Jon Batiste brings his ‘creative church’ to the Strip
Jon Batiste is a man of big talent, big lineage, big passion, big message. It all comes together in his latest release, “Big Money.” He’s about to enjoy a big moment on the Strip, too.
Batiste is playing selections from the album at the Encore Theater on Saturday and Sunday on “The Big Money Tour.” He also refers to the experience as his “creative church.”
“This is a really special thing that I’ve never done in this way before, which is to really tour behind an album just as the album is out,” he says. “Our audience is going to be getting to hear the songs on the album and in person, almost at the same time.”
The 35-year-old artist was born and raised in New Orleans. He’s stirred together R&B, gospel and roots inspirations. “Big Money” challenges unbridled capitalism and the dash for cash.
“Big money is not just in dollars. It’s in cultural inheritance,” he says. “It’s in who we are, and what we create. The ambition for money is something that destroys a lot of the things that are of real value.”
Batiste had promised special guests, and delivered, with announcements last week of Andra Day and Diane Silvers joining the tour.
Day’s “Rise Up” has gone four-times platinum, and her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” led to a Best Actress Oscar nomination and Golden Globe. She appears on “Lean on My Love” from the new album.
Silvers, an emerging singer-songwriter, comes off her live debut as a 2025 Pop-Up Artist at the Newport Folk Festival. She brings what she dubs a “Laurel Canyon–inspired folk sound” to the tour.
“Big Money” was written and recorded in a remarkably swift two weeks. A good chunk of the album was recorded live, in single takes, often with a single microphone. Randy Newman’s unmistakable voice and sensibility are evident on “The Lonely Road,” a Ray Charles cover.
The duet was one of the album’s one-take wonders. It seems the longer Newman sings, the more his voice sounds like Charles’.
“Randy is a student of Ray Charles. We’re both sons of Ray. You know, it’s something that is very much a part of his musical DNA, as it is in mine,” Batiste says. “Our collective love for all things New Orleans, all things blues, all things Ray Charles just naturally became the essence in the recording.”
He created alongside No I.D. (born Dion Wilson), who helped Batiste venture to uncharted musical territories. No I.D. is the featured artist on the final track, “Angels.”
“We were in the middle of a five-years-long conversation about life,” Batiste says. “The moment we decided to collaborate, there was a synergy we couldn’t have planned for — him wanting to explore something different, me in an American-roots guitar space, the shifts in culture.”
Batiste has been busy in 2025, performing a soaring rendition of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, and winning a pair of Grammys. One was for Best Music Film for the critically lauded “American Symphony,” the other for Best Song Written for Visual Media for “It Never Went Away, which was also nominated for an Oscar.
Asked for a favorite Las Vegas memory, Batiste summons the 2022 Grammys show at the MGM Grand Garden. The show was postponed, then moved to the Grand Garden because of COVID restrictions in L.A. Batiste performed “Freedom,” for an audience that was heavy with regular music fans, not just industry types.
“I just remember when we did the performance, it just felt electric,” he says. “And all the performances that night had a certain electricity to it that I really enjoyed. It was real, and it was authentic.”
Do drop in
CeeLo Green was the latest unbilled star to perform at Delilah at Wynn Las Vegas on Saturday night.
“The vibe was perfection and the band was locked in,” posted Las Vegas sax master Mat Schumer, who was part of the gig. Vegas music great David Siegel (co-writer of Enrique Iglesias’ 2002 single “Escape,” among many credits) was music director. Bassist Ryan Cross (who books the musicians), trumpet ace Jason Levi, guitar star Jimmy Powers, trombonist Jessica Hawthorne and thunderous drummer Earl Campbell backed Green.
The superstar and band performed for about 40 minutes, an unbroken set of “Disco Inferno,” “Funky Town,” “Hot Stuff,” Fly, Robin, Fly,” “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” “Don’t Cha” and “The Robots.” A healthy sampling of Green’s inspirations.
Add to the NFR hoedown
Country great Brad Paisley will play the Encore Theater on Dec. 4 and 5, sidesaddle with the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas &Mack Center.
Paisley’s “One Man, Six Strings” music/storytelling show is a hit, harkening to the days (from 2009 to 2012) when Garth Brooks performed a similar concept in that same venue.
Music to the masses
House of Music is coming back to the iHeartRadio Music Festival on Sept. 19 and 20 at Toshiba Plaza leading to T-Mobile Arena. The fan experience is free and open to the public from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. both days.
Similar to previous visits, House of Music will feature rooms inspired by recording stars such as Ed Sheeran, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Tate McRae and LL Cool J. You don’t need a show ticket for entry.
It’s 2025, and this happened …
Backstreet Boys are up for Best Group at the MTV Video Music Awards, scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific time Sunday on … not MTV, but CBS and Paramount+. This is a fan-vote process, as always, and they got my vote.
