UPDATE: You’ll find a bunch of scenes from Monday night’s line, below

A Macklemore fan in line for a free show in 2016

With his first album in six years dropping this month, Macklemore is returning to a Capitol Hill tradition in the neighborhood where he launched his career with a free “surprise” show Monday night at Neumos.

“The tradition continues,” Macklemore wrote. “And the line starts now.”

The line did, indeed, start forming hours before the nighttime performance after word spread on social media and was confirmed Monday morning by the rap star.

UPDATE: The line ended up around the block. We’ve added some images from the scene.

In 2016, CHS reported on the big turnout for a free show by the artist at Neumos. If you were wondering about logistics, that year, they handed out bracelets to fans on a first come, first served basis. By noon, Neumos had already given out more than 300 for the 700+ capacity venue.

That 2016 show came in support of his album This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, the follow-up to his breakout The Heist. Both of those dropped in collaboration with producer Ryan Lewis. The duo stopped working together the next year.

Macklemore poses with fan Sam Mountain, who was first in line at 730am.

Last year, Macklemore opened up about his relapse during the pandemic and ongoing efforts to overcome drug addiction.

The new album is titled Ben — ask the kid who grew up around Capitol Hill as Ben Haggerty about that. Check out his No Bad Days video for lots of neighborhood scenes.

Monday night’s show has been announced to start at 7 PM.

UPDATE: The line wraps around the block.

Bit of a line pic.twitter.com/xsW1f714f3

— jseattle (@jseattle) March 6, 2023

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