There was a rumor of some mystery artist making a mystery performance during Apple’s 9/9 live event, perhaps even dropping a surprise album. The surprise album never happened, but the rumor about the performance turned out to be true, as OneRepublic showed up to close out the show with a three-song set.
After Apple went long showing off its latest in Apple Watches, iPads, and iPhones, Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the “amazing” OneRepublic to the stage. The Colorado group started off with “Counting Stars,” dedicated their performance of “I Live” to Cook, and finished up with a performance of “Good Life” (along with offering an apology to anyone who was ever annoyed by the overexposure of the song).
The rumors before the Apple event speculated that the surprise guests would be Taylor Swift, or maybe Drake (along with the release of his highly anticipated Views From The 6 album), both artists with deep ties to Apple. Alas, reality was a little disappointing, unless you’re Tim Cook, who is apparently a very big OneRepublic fan. He even got to take a selfie with the band’s lead singer, Ryan Tedder. A fun time was had by all, especially the guy giving devil horns in the back.
Mid performance of Good Life with @tim_cook at the @Apple event 15 min ago & yes, no filter 💥 #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/YvZFOWWJzc
— ONEREPUBLIC (@OneRepublic) September 9, 2015
