Next came a brief transition, during which Joshua Henry—who currently stars in Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Ragtime—read an excerpt from “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman, before the closing act: a performance by Stevie Nicks.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 04: Stevie Nicks performs onstage during the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 04, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty Images
After walking the carpet in custom John Galliano for Zara and Tiffany & Co. jewelry, Nicks closed out the night with four songs, accompanied by an eight-person band. Wearing a vintage Morgane LeFay dress and Margi Kent jacket, she duetted with Carpenter on Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 hit “Landslide” before taking “Gypsy” and “Edge of Seventeen” solo, and then singing “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” with an assist from Carpenter—and a 12-person choir. (Nicks’s styling was by Max Ortega, Justin Levine served as the music consultant, and PRODJECT was the entertainment and program producer.) Be still our wild hearts!
But those weren’t Monday’s only entertainments: at the beginning of the night, Henry opened the red carpet in high-octane style. Dressed in a scarlet Bode suit, he serenaded the earliest attendees to the 2026 Met Gala (and the press pit) with a live cover of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” backed by a 12-person choir, eight dancers, and a four-piece band.