Walt Frazier appears in parade conversation as Alicia Keys will perform "Empire State of Mind" at City Hall following the Knicks' championship parade on Thursday.
Alicia Keys at City Hall
Alicia Keys is scheduled to take the stage at about 1 p.m. at City Hall in lower Manhattan after the Knicks' championship parade finishes its route.
OG Anunoby's FaceTime Announcement
OG Anunoby announced the appearance in a FaceTime video posted to social media on Wednesday, asking Keys, "The city’s been asking for you, are you pullin’ up?"
Keys answered on the call: "If there’s a time for you to smile, it’s right now," and added, "How could I not [show up]? This is my city, and the city’s on fire. There’s so much love in the city."
Knicks' Parade Route to City Hall
The ticker-tape parade will start near Bowling Green and travel along Broadway to City Hall, with Alicia Keys closing the City Hall portion of the Knicks' championship celebration.
Fans were already singing "Empire State of Mind" after the team closed its title run in Game 5 on Saturday, a moment that helped push the anthem into the center of the celebration schedule for Thursday.
Jay-Z co-wrote and recorded "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, and the song was featured on his album "The Blueprint 3," released in Sept. 2009; Keys' solo version, "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down," was included on "The Element of Freedom" that December.
Organizers set the performance time for about 1 p.m., which places Keys onstage after the parade arrives at City Hall and after the formal procession down Broadway ends.
Local attendees should plan for an arrival window that accounts for the parade route finishing near Bowling Green and moving along Broadway to City Hall; the approximate 1 p.m. stage time is the clearest scheduling detail available for fans planning to watch the City Hall performance.
Jay-Z has not indicated if he will be there for the performance, a development that leaves the celebration’s co-writer’s presence as the single open question surrounding Thursday’s City Hall appearance.
That unresolved attendance question — whether Jay-Z will appear alongside Alicia Keys for "Empire State of Mind" at City Hall — is the clearest outstanding detail as fans plan their arrival and viewing spots for the Knicks' championship celebration in lower Manhattan.
