Epic has confirmed Ariana Grande will headline the Fortnite Rift Tour following weeks of leaks and rumors culminating with her in-game skin appearing online today via a French Fortnite social channel. The Rift Tour kicks off this Friday, August 6, with the first of five showings beginning at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. Players around the world will have multiple chances to join the interactive concert–and should expect a few in-game rewards and other surprises along the way.
We first heard of a possible Ariana Grande in-game concert when Epic and Apple took their financial battle to court. Some of the same documents revealed during the trial also tipped off the massive Fortnite community to future events such as the NBA crossover and LeBron James skin. Then a leak on Reddit a few weeks ago suggested the concert was happening this summer. Now it’s official: Ariana Grande will perform in-game alongside the debut of her very own Icon Series cosmetic set.
Epic seems to have planned to reveal the full details on August 2 according to the developer’s wording last week, but was apparently moved to reveal the show’s main act a day early after undisputed leaks popped up online. Nevertheless, there should still be more for fans to learn in the days ahead, as Epic has promised a second wave of Rift Tour Quests, and has even hinted that some free cosmetics will be earned not just before the show, but during and after it as well.
Meanwhile, players who subscribe to Fortnite Crew will earn bonus in-game cosmetics simply for logging into the game between August 5-9. The list of extras includes the Rainbow Cloudcruiser Umbrella, the Skye up High Loading Screen, and a Rift Tour-themed Banner.
Rift Tour Schedule
The Rift Tour will debut this Friday evening in US time zones, but five showings between August 6-8 will give players ample opportunity to join the fun. Here’s when you can jump into Fortnite and catch the Rift Tour.
- Show 1 – Friday, August 6 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET
- Show 2 – Saturday, August 7 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET
- Show 3 – Sunday, August 8 at 9 PM PT / 12 AM ET
- Show 4 – Sunday, August 8 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET
- Show 5 – Sunday, August 8 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET
The performance has been pre-recorded and thus will repeat, so you don’t need to catch it multiple times–unless you want to, of course. A separate leak also suggests that Grande won’t be the only musician on the virtual stage, with a portion of the concert leaking in a new video that shows players racing down what looks like a rushing river of multicolored Slurp Juice while a Marshmello song plays. Marshmello was the headliner of Fortnite’s first live concert in 2019.
We’ll be sure to bring you complete coverage of the Rift Tour performance, though if the Travis Scott show is anything to go by, you’ll want to be there yourself too. Set your alarm for the Rift Tour starting Friday, August 6. In the meantime, clean up the map’s Week 8 Alien Artifacts and Week 8 challenges.
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