Tones And I will get the place bouncing when she performs next month for an historic series of pre-season NBA games in Australia.
Association franchise New Orleans Pelicans will make the long haul to Melbourne, where they’ll tackle NBL finalists Melbourne United on Friday, Oct. 3, and semi-finalists South East Melbourne Phoenix, Oct. 5th, 2025, both at Rod Laver Arena.
Confirmed today, Sept. 5, the “Dance Monkey” star is the halftime entertainment for the Friday spectacle, and she’ll headline a “Fan Night” the following evening.
Tones (real name Toni Wilson) is a regular courtside guest for Melbourne United home games, and is a passionate fan of the sport. She’s the “Number 1” ticket holder for the franchise, effectively an ambassador for the team, and she performed at a half-time show and a Fan Night in October 2024.
With 2019’s “Dance Monkey,” Tones crushed chart records and landed one of the most-streamed songs in history. The track led Australia’s ARIA Chart for a record 24 weeks; held top spot on the Official UK Chart for 11 weeks, a record for a solo female artist; and went top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. All told, the song hit the top spot on sales charts in more than 30 territories, and has danced past 3.3 billion streams on Spotify.
Tones has two ARIA No. 1 albums to her name, a slew of ARIA Awards, and she’s said play the point guard position like a pro.
The NBAxNBL games will be the first played by NBA squads in Australia, one of the Association’s most fanatical international markets. Australia is said to be the No. 2 territories outside of the United States for subscriptions to the NBA’s League Pass app.
The NBA’s long-overdue crossing to Australia follows the announcement by the NFL this year of a multi-year arrangement to play regular season games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from next year, featuring the Los Angeles Rams.