John Legend Plays Hits In NYC For Super Bowl Show

The pre-Super Bowl events are starting to kick off, and at the center of it are some pretty solid acts. Crooner John Legend kicked off the festivities in New York City on Wednesday as he performed for CITI’s pre-Super Bowl event series.

Gathering friends, family, and VIP guests, including his wife Chrissy Teigen, Legend sang at the McKittrick Hotel in West Manhattan. Unlike his other performances on award shows or while touring, this show was intimate and stripped down in its very nature. All Legend had on stage with him was a piano.

For fans that were following John Legend’s early career, this pre-Super Bowl performance was a direct throwback to the good old days, when the Grammy winning artist played at local New York venues such as The Knitting Factory and S.O.B.s. Legend also performed one of his first hit singles from back in the day called “Used To Love You.”

In addition to Legend’s own tunes, he wasn’t afraid to go off the book for his set list, which included covers of The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.”

John Legend’s performance comes as a cap on a pretty nice week for the crooner. Legend performed at the Grammys on Sunday night, and for many people he brought the class to the awards ceremony and showed off his talent without any props.

Earlier in the week Legend took the time out to discuss music and his love life with CBS This Morning’s Gayle King. Legend who is known for typically staying away from popular themes in music, spoke about why he gravitates towards love songs.

“They come naturally to me because I grew up on love songs, I grew up on Marvin Gaye. There’s something about it. It’s so universal. Everybody feels these things.”

Of course you can’t bring up love without discussing the love of his life Chrissy Teigen. The pair are newly married, and although Legend is the quiet type he didn’t shy away from talking about his marriage. When asked if he had any fears, Legend said:

“No. I’ve been with Chrissy for a long time, and knew that I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life and wanted to have kids with her and all of that, and I really didn’t have any fear. Once I decided to do it, I decided lets go for it.”

As for his pre-Super Bowl activities, Legend wasn’t the only artist to join in on the fun. In New Jersey Fall Out Boy played their own set for VH1’s Super Bowl Blitz series.

[Image credit: Kris Krüg / Flickr]