Sheila E. interview 2025: Upcoming tour, Grammy win, stories

Most artists that have been performing for nearly half a century develop routines that work, play hits and stick to a script.

Thankfully, that simply isn’t the case for Sheila E.

No, the 2024 Grammy winner revels in making sure each and every one of her live shows is a spontaneous, joyous experience filled with just as much exploration and discovery for the band as there is for the audience.

“Our live shows are a lot of fun,” Escovedo told The Post in an exclusive interview. “There’s songs that people don’t know, there’s songs that people do know and we make up songs. You never know who I’m going to bring onstage.”

As a result, she makes sure to only bring the best of the best on the road with her.

“Improvisation is the key to what we do. If you can’t improvise, you can’t be in my band,” the 67-year-old Bay Area native noted. “The band has to be ready to change up and slow down or go into a church vibe. It just depends. If the crowd is crazy and insane, it makes us even crazier.”

And, now, she’s bringing this one-of-a-kind, genre-crossing, boundary-pushing live show to the Bronx.

On Saturday, Sept. 27, Sheila E. is scheduled to headline at the Lehman Performing Arts Center. And, as always, she’s excited to take the stage in the City.

“Everything about the Bronx is special,” she smiled. “The people, the community, the food, the music. It feels like a second home to me because of the family feel, familiarity and community.”

Well, one thing might not be familiar — what the versatile performer takes to the stage when she drops into the Yankees’ home borough.

For more about Sheila E.’s tour, wide-ranging career, Grammy-winning salsa album “Bailar” and a wild story about playing in Ringo Starr’s touring band of All-Stars, keep reading.

We’ve got everything you need to know and more below.

Sheila E. tour schedule 2025-26

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.

Sheila E. tour dates
Sept. 27 at the Lehman Performing Arts Center in Bronx, NY
Oct. 16 at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center in Rehoboth Beach, DE
Oct. 17 at the City Winery in Boston, MA 6 p.m. show
Oct. 17 at the City Winery in Boston, MA 9:30 p.m. show
Nov. 6 at the City Winery in Philadelphia, PA 6 p.m. show
Nov. 6 at the City Winery in Philadelphia, PA 9:30 p.m. show
Nov. 7 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, VA
Nov. 28 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 8 p.m. show
Nov. 28 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 10 p.m. show
Nov. 29 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 7:30 p.m. show
Nov. 29 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 9:30 p.m. show
Nov. 30 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 7 p.m. show
Nov. 30 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA 9 p.m. show
April 17, 2026 at the Knight Concert Hall in Miami, FL

Sheila E. set list

While we’re well aware Sheila E. mixes things up at her live shows, here’s what she played at a July 2024 gig at Portland’s Ventura Park to give you a taste of what you can expect when you see her live.

01.) “Come Together / All You Need Is Love” (The Beatles cover)

02.) “Leader of the Band”

03.) “The Word” (Prince cover)

04.) “Get on the Boat” (Prince cover)

05.) “Holly Rock”

06.) “The Belle of St. Mark”

07.) “17 Days” (Prince cover)

08.) “Koo Koo”

09.) “Mothership Connection (Star Child) / Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (Parliament / traditional covers)

10.) “A Love Bizarre” (Sheila E. went into the crowd)

11.) “I’ll Take You There” (The Staple Singers cover)

12.) “Heaven Must Be Like This” (Ohio Players cover)

13.) “When the Saints Go Marching In” ([traditional] cover)

14.) “Rockstar / Purple Rain” (Prince cover)

15.) “What the World Needs Now Is Love” (Burt Bacharach cover)

16.) “Erotic City / Let’s Work / U Got the Look / America / Free / Baby I’m a Star”

17.) “The Glamorous Life”

The above comes courtesy of Set List FM.

Sheila E. new music

On April 5, 2024, Sheila E. released her ninth studio album “Bailar.”

The Grammy-winning record is a straight dance party from its slinky opener “Anacaona” featuring Rubén Blades to the bouncy fianle “Descarga” which is a collaboration with José Alberto “El Canario” and her father Pete Escovedo.

Really though, the offering never takes a minute to slow down as the percussion, horns and crooning come at full speed for all of “Bailar’s” 45-minute runtime.

