Awesome Tiny Desk

Award-winning vocalist and writer Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas, and a trio of talented musicians stopped by the NPR Music offices to perform a series of raw and emotional songs about love and loss. The acoustic set includes four tracks: The Greatest, L’amour De Ma Vie, I Love You, and Birds of a Feather.

“Could you work to build something else besides a wall?”The minds behind NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert tried to get Brooklyn rockers TV on the Radio onto the show 15 years ago, but the band says they never received the invite. They more than make up for it with a rousing set that took us back to nights in small gigs, the air filled with smoke, beer, and sweat.

The remaining members of the influential new wave band DEVO are still going strong. Instead of playing the usual hits, their NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert features four lesser-known tracks, including some they haven’t played live in more than 40 years. The set list: It Takes a Worried Man, Blockhead, Praying Hands, and Come Back Jonee.

Hot Chip stopped by the NPR Music offices for a 4-song set that included some of their best tracks. They started with Over and Over and Boy from School before slowing things down with Look at Where We Are and kicking things into gear with Ready for the Floor. Jonny Lam’s pedal steel guitar added warmth to their electro-pop sounds.

To celebrate the release of his new album Everything I Thought It Was, Justin Timberlake and 14 musicians from The Tennessee Kids crammed into the NPR Music offices and turned in this fantastic short concert. The seven-song R&B set includes Señorita, Rock Your Body, Pusher Love Girl, Until The End of Time, Selfish, What Goes Around, and SexyBack.

On 3.11.2024, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert dropped this excellent short performance by alt-rock band 311. Lead singer Nick Hexum and his bandmates sound as good as ever, with a four-song set that includes Beautiful Disaster, All Mixed Up, Amber, and Down. We always loved the way they blened rock, reggae, and funk sounds.

Nile Rogers has written and produced some of the biggest songs and albums ever. Among his creations is the disco-funk group CHIC, who stopped by NPR Music with Rogers. The mini-concert’s six mega-hits: CHIC’s Le Freak and Good Times, Diana Ross’ I’m Coming Out, Sister Sledge’s We Are Family, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, and David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

Grammy Award-winning musician Post Malone and a dozen bandmates stopped by the NPR Music offices and turned in a wonderfully intimate acoustic set. The mini-concert includes performances of his multi-platinum hits Sunflower, I Fall Apart, and Circles, along with a new track, Enough is Enough, fresh off of his 2023 album Austin.

(PG-13: Language) Opposites attract, so naturally, punk-metal band GWAR and NPR hooked up for a Tiny Desk Concert. Blöthar the Berserker held court, saying they brought maestro Wilhelm Fartwrangler along to class things up, then plunged into a surprisingly blood-splatter-free set of Sex Cow, I’ll Be Your Monster, Ratcatcher, and Phantom Limb.

(PG-13: Language) When the sh*t goes down, you betta be ready. B-Real, Sen Dog, and the rest of the Cypress Hill gang stopped by the NPR Music offices to celebrate 50 years of hip hop. Their 30-minute, brass-heavy mini-concert includes razor-sharp performances of Hand on the Pump, How I Could Just Kill a Man, (Rap) Superstar, and Insane in the Brain.

To celebrate 25 years on Broadway, the cast and musicians of The Lion King stopped by the NPR offices to perform a series of songs from the award-winning musical. Their warm and enveloping performance of songs like Circle of Life, They Live in You, and Can You Feel the Love Tonight will bring sunshine to even the darkest day. HAKUNA MATATA!

DJ Fred again… is known for his energetic performances at dance clubs and arenas. In the more intimate setting of NPR’s offices, he demonstrates his true talents with a captivating and enveloping one-person concert that incorporates marimbas, a piano, looping, sequencing, sampled recordings, and his own live vocals.