If you thought that seeing The Rock do disco was the biggest that Lip Sync Battle could possibly get, you are mistaken. The Spike series that became a surprise (to me) viral phenomenon is changing stages later this summer for an extended live show in Central Park as a part of New York City’s SummerStage series. This could possibly be the loudest concert imaginable where the performers aren’t making any noise at all.
This live version of Lip Sync Battle will be entirely free for the public to attend on Monday, July 13, which is pretty awesome, since it won’t be televised. It will see LL Cool J appearing for his usual hosting duties, with Chrissy Teigen rocking the color commentary and outlandish facial expressions during the acts. Unfortunately, the guest performers haven’t been locked down just yet, but it’s expected that they’ll be announced very soon.
The show’s executive producer Casey Patterson, whose company is spearheading the event, spoke with Vulture about it, and shared a few details about the set-up.
It’ll be like two editions of our show, back-to-back. There will be four performers and they’ll probably do two songs each. It’s similar to [the TV edition], but blown up a bit. We have a big stage we have to fill.
Saying that they wanted to take advantage of a live version without having to worry about how to make it work for television, Patterson also says that this is a good first step to seeing if the format works in this capacity, and that they’re definitely open to more live shows in the future. As well, he and the rest of the creative team aren’t against setting up more hourlong specials for the TV series in the future, as they’re doing for the Season 1 finale in September with the cast of Empire.
I know who I’d want to see in the live show, and his name is Terry Crews, who has already proven how adept he is at both lip syncing and wowing audiences with vibrant performances. As well, it’d be cool to see Anne Hathaway coming back to mock another slightly scandalous music video. But really, anybody would work, and I’m sure they’ll find some sure crowd-pleasers. Though reruns of Season 1 episodes are currently airing, the rest of the first-run episodes will kick back up just before the live show on July 9. The show has already been renewed for Season 2, and production on it recently began, with the list of performers coming together.
So if you’re in the New York area around Monday, July 13, make your way to Central Park for the live Lip Sync Battle performances, with gates opening at 7 p.m. ET. It’s the perfect kind of concert to attend if you have laryngitis.
