Beyoncé and Jay-Z dedicated ‘Young Forever’ to Grenfell victims

Beyoncé and Jay-Z took a moment during their June 15 concert in London (part of the European leg of their On the Run II tour) to pay tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. The concert occurred just one day after the one year anniversary of the tragic fire which claimed the lives of 72 London residents and left hundreds more injured, homeless, and recovering from the devastation in June 2017. 

Per The Independent's report from Saturday, June 16, the pair introduced their cover of Alphaville's “Forever Young”, “Young Forever”, with Beyoncé telling the crowd, “I’d like to dedicate this song to the friends and families of the victims of Grenfell.” She and Jay-Z then launched into “Young Forever”, with the crowd enthusiastically joining in. The musical power couple has sung “Young Forever” during previous joint performances before, including their first On the Run tour in 2014. 

The group Justice 4 Grenfell praised Beyoncé and Jay-Z's tribute performance, tweeting out, “We are grateful that Jay-Z and Beyoncé dedicated their last song to Grenfell tonight, they said their thoughts were with the families & survivors. We are glad they wore the green heart badges that we sent over! Thank you.” The group also tweeted out their praise for both artists sporting green heart badges, which the reminded followers were created by another group, Grenfell Speaks — although Justice 4 Grenfell did send the badges to Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

The in-concert tribute follows the silent march that occurred on June 14, another important moment for remembering the victims of Grenfell one year after their passing. The Independent reports that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was in attendance and he was joined by Adele, Stormzy, and an estimated 5,000 additional participants who all came together for the anniversary event.