Guess who the special guest will be at this year's Providence College Late Night Madness?
PROVIDENCE — Monday afternoon’s release carried with it another reminder of how far we’ve come since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Providence College is back to hosting Late Night Madness after a two-year absence. Six-time Grammy nominee Khalid will be the star attraction at the Oct. 1 event, which will be held at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
The Friars played a limited basketball schedule in 2020-21 and still operated under some restrictions at the start of 2021-22. Those were largely dropped by the time a first men’s Big East regular-season title was clinched in a February blowout of Creighton. Providence wound up with a first Sweet 16 berth in 25 years and fell just shy against eventual national champion Kansas.
The event serves as the centerpiece of the college’s Homecoming Weekend. It’s also typically a prime recruiting tool for both basketball programs, with the focus on future classes beyond 2023. The Friars men welcomed a host of potential players behind their bench while storming to a 27-6 mark last season.
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Providence managed to book a steady stream of headlining talent prior to the pandemic. Twelve-time Grammy winner John Legend played the 2019 version of the event along with opening rapper A Boogie wit da Hoodie. Nick Cannon, Big Sean and Jalen Rose, Ludacris and Bill Raftery, Shaquille O’Neal, Lil Uzi Vert and Doris Burke have all been among the guests over the past decade.
The Friars moved the event out of Alumni Hall for the 2019 edition, with Legend expected to cast wider public net and generate some revenue for their athletic department. Khalid is a six-time Grammy nominee who was up for best new artist in 2018 and record of the year in 2020. His second album, Free Spirit, reached No. 1 on the charts in the United States and Canada in 2019 and cracked the top four in five other nations.
Visit friars.com for more information.
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: PC's Late Night Madness will star Khalid at the Dunkin' Donuts Center
