In a stimulating showcase that represents various genders and generations – while addressing social causes – the Celebrating America special show held on Wednesday based on the campaign by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and opening themes: Emphasizing unity and embracing diversity.
The primetime event honoring and ending its inauguration featured pop stars, newcomers and rock legends. Highlighting a wide range of America’s rich music landscape, it included performances by Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Jon Bon Jovi and Ant Clemons. The day before the event, Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard were added to the festivities. The duo presented their newly released Nashville single “Undivided”.
Organized by Tom Hanks, the star-studded event also featured actresses Eve Longoria and Kerry Washington, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, chef José Andrés, union leader Dolores Huerta and the first female general manager of the League Baseball Principal Kim Ng. Lin-Manuel Miranda performed the classic work of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, “The Cure of Troy”; Biden recited the lines next to him at the end.
The evening also included comments from President Biden, who reiterated the call for unity and respect and spoke of optimism for the future – a perspective that the event encapsulated. Vice President Harris also spoke during the event, addressing American aspiration and determination: “Even in dark times, we not only dream, but yes,” she said. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also joined in a conversation, further highlighting the call for unity.
Bruce Springsteen opened the musical set, featuring “Land of Hope and Dreams”, a song he started playing with the E Street Band in 1999 that later appeared on the 2012 studio album Demolition ball. He performed the music on the guitar while standing on the steps that flanked the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall. The musician routinely expressed his support for Biden and, in October, narrated the announcement of the campaign set in Biden’s Scranton, Penslyvania, with “My Hometown” serving as the soundtrack.
During the 2009 show We Are One, which celebrated the new Obama-Biden administration, Springsteen performed “The Rising” and also Woody Guthrie’s classic “This Land Is Your Land” alongside Pete Seeger and Seeger’s grandson, Tao Rodríguez -Seeger. Now, 12 years later, he marked the ex-VP’s rise to Commander-in-Chief to launch the night with a hopeful vision for the future.
Jon Bon Jovi, who campaigned for Biden, followed with a moving and faithful version of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” alongside his bandmates while he was on a pier in Miami and, in a fortuitous moment, the sun came up while they performed. Bon Jovi is politically charged 2020 album was released in October. The LP addresses mass shootings, misinformation, police brutality, racial injustice and the pandemic, among other current socially conscious issues, making its appearance on the agenda an appropriate choice for a new government that faces the challenges left in the wake of the former president’s mandate. Trump.
Relatively newcomer Ant Clemons and veteran Justin Timberlake teamed up for his show, which was broadcast from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tennessee. In many ways, Clemons’ appearance was indicative of the American dream of aspiring artists. The singer said Rolling Stone he worked at Red Lobster and slept on the floor of friends while working to enter the community of writing producers. He finally connected with Jeremih, then Kanye West.
On Wednesday, Clemons’ talents shone in the national spotlight by presenting “Better Days” with Timberlake. His exciting vocals offered the guarantee that “better days are coming”. The gospel-touched set, which started inside the museum, soon spread across the street when students and alumni of the Stax Music Academy joined them with a band led by Adam Blackstone for the lively performance.
Foo Fighters delivered “Times Like This”, which Dave Grohl dedicated to teachers, who, like their mother, teacher Virginia and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, “continue to enlighten our nation’s children every day.” Grohl said that music has taken on a new meaning in this era. Grohl said NPR that he originally wrote it when he was at a crossroads and at that time he “decided to choose hope and rebirth”. Although the song was released in 2003, he felt that “it definitely applies to what everyone is feeling right now. You know that when you say that in times like these you learn to live again, it represents a new beginning. And I think a lot of people think that’s what we need now. “
John Legend, who has played several previous Biden and Harris campaigns and digital fundraising events, presented an uplifting version of “Feeling Good”, beginning cappella music before taking the piano to the jazz set.
Like several of his fellow artists, Demi Lovato supported Biden and Harris before the election; she partnered with Project Lincoln for a political campaign ad featuring “Commander in Chief”, criticizing Trump. From Los Angeles, she sang the classic “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers, supported by people from all walks of life across the country who harmonized the chorus while the Biden family watched the set from inside the White House.
In an unannounced appearance on the National Mall, Katy Perry performed the surprise “Firework”, the song that reinforces resilience as fireworks light up the sky in Washington, DC, to end the celebrations.
The joyous concert event ended a day of inaugural musical events, which included Lady Gaga’s delivery of the National Anthem, Jennifer Lopez’s interpretation of “This Land Is Your Land”, Garth Brooks performing “Amazing Grace” and New Radicals gathering for the first time in 22 years to play “You Get What You Give”.