Fresh off the Trinidad Carnival stage, soca star and Caribbean music royalty Nailah Blackman is set to headline Saturday Night LIVE!, part of the DC Carnival and CultureFest DMV concert series, on Friday, April 12 at the historic Howard Theatre.
The performance marks Blackman’s first-ever headlining concert in Washington, D.C. backed by a live band, Eclipse International. It also kicks off her 2025 U.S. concert slate. “I’ve been coming to Washington, D.C. to perform since the beginning of my career, so it’s exciting to finally be able to give audiences a taste of my full-band live performance, as they might see me perform at my festival, Sokah Origins,” she said in a statement.
Saturday Night LIVE! returns after a seven-year break, with organizers aiming to re-establish it as the city’s top platform for Caribbean genres like soca, reggae, and afrobeats. The series has previously featured high-profile headliners including Kes and Machel Montano. The venue, the Howard Theatre—on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974—has been a cornerstone of the D.C. cultural scene since its founding in 1910.
Ahead of her performance, Nailah Blackman is expected to arrive in D.C. on Tuesday, April 8. Her itinerary includes visits to iconic city landmarks, a stop at the Embassy of Trinidad & Tobago, a student engagement session at Howard University, and a live interview on Great Day Washington on CBS affiliate WUSA 9.
The Trinidadian artist is also riding the momentum of her recently announced sophomore album, Born A Diamond (B.A.D.), due out this summer on Philadelphia’s Big Money Records. The album features collaborations with Shenseea, Nicky Jam, Sadboi, DJ Obi, and Roy Woods—who appears on the lead single “Feels Like Love.”
Her D.C. concert follows a hectic Carnival season in Trinidad & Tobago, where she performed multiple times nightly and hosted the sixth edition of her Sokah Origins concert. She’s also slated to become the first soca artist to perform at the Roots Picnic festival in Philadelphia, happening May 31–June 1.
Tickets for the April 12 concert range from $40 to $65 and are available online at dccarnival.com and culturefestdmv.com.
