The Kid Laroi to headline NRL Grand Final entertainment
The NRL have announced its entertainment for the 2024 grand final, which ticks the box of both a global superstar and Aussie star.
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Grammy nominated, multi-platinum global superstar The Kid Laroi will headline the 2024 NRL Grand Final entertainment.
Born Charlton Kennetth Jeffrey Howard in Waterloo, NSW, the 21-year-old has hit big on international stage, arguably best known for the song STAY featuring Justin Biber, which has almost a billion views on YouTube.
It’s also the eighth most streamed song on Spotify with over 3.2 billion views and more than 1.4m listens a day.
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Howard is also a proud Kamilaroi man and a diehard South Sydney Rabbitohs fan.
So much so, Howard met Souths stars Cody Walker and Jai Arrow in his West Hollywood recording studios ahead of the NRL’s Las Vegas season opener.
“I grew up in Waterloo and the Rabbitohs are in my blood,” Howard said to The Sydney Morning Herald at the time.
“I love what the team represents and am stoked that people in the US will get a chance to watch them play live in Las Vegas next weekend.”
The meeting was captured on Fox League’s NRL Hits Vegas: Dream to Reality.
Walker said Howard’s manager stuck around after the meeting and said: “I couldn’t believe how nervous this bloke was meeting players like us. Me and Jai were like little kids jumping around stupid.”
Walker said his kids love The Kid Laroi and FaceTimed with his kids — promising to “hook you up with box tickets when we come in October”.
The Kid Laroi is scheduled for eight arena dates in Australia in November.
Although Howard wasn’t able to attend the Vegas matches due to tour commitments in Asia, as he continues to tour his hit album THE FIRST TIME, having just released a deluxe version of the record including his latest single “GIRLS”, he’s set to rock the Grand Final instead.
Howard has just completed the North American leg of his THE FIRST TIME Tour .
“The Kid Laroi personifies the energy, excitement and ambition of Rugby League as we celebrate the end of another record-breaking season and look to take Rugby League to new frontiers in the future,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said in a statement.
“He is one of the biggest music stars on the planet, and he also has Rugby League in his DNA having grown up in South Sydney and followed his beloved Rabbitohs from a very young age. He is set to supercharge an unbelievable day of Grand Final football.”
Howard said he couldn’t wait to perform before the biggest day on the NRL calendar.
“As a young kid growing up in Sydney, I would drive past Rabbitohs training at Redfern Oval dreaming of playing Rugby League and making music and now I’m going to have this pinch myself moment of playing my music in front of a roaring crowd of Rugby League fans on Grand Final day. It really doesn’t get much better than that,” he said.
The Grand Final day entertainment wars between the NRL and AFL are fascinating this season after the AFL announced Katy Perry would headline their pre-game entertainment.
Perry copped a brutal reaction from the US when she was announced.
“Gaga = Olympics, Katy = unknown made-up event,” one person insisted, comparing Perry’s booking to that of Lady Gaga, who’s expected to perform at tomorrow’s Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Others replied “This ain’t the Super Bowl is it”, “There have been bigger falls from the top but I think this is one of the most embarrassing”, and “Y’all used chatgpt to make up an event title huh.”
Originally published as The Kid Laroi to headline NRL Grand Final entertainment
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