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The big day is here with acoustic and Folk-Americana stars included, Saturday, August 21st, televised live at 2 pm PDT as it happens at 5 pm in New York City!
"WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert" is a truly massive show, produced by New York City, Clive Davis, and Live Nation. The concert, airs exclusively on CNN's platforms live at 2 pm Pacific, and is presented by Anheuser-Busch®, Citi® and Expedia®. Today's event caps five days of concerts in NYC, one in every borough.
This culminating celebration is historic for several reasons, even given its venue on the Great Lawn in Central Park, which has hosted many musical extravaganzas. Sixty thousand tickets, 80% of them free -- became available to the public in batches starting Monday, August 2nd, along with VIP tickets for purchase. And in ALL CASES, Proof of COVID-19 vaccine is required to attend.
Performers include Bruce Springsteen doing "Because the Night" with his co-writer of the song Patti Smith, and performances by many other music icons, prominently including Paul Simon, Carlos Santana with Rob Thomas, Elvis Costello, Earth Wind & Fire, Journey, Jennifer Hudson, The Killers, and many others. The concert will air live exclusively on CNN starting at 5 pm ET, 2 pm live on the West Coast.
The Guide notes this is remarkable for inclusively presenting musical diversity with something for everybody, including acoustic music lovers. For once, "inclusive" and "diversity" are not synonyms for grouping soundalike pop performers with soundalike hip-hop and wallowing-in-negativity rap, and "thet fahke tew-wang Nashvulle" bizarre country rap. There absolutely is abundant and accomplished musicality here.
“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are coming back,” Clive Davis said.
Davis, the legendary music producer, announced in late July the artists taking part, even as more big names were being added to his list.
At the same time, more focus than ever is likewise upon the giant concert's conclusion. We'll get to that.
Among the lineup, there is: Andrea Bocelli, Jon Batiste, The New York Philharmonic, Barry Manilow, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and Rob Thomas, Elvis Costello, Earth, Wind & Fire, Journey, Kane Brown, Wyclef Jean, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, LL Cool J, Lucky Daye, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, The Killers, Polo G, and hosts Gayle King, Don Lemon, and Jimmy Fallon.
"People are excited for the show," reported Dave Carlin of CBS affiliate WLNY, on-camera:
“Bruce Springsteen,” said Upper West Side resident David Pinan.
“It’s exciting. The city comes back to life,” one person said.
“The Killers for sure. Earth, Wind and Fire,” said Christina Sivaprakasam, visiting from West Virginia.
“We’re happy to get people back to work especially our organized labor friends at the unions,” said Live Nation regional president Geoff Gordon.
“It’s good business for us. We like to see events like that, because we have more people in the park, and there’s more money for us,” said Musa Jovarteh.
The city’s big vaccination push is part of this, too.
“So if you want to go to this concert you have to show proof of vaccination… as long as you have your first dose and proof of it you’re good,” NYC Mayor de Blasio said.
“This is going to be an historic, monumental moment for all New Yorkers and all Americans. I’ll put it plainly: You’re going to want to be here. This is truly once in a lifetime and we thank Clive Davis, Live Nation and Danny Meyer for all their efforts to help make this possible,” said Mayor de Blasio. “This is a celebration of our city, of every working family who faced incredible challenges last year and overcame. This is a celebration for you.”
“There is absolutely no place more special than Central Park to celebrate the reopening of New York City,” said Clive Davis. “I consider the Mayor’s request a true honor; and, with Live Nation, we are curating an unforgettable show befitting of this historic occasion.”
“Live music has the unique ability to bring us together,” said Geoff Gordon, Regional President, Live Nation. “We are excited to join Mayor de Blasio, Clive Davis, and Danny Meyer in producing this special night of live music as we reconnect fans with some of their favorite artists in Central Park for the WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert.”
“New Yorkers know that their city is waking up and coming back strongly—and I can’t think of a more uplifting way to celebrate than to enjoy live music from some of the world’s most renowned artists, on the Great Lawn of NYC’s Central Park,” said Danny Meyer, Board Chairman of the NYCEDC and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group. “I’m thrilled to join Mayor de Blasio, Clive Davis and Geoff Gordon for what I know will be an event for the ages.”
For its part, CNN says, "Just as CNN is truly a global media operation, New York is one the world's leading global cities. We are really excited about bringing the We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert to the hundreds of millions of people in over 200 countries who use CNN every day.This is an event that, wherever you are in the world, you'd love to be at and by integrating it across our numerous TV and digital platforms."
We said we would get back to why the conclusion of the show is also historic.
Never has a tear-down crew been given a more urgent task to begin their work at the moment the final note is played, remove the sound and light gear and towers, and get everything and everyone safely under cover.
That's because the fates and the relentless reminders of Climate Change are allowing this mega-performance to take place, but just barely. Within hours of its conclusion, Tropical Storm Henri -- expected by then to be Hurricane Henri -- will clobber the Northeastern US, likely making landfall directly across New York City. At press time, it's 200 miles off the coast of North Carolina. But the monster storm is expected to track across Manhattan, Long Island, northernmost coastal New Jersey, Connecticutt and Rhode Island, and bring damaging winds and severe flooding inland up the Hudson River north of Albany. As it encounters the jet stream, which will cause it to make a sudden right turn back out to sea, Henri will likely strike Boston and Cape Cod from the southwest.
Read more at:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/new-york-city-homecoming-concert/index.html
https://www.homecoming2021.com/
https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/522-21/mayor-de-blasio-we-love-nyc-homecoming-concert-produced-nyc-clive-davis-live
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/07/27/we-love-new-york-city-homecoming-concert-great-lawn-central-park/
https://m.facebook.com/cnn/videos/1872537526247516/
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Meantime, we are reminded of the old fable of the farmer who never fixed his leaky roof. When it wasn't raining, he spent his evenings playing his banjo. When it was raining, he scrambled to empty his strategically-placed array of buckets before they overflowed. Why didn't he fix the roof when conditions were dry? "No need. And ya can't fix it when it's raining."
So enjoy Today's telecast / webcast on CNN, starting at 2 pm PDT.
Encourage your friends to watch, too -- especially the intransigent unvaxed among them. Because Henri's floods will subside, after a lot of exhausted First Responders move a lot of buckets around in a frantic effort to keep everyone safe. But the thing those First Responders face every day -- the tidal wave of Covid and all the variants that keep mutating into existence because the damn thing is still here -- that won't subside so quickly. In fact it won't end at all, unless we fix all the holes still being arrogantly poked through the very big roof we all live under.
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The Guide will be back soon with a tribute to the late Nanci Griffith, plus word of the nearly-universal paradigm of venues reopening with vax and mask requirements, festivals happening or postponed, concert tours announced and underway -- nearly all with vax mandates put in place by the artists themselves. And we will bring you you many new releases, and lots of music news.
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Stay safe. Stay tuneful. And stay mindful of the needs of others, at home, in Haiti, and everywhere that people must flee in the face of barbarism. Stay positively oriented, motivated, involved and engaged. Keep contributing of your time and unique talents. Every one of us has the power to reach out with an encouraging word and a helping hand. (And in some cases, a desperately needed good swift kick in the ass.)
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Closing quickie...
Californians, be sure to vote "NO" in the imbecilic orange-ista recall election -- it's q-razy enough out there without some Trumpist moron taking over the Golden State's governor's office and banning school children from being able to wear masks... like that boob Gov. Ron "Death Sentence" DeSantis in Floriduhh, or Texas do-over Gov. Greg "Asshat" Abbott. Keep California sane, at least when it comes to mental health in the top office.
See you back here again soon. Toodles, tuneful people!
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