Ice Cube To Headline The Big E Music Lineup This Fall

Rapper-become-actor Ice Cube has announced he will bring his hip-hop music prowess to the largest stage at The Big E this fall. It is the first announced act for the fair's 2026 musical lineup.

According to a MassLive report, Ice Cube will perform at The Big E Arena on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m. — the concluding day of this year's fair. Tickets to the event will go on sale beginning this Friday, March 13, at 10 a.m. on The Big E's website.

The Big E returns for its 17-day programming slate starting on Friday, Sept. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 4, in West Springfield at the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds. As MassLive noted, The Big E is the largest fair on the East Coast and is recognized as North America's fourth-largest fair by attendance numbers in 2025. Approximately 1.5 million people attended the fair last year.

Ice Cube has not stopped with music, however. He has released two albums, Man Down (2024) and Man Up (2025), and co-founded the BIG3 basketball league. First part of the late '80s and early '90s group N.W.A., Ice Cube later branched out into a “multiplatinum” solo music career, according to The Big E.

Beyond music, Ice Cube's film roles — from Boyz n the Hood to the Friday film franchise — highlight his broad cultural impact.

According to the MassLive report, Ice Cube was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. The Ice Cube Impact Award was named in his honor to recognize the star's community impact through basketball.