{"id":901907,"date":"2026-09-23T00:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T00:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901907\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T00:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T00:48:12","slug":"tones-and-i-turns-down-nrl-grand-final-pre-match-show-citing-prior-commitment-with-macklemore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/901907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tones And I turns down NRL grand final pre-match show citing prior commitment with Macklemore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tones And I has broken her silence after the NRL declared it will forego a grand final tradition of pre-match entertainment.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys told ABC Sport the NRL’s plans to have Tones And I perform before next month’s showpiece event would be cancelled<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NRL will use the money set aside for pre-match entertainment to contribute to children playing rugby league.<\/p>\n

But Tones And I’s management said no deal had been signed or confirmed in writing.<\/p>\n

Via a statement sent to ABC Sport, her management representative Regan Lethbridge said “prior commitments” were a sticking point.<\/p>\n

“Tones was recently approached to perform the pre-show at the NRL grand final,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

“An offer was presented to Tones via management on September 5.<\/p>\n

NRL grand final loses pre-match act<\/a><\/p>\n

The NRL grand final is set to go ahead without pre-match entertainment after negotiations with Australian artist Tones and I collapsed.<\/p>\n

“Tones had a prior commitment with Macklemore in America and explored all avenues to make it work.<\/p>\n

“Nothing was signed or confirmed in writing.<\/p>\n

“Due to the last-minute nature and prior commitments by Tones, we were unable to accept the offer.<\/p>\n

“We wish the NRL nothing but the very best for their event.”<\/p>\n

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the issue centred the NRL’s insistence Tones And I perform the song Dance Monkey, which she had refused to do.<\/p>\n

But neither Tones And I nor V’Landys has cited the set list as the issue at play.<\/p>\n

Tones And I has previously said she loathed the hit song, which enjoyed significant commercial success when released in 2019.<\/p>\n

Macklemore found himself at the centre of his own live upheaval after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s The Loop Tour, over pro-Palestinian comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘A different direction’<\/p>\n

V’landys said he wished Tones And I well.<\/p>\n

“I’m a fan of Tones And I,” he told ABC Sport on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“She is a great performer, no doubt about that, and she’s got some great songs, but as I said, we both decided to go to a different direction.”<\/p>\n

V’landys said the cost of putting on any artist for a grand final performance was about a million dollars.<\/p>\n

“I’d prefer to see 20,000 underprivileged kids who can’t afford to play rugby league play rugby league, rather than spend a million dollars on 11 minutes of a musical performance,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter V\u2019landys said money set aside for pre-match entertainment would be invested in junior rugby league. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)<\/p>\n

To have no pre-game show would be a stunning break from tradition.<\/p>\n

The grand final has regularly featured pre-match entertainment, including international pop star Teddy Swims last year.<\/p>\n

Billy Idol and Tina Turner are among other acts to have taken the stage for the event.<\/p>\n

V’landys was unconcerned as to whether the event could be underwhelming without pre-match entertainment.<\/p>\n

“Our game sells itself,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People come to watch rugby league. They don’t come to watch a pop concert.”<\/p>\n

V’landys did not provide details on the record of why or how the negotiations with Tones And I broke down.<\/p>\n

“You spend money to get outcomes, and I think it’s a better outcome to get kids that can’t afford to \u2026 play rugby league,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We consider a lot of artists over a period of time, but as I said, I’ve been toying with this idea for a couple of years now, about giving the money to kids to play rugby league rather than a musical act.”<\/p>\n

State governments across the country are bidding for the grand final hosting rights.<\/p>\n

New South Wales holds the rights, but it is unclear whether the state minister for sport, Steve Kamper, or Premier Chris Minns were consulted.<\/p>\n

Neither provided comment in response to questions.<\/p>\n

New South Wales Rugby League chief executive David Trodden said he had “a short conversation” with V’landys about the prospect of funds being directed towards grassroots footy.<\/p>\n

“I applaud his decision to use the funds to support grassroots rugby league, and particularly those children who may have financial constraints on their ability to participate in such a wonderful community sport,” Trodden said.<\/p>\n

“Rugby league has a unique ability to provide community support to those who need it the most.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tones And I has broken her silence after the NRL declared it will forego a grand final tradition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[638,49418,64,63,470245,11288,63496,761,762,158,91747,281010,85,248194],"class_list":["post-901907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-afl","tag-afl-grand-final","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dance-monkey","tag-grand-final","tag-kylie-minogue","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-peter-vlandys","tag-pre-match","tag-sports","tag-tones-and-i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}