"Happy birthday to me!"
Photo of Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg & Norah Jones (Credit: Lucinda Goodwin, Supplied)
Country music icon Willie Nelson has just turned 90, and to celebrate the epic milestone, he led a two-day birthday concert film celebration that hosted the likes of Snoop Dogg, Norah Jones, Chris Stapleton, and many more.
Rolling Stone notes that the extravaganza played out as a television special with its special guests and the multitude of artists paying tribute, with the event produced by Blackbird Presents, Live Nation and Hewitt Silva.
26 MAY 2023 UPDATE: Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 will be shown in independent Australian cinemas from Saturday, 10 June, to Friday, 16 June, with numerous Dendy and Palace cinemas hosting the special. More info here.
Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday celebrations were held at the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend (Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 April), with Billboard reporting the following artists performed on Saturday: Beck and Daniel Lanois, Edie Brickell and Charlie Sexton, Leon Bridges and Gary Clark, Jr, Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson (in tribute to The Highwaymen), Snoop Dogg and The Chicks.
More musical guests included Charley Crockett, Snoop Dogg, Jamey Johnson, Norah Jones, Tom Jones, Miranda Lambert, The Lumineers, Ziggy Marley, Lukas Nelson, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff, Chris Stapleton, Stephen Stills with Neil Young, Billy Strings and Bobby Weir, and more. All artists were introduced by actors Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Garner, Owen Wilson, and Helen Mirren.
The Sunday celebrations featured fewer artists, including The Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Booker T Jones, Dave Matthews, Orville Peck and Allison Russell, as well as additional presenters Chelsea Handler, Woody Harrelson and comedian Gabriel Iglesias. View footage from the spectacular celebrations below.
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In December, Snoop Dogg revealed that the highest he’s ever been was when he smoked weed with Willie Nelson. “We was in Amsterdam on 4/20 (the annual worldwide cannabis celebration on April 20), and he was doing a concert out there. So, we went back to his hotel room, and we was playing dominoes,” Snoop Dogg explained in the Let’s Go! podcast.
The rapper continued, "Me and him were playing dominoes one-on-one. He (was) whooping my ass, and I’m just getting higher and higher and higher."
He then exclaimed that the 89-year-old music icon was outsmoking him: "He just keep passing it (the joint) to me, and I’m like, ‘This old motherfucker outsmoking me."
Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson performed their collaborative track, Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die, on Saturday night.
Nelson was recently a dual winner at the Grammy Awards, taking home the Best Country Solo Performance award for Live Forever and Best Country Album for A Beautiful Time, his tribute album to many musical icons.
A Beautiful Time is Nelson’s 72nd solo studio album and was released on 29 April 2022, his 89th birthday. Produced by Buddy Cannon, the album includes covers of The Beatles and Leonard Cohen as well as the single I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die. It also peaked at #8 on the Australian ARIA Country Albums Chart. Earlier this year, Nelson released his 73rd solo album, I Don't Know A Thing About Love.