January 13, 2009

Obama Inauguration Concert to Include U2, Beyonce, Springsteen, Many, Many, Many More

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The Washington Post has the full lineup for this Sunday’s Obama inaugural celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and it’s something, alright. Take a deep breath for the alphabetical list: Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2, will.i.am and Stevie Wonder. Whew. Legend and Brooks aren’t really up my alley, but you know, this isn’t a bad concert, even without Please-Can’t-You-Just-Be-President-Right-Now Obama dropping by. Of course, they had to give it a terrible name: “We Are One.” Blergh! The first time I glanced at this story, I read it as “We Are the World” and just about had a heart attack. As long as they don’t have a “We Are One” theme song, we should be okay. The 90-minute concert will be broadcast on HBO, except it’ll be some sort of free version of HBO that will, I guess, just show up on our TVs somehow. Hooray, new president, but this better not interfere with the Flight of the Conchords premiere.

If that unintentional tribute to The Lion King is too mainstream for you, the Beastie Boys will headline a concert at D.C.’s 9:30 club on Sunday, except theirs has an even worse name: “Hey, America Feels Kinda Cool Again.” Well, it felt cool, until you guys said that. Sheryl Crow will be slumming over there as well after her We Are One appearance, along with Citizen Cope. Scheduled for January 19 is Jay-Z, who will perform at the 2,000-capacity Warner Theater. Actual inaugural balls on January 20 abound, including an “Urban Ball” hosted by Ludacris and Big Boi and featuring David Banner, Lil Jon and more; a Legends Ball with Chaka Khan and George Clinton; and an MTV “Be the Change” party [edit: whoops, that was cancelled]. Plus there’s the Party Ben We Are Watching It All From the Couch event, which promises to be very exclusive.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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