The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon shook up its usual format Wednesday, broadcasting a performance from its record store neighbor.
With David Byrne billed as both an interview and musical guest yesterday, viewers might have assumed the former Talking Heads frontman would be performing in-studio. Instead, Fallon presented pre-recorded footage of Byrne playing at Rough Trade, the record store and performance space recently opened in the basement of the building NBC calls home, 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Rough Trade opened its Rockefeller Plaza location in 2021, setting up shop in a unit adjacent to The Tonight Show’s marquee and the entrance to The Shop at NBC Studios. Tishman Speyer, which owns much of the non-NBC floors of 30 Rock and its surrounding complex, courted the store with what Rough Trade co-owner Stephen Godfroy called a “sweetheart deal” at the time, per Curbed.
In April, the store tripled its size with the addition of a 4,000-square foot second location just one floor below in the basement, dubbing the two locations Rough Trade Above and Rough Trade Below. Rough Trade Below boasts a stage that now allows the store to hold shows for a capicity crowd of 300. That’s where Byrne gave the performance seen last night.
Byrne, who is currently promoting his new album Who Is The Sky?, recorded the performance earlier this week when he visited Rough Trade for what was purported to be a listening party for the new record. Byrne surprised fans by performing at the event. (According those in attendence, Byrne recorded a second take of the performance due to “camera issues.”)
The Tonight Show today uploaded extended footage of the Rough Trade show featuring the rest of Byrne’s three-song set.
It’s unclear if The Tonight Show plans to incorporate more Rough Trade performances into the show, but it wouldn’t be surprising. Since opening at 30 Rock, the record store has regularly held high-profile live performances in its store, with bands like Superchunk, Native Sun, Coldplay having played in the past year. Rough Trade has also become part of the fabric of 30 Rock, holding an annual music festival called iNDIEPLAZA outside on the grounds. In 2024, the event brought nearly 90,000 people to Rockefeller Center.
The Tonight Show has experimented with its musical performance segment before. U2 staged a 70-story-high rooftop performance for Fallon’s first-ever episode, and Pharrell Williams celebrated the lighting of Fallon’s marquee in 2015 by performing atop it.
