"It feels good to be home Chicago," shouted an excited Dwyane Wade, who was hinting at not only being back in his hometown but also coming home to his favorite childhood team, the Chicago Bulls. Of course the news wouldn't be official until the following day, but for the crowd of local Chicago natives and visitors, they will never forget this iconic moment in sports and music history.
Justin Lehmann, senior manager of Bud Light Music, was especially excited to bring this particular Bud Light moment together as both a Chicago native and former Chi-town DJ. "It was Dwyane who came to us and said I love Michelle Williams," said the executive. "Survivor was such an incredible moment. As a brand we bring people together. So it's about creating this unlikely special moment. We aren't just limited to people having beers at a bar. What we are trying to do is bring people together in a variety of different situations and environments and to redefine what bringing people together means."
And bring people together is exactly what the Bud Light moment did. The diverse crowds of concertgoers were ecstatic when surprise guest D. Wade hit the stage and brought out a host of other Chicago natives to join him on stage. Once onstage, Wade continued the All-Chicago-everything theme by bringing out Grammy-Award winning singer Michelle Williams to sing Destiny's Child's hit song "Survivor."
"I'm very excited about being home in the city of Chicago," said the singer, "because musically - [there is] so much great music so many great artist have come out of Chicago. [This] was a no brainer. Michelle confessed, "I was in St. Louis. [I] literally got to the airport at 3:30pm hopped a 4:00 pm plane to get here because I'm in rehearsals for Aida. So that's how committed I am to Chicago and to this idea that Bud Light has--putting us all on stage together [Dwyane Wade, Chance and Flosstradamus.] I'm saying that to say because I love music in Chicago, I'm sacrificing--I snuck out of rehearsal."
Just when the crowd thought the set couldn't get any better, Chicago's favorite hometown artist, Chance the Rapper joined the group onstage to sing hits off his recently released album, Coloring Book, including "No Problems" and "Summer Friends." The crowd went completely nuts and Chance did too. You could see his genuine excitement to be on stage with Dawyne Wade--a hometown hero.
Watch The Moment Below:
Before the group left the stage, they grabbed a few ice-cold Bud Lights for a special toast and invited the festival crowd to take a selfie as they commemorated the festival's 25th Anniversary.
Check it out via my sanpchat video below:
I also chatted it up with Michelle Williams backstage.
Photo Credit: Jeff Schear, Getty Images for Bud Light