When we first heard about the concert Lady Gaga organized, One World Together at Home, it sounded like the purpose was to entertain us and to give back to Americans at a time when we’re isolated and struggling. The show raised an incredible $127 million from corporate sponsors for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund of the World Health Organization, to be dispersed to healthcare workers, scientists and local charities. We also heard it would highlight huge donations already made by large corporations, without asking the audience for anything. With that in mind, I was a little disappointed at first that the tone was so somber, that most of the musical acts were doing slow songs, and that the segments were so serious. In fact it was overwhelmingly sad and made me cry a few times, particularly during the parts aimed at little kids who don’t understand what’s happening.
About halfway through I realized that this amazing show with so much talent was aimed at educating people about the virus, about the work of WHO and so many others, and about how to do our part. They interspersed heartfelt performances with so many personal and moving stories about people giving back to their communities. We heard about teachers, grocery store workers, nurses, doctors, custodians and scientists risking their lives for us every day. We also got interviews with experts and frontline workers from around the world. They kept telling us that the least we could do was to stay home. In that respect it was a triumph and it also brought home to me that I can be doing more at this time. The only thing it asked of the audience was to listen and pay attention. Even though I watch and pay attention to the news, they made me care and understand at a level I didn’t before.
We’ve seen Trump take the horribly disturbing tactic of telling his followers to hold huge rallies in states that are working hard to keep the virus contained. This is despicable, dangerous and puts so many lives at risk, particularly healthcare workers and vulnerable people! We’ve also seen him cut funding to the World Health Organization at a time when it is so desperately needed. He’s going to kill millions of people. Hopefully the show reached some of people who were inclined to believe 45.
Here are some of my favorite segments and performances, in no particular order. This isn’t a recap it’s just some of my thoughts about it. You can watch the whole show here (that includes the six hour pre-show. The primetime special starts at 8:05). More clips are on the Global Citizen YouTube channel. Oh and the hosts, the two Jimmys and Colbert, were funny together and had some good quips.
John Legend and Sam Smith perform “Stand By Me” with their awards in the background. I loved this!
The Rolling Stones do “You Can’t Always Get What you Want.” At first I worried that they were having technical problems! I know these segments were all pre-recorded but it still freaked me out a little.
Lady Gaga opened with “Smile.” She deserves so much credit for organizing this.
I hadn’t heard of Burna Boy before but this was one of my favorite performances and I’ll be listening to more of his music. He’s a Nigerian singer and is huge in Africa. I also really liked the slideshow.
Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang and John Legend did “The Prayer” to close. This was beautiful and hopeful.
To learn more and do your part you can go to Act.me.
This special is bringing Americans together and helping put a face and story on the seriousness of this virus at a time when 45 is weaponizing his followers against science, against healthcare workers and against the most vulnerable. #TogetherAtHome
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) April 19, 2020
Idris and Sabrina are here.
How pretty are they pic.twitter.com/mSMAX8mv8D
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) April 19, 2020
High Matthew McConaughey is here.
How high is McConaughey pic.twitter.com/7TpNv0fM7r
— celebitchy (@celebitchy) April 19, 2020
Say what you want about Lady Gaga, but surely she knows how to do charity.
I rarely listen to classical but oh boy when Bocelli sings I just want to cry my soul out. How beautiful is his voice? To be fair, everyone here did amazing and for a great cause, but Bocelli took me to some other world.
That’s how I felt too! His voice is so wonderful and made me feel relaxed!
As a Nigerian, I was (and am) extremely proud of Burna Boy. He truly is an African giant. And thank you to all the other artists who brought the gift of beautiful music into our homes at such a dark time. The ‘Jimmy’s’ also did an amazing job hosting. The closing number with Lang Lang, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Andrea Bocelli and John Legend was my second favorite. The biggest praise, though, goes to the health workers and other essential workers keeping us safe and making our lives a bit easier at this time. We are grateful. Thank you and God bless you.
This show was amazing and the amount collected is also great, don’t get me wrong. But it Always surprises me how much the US are dependent on rich celebrities to somehow survive: paying education, colleges, now healthcare workers ? Strange system….
Maybe it’s me being older but I was moved by Sean (shawn?) Mendes and Camilla Cabello singing What a Wonderful World. Young people may be surviving the disease more often but their lives going forward are going to be heavily shadowed by this (and climate change).
It was very well done, and I was especially moved by Lizzo although all of the performances were great.
Also, it had very strange coverage in the NY Post—no mention of the money raised/pledged by corporations & rich celebs and framing it as “not a charity thing” because they didn’t ask the average Joe to send in money—plus some other weird things. Found it bizarre, then remembered the Post is GOP and Trump friendly for the most part. Really strange, and sad, how deranged some of the Trump people are that they’ll slam a charity concert (if they want to go after WHO, fine, but that was not the point of the article).
Lady Gaga did a great job organizing this. Never heard of Burna Boy before but want to hear more of him because his set was amazing. Idris Elba and Henry Golding supplied incredible beauty. I worry that Laura Bush sounded raspy. The sights into celebrity homes was interesting- LL Cool J seems to have a fantastic print collection. Watching all those healthcare workers dance to Safety Dance was so much fun.
And, by far, the best set of the night was The Rolling Stones and Charlie Watts using an upholstered chair as a cymbal.
That Rolling Stones bit was hysterical. But I’ll give him points for enthusiasm!
THe Stones were a hoot! I thought their choice of You Can’t Always Get What You Want was a big FU to trump since he continues to use it at his rallies after being asked not to.
I worry a bit about Sir Paul as he sounded quite short of breath during his set.
Agree that the song selection was a giant middle finger to Trump; the Stones took back what was theirs and they were awesome. Several more technically knowledgeable people on Twitter were saying that their set was the most difficult to pull off as it involved coordinating instruments, not just vocals, playing from different locations when there would be a time delay in the transmission of what they were hearing from one another and it could have been a cacophonous mess but due to their incredible talent and professionalism, it worked. It was also pointed out that Watts was using electronic drumsticks so he wasn’t just air drumming. But even if he was air drumming, his timing was impeccable. And I want to go through that record collection of his.
i have maintained for a very long time that Sir Paul’s singing voice has been shot to Hell and he should consider retirement but his speaking voice also sounded heavily congested in that clip and I too was concerned about the state of his health.
Lightpurple, Burna is really good. I would recommend “Anybody”, if you want to listen to more of his songs. But they’re all good, I promise! The lyrics are infused with “pidgin English” so you may not understand everything he says, but the vibe is great…Afrobeats. You might also want to listen to Fela Kuti too. That’s the man Burna learnt from…one of the continent’s finest musicians (an activist too). He’s late now though. Anyway, happy listening!
Thanks, Bubs, I will check him out.
Omg Burna Boy is so amazing. I can listen to his songs all day long. Proud Nigerian!
You’re most welcome…
I only saw the last hour but it was incredibly moving. Especially the interviews with healthcare workers from around the world. And when I think that b@stard Trump wants to cut funding because he needs a scapegoat…….
I thought the show was wonderful and I especially loved hearing artists interpret songs they loved that had been made famous by others-e.g. Stevie W, Lizzo, Billie Eillish, John Legend and Sam Smith, Shawn and Camilla, etc.
Congratulations to Lady Gaga and all involved. Much love to the health care workers and all others who are risking their lives at this time.
And SHAME, SHAME to the trump encouraged protestors.
Gaga confirmed that she turned down Casino’s offer to be apart of this.
The density of his narcissism, I tell you.
Not the biggest fan, but Taylor Swift actually made me cry. Most of the show made me cry. Because we NEED to cry. We need to let it out. That’s what I’ve been telling my patients (I’m still doing therapy via teleconferencing, face time, skype, etc. Now is not the time to hand over my patients). As a mom and a doctor, I spend so much time being the tough one, the strong one, and it was good to just let it go a couple of times. I even cried at the Safety Dance thing, even though it was cute and fun. I just kept thinking that it was probably the only fun thing those frontline responders have done in awhile.