If you missed this afternoon's Inaugural Celebration--We Are One concert, HBO will be presenting it again this evening. And if you don't subscribe to HBO, get this--they have opened up access to the channel to all of us for this one event. More details at HBO.
Putting aside jaded musical taste, remnants of cynicism, and the football game, this was a wonderful LIVE show: sincere, entertaining and moving at times. Personal fave moments: Soulful Bettye Lavette and just as soulful Jon Bon Jovi; Pete Seeger doing what he's been doing for eons--talking the lyrics a beat ahead so that we can all sing along; Renee Fleming looking ab fab singing the crap out of "You'll Never Walk Alone"; Garth Brooks rousing the audience with--guess....OK, you can't guess-"Shout."
Because of both the place and the date, parallels to the March on Washington were obvious and yet inspiring. Lots of star power speakers made sure we didn't miss that or any other historical significance. And they did a darn fine job.
The presidential family and guests seemed to be having a grand time, although I can't imagine they weren't cold--the girls didn't even have mittens on. My hands got cold just watching.
Like Grant Park, the audience was thrillingly diverse. Where else will you see a balding boomer standing next to young tween black girls and punksters with what looked to be painful piercings and Gen-X parents with kids on their shoulders and they're ALL singing "This Land is Your Land?" and not even ironically.
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