Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bono and more than a dozen other music stars will kick off Barack Obama’s presidential inaugural festivities by performing at the opening celebration at Washington, DC’s Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.
Nineteen performers, including Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock, Usher, Shakira, and Sheryl Crow, are scheduled to appear at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. Queen Latifah, along with Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III and Denzel Washington, will give historical readings at the event.
The We Are One opening celebration launches a four-day schedule of inaugural events that will include 10 official inaugural balls, as well as a youth concert at the Verizon Centre on the eve of Inauguration Day.
A number of other music events celebrating Obama’s inauguration will take place around Washington, DC, including the Beastie Boys and Sheryl Crow headlining a Hey, America Feels Kinda Cool Again event on Monday; WAR and Marc Anthony appearing at the Latino Inaugural Gala at Union Station on Sunday; Jay-Z at the Warner Theatre on Monday; and Bela Fleck and Wynton Marsalis performing at CNN’s inaugural event at the Kennedy Centre on Monday.
Reuters/Billboard