Benson Boone
Golden 1 Center
September 9, 2026
Benson Boone, an artist who typifies the modern version of the road to major pop stardom in the U.S., recently played a highly anticipated rescheduled gig at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center for his swelling legions of fans.
Boone, 24, emerged at the top of stage, outfitted in a simple outfit of wrestling shoes, blue jeans, and a sparkling sequin vest with no shirt — topped off with an aerodynamic mullet. After kicking things off with a backflip at the high peak on the stage, he sprinted down the long runway and spent the remainder of the night engaging the fans with a variety of big pop hits, dance moves, a distinctive falsetto, more flips, and lots of engaging banter and eye contact with the crowd. They devoured all of it.
Boone wore a shirt only once, for a dynamic duet with the show’s opener, Ashe. Dressed all in black, they collaborated on the song “(I’ve had) The Time of my Life,” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. It sounded great and went over quite well. Ashe also did a stunning cover of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” during her opening set.
Of course, Boone topped it all, ending the show in a full Spider-Man costume to perform the song “Cry.” The story goes that a fan in Pittsburgh handed him a Spider-Man mask that he put on during a recent show, and he’s kept it in the repertoire since. Sacramento was apparently the first time he donned a full Spidey suit on the tour — fitting, because this was the closing night. Even more fitting was that he nailed another backflip as a final stunt, landing into a Spidey web-flinging position and capitalizing on the “friendly neighborhood pop star” vibe he carried throughout the night.
Boone, who was a pioneer in the use of TikTok to propel his popularity, garnered mainstream exposure as a competitor on American Idol in 2021. He was doing quite well in the vocal competition when he voluntarily withdrew from the show to forge his own path in the pop world. Since doing that, he hasn’t looked back.
He received a Grammy nomination for his song “Beautiful Things,” and although he lost the statue to Chappell Roan, Boone has won big commercially. His music has been featured in some pretty huge ad campaigns, from holiday ads for Target to a pretty hilarious Super Bowl commercial for Instacart, in which he and comedian Ben Stiller parodied Boone’s pretty incredible acrobatic abilities.
Things have continued to move forward at a pretty rapid pace leading up to the Golden 1 show. With a larger than life show that focused on his strengths, Boone proved he’d earned his place in the limelight.
