEO Tim Cook appeared at the New York flagship to greet the crowd alongside Keys. The performance also served as a showcase for the iPhone 17 Pro, which was used to document the intimacy of the set (of course it was)

Last week, Apple kicked off a campaign to celebrate its milestone with the tagline, “50 years of thinking different”. It may not seem that way with the iPhone (for now), but the MacBook Neo so far has been pretty impressive considering its specs.