The singer premiered her new documentary, then threw a starry closing party at Capitale.
Alicia Keys gave the Tribeca Festival a sendoff worthy of its 25th year. On Saturday, June 13, the New York native closed the 2026 festival with the premiere of her documentary Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen, then headlined the closing night party.
It helped that the timing felt almost scripted. The celebration landed on the same night the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals, and Keys ended her set, fittingly, with Empire State of Mind. The whole evening played like a hometown victory lap.
How the night came together
The documentary premiered as the festival’s closing gala at the BMCC Theater, followed by a moderated question and answer session with Keys and director One9. The film traces her path from a kid taking piano lessons in Manhattan Plaza to a global star, with the creation of her Tony-winning Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen at its center.
There was a New York subplot even inside the theater. The crew kept the room updated on the Knicks game, and news that the team had fallen behind drew an audible gasp. By the time the party started, the city had a championship to toast.
A performance full of surprises
The official after party took over Capitale in lower Manhattan, presented by 10 Lives Studios. Keys played a roughly hourlong set and came onstage in a Knicks bomber jacket, then leaned into the sounds that shaped her, with nods to Wu-Tang Clan, Nina Simone and The Notorious B.I.G.
Then came the guests. Keys brought out Nas for what the room treated as an unforgettable moment. The pairing carried extra weight for film fans. One9 also directed the 2014 Tribeca documentary Nas: Time Is Illmatic. Tony winner Shoshana Bean, who has starred in Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway, joined the celebration as well.
A true New York moment
The convergence was the point. A homegrown artist premiered a film about her own city, a few miles from where she learned to play, on the night her hometown team broke a title drought that had run more than five decades. Keys herself called it a true New York moment.
A fitting close to Tribeca’s 25th year
The party doubled as a marker of a bigger chapter for Keys. She has spent the year looking back, with the documentary, the Broadway run of Hell’s Kitchen and a 25th anniversary edition of her debut album Songs in A Minor, and she framed all that reflection as a sign she is just getting started.
The guest list matched the occasion, with names like Natasha Lyonne, Lena Waithe and Angela Simmons on hand, along with Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal and the film’s producers. For a festival marking a quarter century, it was hard to picture a more New York way to take a bow.
