For the first time since the pandemic began, Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater was once again filled with claps, cheers, and a standing ovation from an adoring crowd Saturday.

Michelle James of the Bronx was so pumped for the Apollo’s big return that she got in line three hours early to be the very first to get in.

“It’s exciting to be back after COVID,” James, a Bedford Park resident, said. “A year and a half, we haven’t been anywhere. We haven’t gone anywhere, done anything. To come back to the Apollo and the community to be together, it’s a fabulous thing.”

James has made countless visits to the Apollo over the past 40 plus years. And while her first visit was when she was just 10 years old, she says her most cherished memory was coming together as a grieving community, lighting candles outside the Apollo to mourn the death of Michael Jackson.   

“Everybody was here, seems like everybody came out. That gathering was joyful, it was tearful, sad. It was just everybody together,” said James.

Tickets to the Apollo’s first concert in year and a half, titled “Uptown Saturday Nite,” were free.

John Okokhere and his wife Tracy are on vacation from Atlanta.  After years of watching “Showtime at the Apollo” on television and being big fans of the Apollo’s legendary amateur nights, they say scoring tickets allowed them to finally fulfill a lifelong dream.

“Steve Harvey is a neighbor of mine because I am originally from Cleveland, so he was always on here and I always wanted to see the Apollo!” Tracy said. “So we made a trip here because we knew it was going to be the first time open since COVID. So we made it! We don’t care who is the performer as long as we are here.”

“I want to perform, let them boo me off the stage,” John joked, wishing it were amateur night.

Proof of vaccination was required for audience members to attend the performance. Masks were also mandatory, unless attendees were actively eating or drinking.