Still, we can’t help but spotlight the excellent “Bemba Colorá” with Gloria Estefan. Try not getting up and moving to that one. We dare you.

Want to hear for yourself? You can find “Bailar” in its glorious entirety here.

Behind the scenes with Sheila E.

Ahead of the upcoming run, The Post spoke with Escovedo at length about her wide-ranging, impressive career. Here’s what she had to say.

You’ve been touring regularly for over 40 years. What keeps you coming back to the stage?

The people keep me coming. I love what I get to do and I love that I can bless at least one person every single day and that is my job.

At the end of the day, our fans could be anywhere but they chose to spend their hard-earned money to come and enjoy time with us. That’s really special, especially these days.

I was checking out your setlist from past shows and I see that you guys work medleys into the live shows. Can you give us a taste of what to expect from a medley at an upcoming show on this run?

I don’t know yet because at the last minute, I’ll change it. When we do soundcheck, I’ll just go, ‘let’s do this and let’s take this song out. It all comes down to the vibe of the room.

I love doing medleys because I can get more songs out of medleys doing a verse and chorus and move on to the next section of a song and it’s fun to be able to do that. I only do full song once in a great while, and there’s only a few that I do the entire song.

After the second chorus, I’m I’m somewhere else, I’m like, let’s go. It’s a journey.

I loved “Bailar.” It’s bombastic, it’s fun, But I saw that you’d never put out a salsa record before. What drew you to the genre for your latest record?

I’ve been listening to salsa my whole life. My dad is a Latin jazz artist and he brought in so much music when we were growing up. So, besides him being Latin jazz artist, there was salsa in the house. He brought in Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaría, Gran Combo, the list goes on.

Later on in life, I ended up playing with these people and didn’t realize I hadn’t done a salsa record. After that, it took two or three years talking about the album to bring it to fruition.

To win my first Grammy doing something no one expected me to do was awesome.

Is there a song that you really want to put your own spin on next?

I haven’t thought about it. I just know that I’m ready to do the next record and there’s tons of music because I have so much music that’s just sitting there. That’s how we flipped some of the salsa songs. They were going to be on my R&B album and we turned them into salsa.

It’s my own twist on the genre because I added my little flavor of Bay Area with a little bit of funk, some backbeat playing drums, people don’t expect you to do that either.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened in a live show of yours?

One time, I was onstage and part of the stage was coming apart over my head and a piece of the sign above me fell and went right into my head. Thank God, it wasn’t a lot of blood.

And you went on with the show that night?

Oh, yeah.

You were the music director on Magic Johnson’s ‘The Magic Hour.’ Do you have any great behind the scenes stories from the show?

We had a really good time. I hired my brother, my friends, we wanted it to be a family vibe and make him comfortable.

This was his first time as a host of a show. But it’s interesting because we always feel like God puts us in places that he wants us to be, whether it’s short-lived or not. And there was a young lady there that had cancer. So, we prayed for her.

We felt that was why we were sent there to be there on television for Magic but really the blessing was for us to be able to pray for that young lady. Years later, we found out she was cancer-free. So for us, it was really about that.

You had multiple stints with Ringo’s All Star Band. What was it like touring with him? Who was in your group at the time?

To meet Ringo and have him tell me I’m the drummer of the band was amazing.

So, I did my homework and was ready to play. I remember Greg Lake was a little sarcastic with me. And, on the first day at rehearsal, he asked me if I had ever played rock and roll. And I was like, “really?” So, I played this song he did with Emerson, Lake Palmer, and I played so hard.

After we were done, I stood up, threw my sticks up in the air and walked away. Ringo had his arms folded like “she told you.”

I had a blast and so far I’ve been the only woman that’s performed in that group thus far so I call myself The Beatle-ette.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Huge artists on tour in 2025-26

Need even more lively music in your life?

We’re here to help.

Our team found five more artists with sensibilities similar to Sheila E. that are on the road these next few months.

• TLC

• Chaka Khan with Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills

• Earth Wind and Fire

• Sheena Easton with Tiffany

• Morris Day and The Time

Who else is pounding the pavement? Check out our list of all the biggest artists on tour in 2025 to find the show for you.

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This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change

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