We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert
by Jeanne Lieberman
photos by Phil
McAuliffe
Is the prematurely canceled concert celebrating New York’s victory
over Covid a metaphor for incomplete victory as the Delta variant looms over
us?
The
crowd came in exultant and in a celebratory mood.
Their
party personae reflecting the theme of the concert:
New
York is Back! Victory over the Virus declared!
she
dressed specially for event: New York Chic
Happy
celebrants
waiting....
All
went will until....
“the wettest hour on record for New York City”
More rain fell in Central Park between 10 p.m.
and 11 p.m. Saturday than in any other hour since records began, a single hour being the wettest ever
recorded in the city.
New York City was
drenched with its heaviest hour of rainfall ever on Saturday night as Tropical
Storm Henri neared the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
Rain and an
unexpected thunderstorm forced organizers to cancel a Central Park concert
aimed at celebrating the Big Apple’s comeback from COVID midway through the
show.
The
standard weather requirements for cancellation of an event declare that any
lightning within 10 miles of the event is reason to cancel the event: two bolts
of lightning, one at nearby Battery Park, within those 10 miles prompting the
evacuation. Before 10PM blindly optimistic forecasters predicted 1/2 hour
duration creating confusion Will they... or wont they?
But
there was plenty of show until then: "I've never heard of a concert with
that kind of lineup," de Blasio said after it was announced for the first time
earlier this summer.
The
star-studded lineup was to include the cast as planned
·
Jon Batiste
·
Andrea
Bocelli
·
Kane Brown
·
LL COOL J
·
Elvis
Costello
·
Lucky Daye
·
Earth, Wind
& Fire
·
Kenny
"Babyface" Edmonds
·
Cynthia
Erivo
·
Jimmy
Fallon
·
Jennifer
Hudson
·
Wyclef Jean
·
Journey
·
The Killers
·
Gayle King
·
Don Lemon
·
Barry
Manilow
·
The New
York Philharmonic
·
Polo G
·
Carlos
Santana
·
Paul Simon
·
Patti Smith
·
Bruce
Springsteen
·
Rob Thomas
Mayor
Bill de Blasio teamed up with legendary music producer Clive Davis to organize
the concert, which celebrated New York City's reopening from the corona virus
pandemic.
Setting
the bar really high the concert began with Andréa Bocelli and Jennifer Hudson
delivering operatic arias with no less that the New York Philharmonic backing
them up after their own overture performance.
Santana
with Rob Thomas had the crowd dancing to “smooth”.
Rev
Run joined the exultant crowd with LL cool J in rap version of “Its tricky “
Santana
and Wyclef Jean performed an unrecognizable version of Westside story's
"Maria Maria"
Earth
Wind And Fire performed their iconic ”September “
Barry
Manilow, who noticed the drizzle from the wings, was compelled to stop crooning
"I cant Smile Without You", when the message came out advising all
concertgoers to safely leave the area due to dangerous weather conditions.
The
dreaded announcement to leave.
But
just as Victory is not yet achieved due to the rise of the variant threatening
the city all over again, the concert was never finished, the big names (Paul
Simon, Bruce Springsteen, et al) never appeared and although some loyal fans
struggled to remain in the rain to continue the celebration, repeated attempts,
valiant as they were, proved futile.
This created a
nightmare conundrum for Anderson Cooper who was commentating from CNN
headquarters and faced with 2 hours of empty airtime to fill. He did this
admirably earning respect of his peers with help from Manilow himself who sang,
appropriately, " I made it through the rain" from his trailer, as
Anderson swayed to the music in the studio.
And The Killers performed one of their numbers in a cramped
dressing room.
(Anderson later received compliments from his peers for his
extraordinary
feat filling the two hours )
THE
EXODUS
.
And so as the battle against the virus continues, we hope the
concert will eventually.
my
view of stage prior to performance.....
my
view of stage during performance!!!