Bono, the Boss, Beyonce and Many More Headline Inaugural Concert

It promises to be a concert worth freezing for. The Obama inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial next Sunday evening Jan. 18 - which will be free, and televised exclusively by HBO - will feature all the hottest names in music. From country and rock 'n roll to jazz and pop, there'll be something for everybody.

They include Bono and the Boss - Bruce Springsteen. Beyonce, Garth Brooks, legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, will.i.am and John Mellencamp are all part of the lineup.

Other artists announced today by the Presidential Inaugural Committee include: Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Heather Headley, Jennifer Nettles, Usher Raymond IV and Shakira.

"Our intention is to root the event in history, celebrating the moments when our nation has united to face great challenges and prevail," says George Stevens, Jr., who will be executive producer of the event. "We will combine historical readings by prominent actors with music from an array of the greatest stars of today."

Besides Stevens (The Kennedy Center Honors), the show will be produced and directed by Don Mischer (Olympic Ceremonies). Michael Stevens (The American Film Institute Salutes) is writing the special, which will be a production of The Stevens Company in association with Don Mischer Productions, according to the announcement.

The concert starts Sunday afternoon at 2 pm ET; the live HBO broadcast begins at 7 pm. (If that gives you a better idea when Bono and the Boss are performing.)

"This is a great opportunity to capture an historic event in a very meaningful setting," noted Don Mischer in the press release. "We will have the statue of Abraham Lincoln looking down on our stage and a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people lining the mall -- a tableau any director would relish."

The President Inaugural Committee also announced that on Tuesday evening, after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president, the first ball of the evening that new first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden will attend will be the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. The ball will be broadcast live on ABC and over the Internet, all part of Obama's inaugural unity theme.

Comments

MEMO TO HBO: Make available to ALL AMERICANS -- including non-cable subscribers.

The concert should be made available by HBO to ALL Americans. HBO already has agreed to allow cable operators to open its channel to cable subscribers who do not purchase HBO.

Now HBO should go one step further and make the concert available to at least one broadcast station in all markets.

This is a celebration intended for all people. HBO would benefit greatly, engendered goodwill and free publicity, if it made the program accessible to everyone.

And now, a message about a more pressing matter:

PLEA TO OBAMA: CANCEL RISKY, RECKLESS 'SITTING DUCK' TRAIN STUNT

• What happened to Homeland Security warnings of "heightened risk" during Presidential transition?

• How about the late November FBI warning about possible Northeast train station attacks?

• "Amtrak Joe" Biden's longstanding warnings about security flaws along the Amtrak Northeast corridor -- why isn't he waving this whistle stop tour to a halt?

READ THIS LINK AND MAKE IT VIRAL.

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/plea-obama-cancel-risky-reckless-sitting-duck-train-stunt

OR (if link is DEACTIVATED or corrupted):

http://My.NowPublic.com/scrivener

Posted by: scrivener50 | January 13, 2009 9:57 AM | Report abuse

Mary Ann, your blog entry gives an INCORRECT TIME for the concert: you have apparently gotten the starting time for the live concert mixed up with the time at which the concert will be shown on HBO.

THE LIVE CONCERT, as reported elsewhere on washingtonpost.com, BEGINS AT 2 PM.

HBO's broadcast of the concert, presumably edited, doesn't begin until 7 pm.

Please correct this reference, so no one else makes plans based on this blog entry and ends up horrendously disappointed.

Posted by: LawyerDMS | January 13, 2009 3:56 PM | Report abuse

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