From Houston Around The World And Back Again

The star stage at NRG Stadium continued to spin as Lizzo leaned forward toward the audience with her flute in hand. The rodeo crowd roared as she played the opening notes of the William Tell Overture. Only a few seconds of the piece are needed for most listeners to recognize the iconic loop that helped propel Mike Jones, Slim Thug, and Paul Wall onto the national stage through their work with the Swishahouse label.

It has been more than two decades since Who Is Mike Jones? introduced the world to the sound coming from Houston’s northside. On Friday night at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, a girl from the southside brought Mike, Slim, and Paul onto the stage to thunderous applause.

Standing on the raised platform behind them, the Alief-raised Lizzo appeared in black leather chaps, shorts, and a tank top. As the rappers moved through their verses of Still Tippin, she accompanied them with her flute while the spinning star stage carried the moment across the stadium. With each rotation, the sound of Swishahouse echoed through the building.

Lizzo was originally scheduled to perform at the rodeo in 2020. On the day of her show, however, the unprecedented happened. To the disbelief of many, the event was shut down because of COVID. Fans of both the rodeo and Lizzo were left stunned as the world spent the years that followed adjusting to a new reality.

If Friday night proved anything, it was that no one seemed more ready to finally step onto that stage than Lizzo.

“The first time we rehearsed Still Tippin a bitch cried,” she told the crowd. “Houston has forever changed my life. I want to thank you. I grew up coming to the rodeo and Astroworld. Thank you for supporting me, holding me down, lifting me up and appreciating me for who I am. I love you Houston.”

Lizzo graces the rodeo stage Credit: Darrin Clifton

She returned that love throughout the night with a show that only someone deeply connected to the city could have delivered. From entering alongside the TSU Ocean of Soul to performing with The Walls Group, riding the star stage in a caravan of burnt orange slabs, and flashing images of Alief Elsik on the massive screens, Lizzo created a performance that touched multiple corners of Houston culture.

“This show is more than five years in the making. I’m happy to be back. This is the city that raised me and this next song is dedicated to you!”

Lizzo’s path to this stage has been years in the making. Raised in Alief after moving to Houston as a child, she spent much of her youth immersed in music programs, learning the flute and developing the stage presence that would later define her career. After years of grinding through independent releases and performances across the country, her breakthrough came in 2019 when songs like “Truth Hurts,” “Juice” and “Good as Hell” turned her into one of pop’s most visible voices.

In the years since the pandemic shut down her planned RodeoHouston appearance in 2020, Lizzo released the Grammy winning album Special, launched an Emmy winning reality competition show, and continued touring internationally while expanding her reach into television and film. Her return to Houston and chance to grace the rodeo stage carried the weight of that journey, bringing a hometown artist back to the city that shaped her just as her career entered its most visible chapter.

Plus she had big shoes to fill. In recent years Bun B has raised the bar at the rodeo, turning the stage into a celebration of Houston music and culture and setting a high standard for anyone who followed. Lizzo rose to the occasion. The singer and rapper powered through soaring vocals on songs like “Special” and “Cuz I Love You” while weaving the TSU Ocean of Soul throughout the performance. The legendary marching band appeared at several points, adding brass, rhythm, and spectacle to the soundscape as the star stage continued its slow rotation through the stadium.

She also managed to deliver a moment that rarely happens these days. After the show Paul Wall took to social media to reflect on the reunion.

“Something special just happened and I want to talk about it,” he said with a smile backstage. “We just got off the stage at the rodeo as special guests for Lizzo, me, Mike Jones and Slim Thug. It is rare that you see all three of us performing “Still Tippin” on stage together. In the last 15 years maybe we have done it five times together. It was special tonight. It was epic. Lizzo had the live band and they killed it. She killed it.”

Lizzo’s rodeo appearance worked because it reflected the many influences that shaped both the artist and the city she represents. Pop, gospel, marching band tradition and Houston rap all found space in the performance, moving easily alongside one another in a way that felt familiar to anyone who grew up here.

For an artist who has spent the past several years expanding her reach across music, television, and film, the night served as a reminder that the foundation of that success still traces back to Houston and the culture that continues to shape it.

Setlist