Benson Boone brought a 13-year-old fan battling cancer onstage to sing “Beautiful Things” with him on her birthday. The moment came at the end of Boone’s set at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Friday, November 6, the opening show of his Australian Wanted Man tour.
Boone stopped to introduce the final song. “I’ve had the opportunity of meeting a 13-year-old girl who is battling her second round of cancer,” he told the crowd, according to Billboard’s account of The Music’s report. “It’s her birthday today and her birthday wish was to come on stage and sing ‘Beautiful Things.’” Riddle then rose from an upper platform and joined Boone on the song. According to The Music, roughly 10,000 people were in the arena.
As reported by Nine’s Today, Riddle has Ewing’s sarcoma. She believed she had beaten the illness after about two and a half years of treatment, but the cancer returned and she is now facing intensive chemotherapy. Her family said they bought tickets to the show in July as her 13th birthday present. Her campaign to meet Boone took off online after local musician Fergus Hogan shared an Instagram video about her story.
“I love his energetic style and how he’s so over the top,” Riddle told Today before the concert. Her family told the program: “She’s such an unbelievable inspiration to so many people… But I think even bigger than that is the community behind her.”
Tour schedule
- Brisbane: two additional performances on November 7 and 8
- Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne: three concerts beginning November 12
- Afterpay Arena, Sydney: November 17–19
“Beautiful Things” was Boone’s breakout single. Released in January 2024, it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most-streamed songs in the world that year. His debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, followed in April 2024, and his second album, American Heart, arrived in 2025 and included the single “Mystical Magical.”
Source: Billboard
