While the storm ‘Sandy’ took away a lot of things with it; it also gave something – a chance for the celebrities to come together on a common platform for the benefit of the ