Jon Batiste Performs ‘Freedom’ At 1st In-Person ‘Colbert’ Taping In 15 Months

Monday’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was the first taped in front of a full audience at New York City’s The Ed Sullivan Theater in 460 days. Host Stephen Colbert tapped the show’s house band leader, Jon Batiste, to offer the first musical performance at The Ed Sullivan Theater since March 2020.

Batiste teamed with his band, Stay Human, and the Harlem Gospel Choir for a theatrical version of “Freedom” played in front of the fully-vaccinated crowd. The song appears on Jon Batiste’s recently released We Are album.

We Are came out via Verve Records on March 19. “We Are is a message of love for humanity, of humble reverence for our past, and of a hopeful future, in which we are the ones who can save us,” Jon Batiste stated regarding his eighth studio album. “The art reveals its motive to you. You just have to wait for the Spirit to tell you what it wants.”

Watch Batiste’s stirring “Freedom” performance below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h78VHzGGBhk