Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform atop Empire State Building

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have made history by performing at the top of New York City’s Empire State Building for their new music video. The band became the first rock group to play at the summit of the Manhattan landmark as they shot promo footage for their new single Despair.
The shoot took place on the iconic building’s observation deck in April (13) and marked the first time a rock performance has taken place at the top of the tower, according to the New York Times.
Anthony E. Malkin, president of the company which operates the Empire State Building, tells the publication, “The way I look at it is, why hadn’t this been done before? Credit to them for having the gumption to ask. (We agreed) to make sure that the Empire State Building isn’t frozen in people’s minds in (films) An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle – we’re live, we’re vibrant, we’re 82 years young.”
The band’s frontwoman Karen O adds, “It’s definitely not just another cool day in the life of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was definitely an iconic moment. It’s hard to do something like that and not to feel like it’s symbolic – it’s like the American dream for us, singing your song on top of the Empire State Building, feeling like: man, where were we 10 years ago, when we were sitting around in some punk rock dive bar, thinking about what to name our band, and New York City, and now here we are at the top. It really felt dreamlike.”