SNL50: Miley Cyrus, Brittany Howard & The Roots cover Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” ++ lots more (watch)

Saturday Night Live‘s 50th Anniversary Special is a nonstop cavalcade of stars, including the music. Among the performances: Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard paying tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, and one of the most controversial SNL moments ever, by covering “Nothing Compares 2 U” (which of course was written by Prince but was Sinéad’s song the second she first sang it) with the Roots. You can watch that below.

The live special opened with Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter covering Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound.” Simon noted that he covered the song on SNL with George Harrison in 1976 to which Carpenter replied, “I was not alive then…and neither were my parents.”

Carpenter was also in a new version of the “Bridesmaid Speech” sketch which also featured Bad Bunny.

The Roots also backed Lil Wayne later in the night.

Paul McCartney, who played three surprise show at small NYC club Bowery Ballroom this past week, closed out the show with the last bit of The Beatles’ Abbey Road: “Carry That Weight” and “The End.”

John Mulaney led another of his musical numbers, this took Pete Davidson and David Spade from the ’70s through now in NYC, while the Lonely Island made a new digital short about how everyone who has ever worked at SNL suffered from anxiety. Adam Sandler sang a very sweet song about the history of the show, including tributes to Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Norm MacDonald and more.

The celeb-packed audience was full of musicians too. During a Q&A segment led by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, they talked to Keith Richard who asked if anyone found a scarf that he left behind backstage in 1988, and spotted in the crowd were David Byrne, Joanna Newsom, Jack White, Cher and more.

Watch clips below.

Friday night was the SNL50: Homecoming Concert with David Byrne, DEVO, Lauryn Hill, Nirvana & Post Malone,Eddie Vedder, The B-52s, Lady Gaga, and more.

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