At Rise, a gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen, there are no plans to watch Sunday’s big game closely, no talk of the Chiefs’ defense or the Eagles’ offensive line. There is, however, plenty of anticipation around the Super Bowl 2023 halftime special — pop icon Rihanna’s first live show in years.
“We are all excited to see what she has in store after a long break from the music industry,” said bar owner Ted Arenas, who plans to show the game — as long as football fans don’t mind watching Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts go head to head to a soundtrack of dance floor favorites like “We Found Love.”
Rihanna hasn’t released an album since 2016, and hasn’t hit the stage since the 2018 Grammys. That’s why the promise of a performance at Super Bowl LVII has fans — many of whom couldn’t give a damn about football — awaiting Sunday night like it was the second coming, and planning a very different kind of Super Bowl party: a Rihanna-themed celebration.
Known around the Rise bar as the “Rihanna Concert” rather than the Super Bowl, the event will have DJs spinning the “Don’t Stop The Music” singer’s hits all night — breaking only for the hotly anticipated halftime show.
“We are also going to have a Rihanna cocktail,” he said. “It’s going to be good.”
Superfan Gayle Pirie, owner of Laszlo, a bar in San Francisco, has been planning an elaborate party since the halftime show news came out last fall.
“The game will be running, but the sound will be Rihanna,” she said. “We’ve been looking all over San Francisco and online to try to get her complete collection in vinyl, so we can play those.”
“This isn’t a Super Bowl party,” she emphasized. “It’s a Rihanna comeback party.”
Pirie has concocted an elaborate food menu that reflects all of Rihanna’s qualities. “It’s spicy, delicious things,” she said. “Things that are classic, potent, robust, and enduring.”
That includes freshly popped popcorn with harissa and madras curry sesame seed fried chicken. The bar will be serving the Rihanna Espresso Martinis with Copalli Rum, Coconut Elixir and amaretto.
Some RiRi fans are planning their own “Diamonds” singer-themed dos.
Emily June, 27, who lives on Long Island and owns a skincare brand, is leaving her house for the Super Bowl for the first time ever and heading to a city bar — she’s still deciding where — to watch the game.
“I don’t think any of my friends could name both teams playing, but they can tell you who is doing the halftime show,” June laughed. “I’m a big Rihanna fan, and we’ve been deprived of her music for so long — it’s so exciting that she is going to be performing.”
She said that while she doesn’t have a football team to support, she is happy to have an excuse to fangirl over the halftime performer. Rihanna’s brand Savage X Fenty recently launched a football-themed line, and June will be sporting a t-shirt and lip gloss from the collection.
“With football merch it’s all jerseys for boys,” she said. “Now I finally have something I want to wear on game day.”
Justin Atwell, 31, who works for H&M and lives in suburban Toronto, said he’s tuned into the big game in past years, but this is the first time he felt compelled to throw a party. He expects up to 50 people to attend — all of them dressed as Rihanna.
“We are all showing up as different versions of her — my friend who is pregnant wants to be the pregnant Rihanna. I’m a little scandalous, so I want to do the S&M version,” Atwell told The Post. “I’ve been a Rihanna fan since she came [up] years and years ago — this is a really big deal.”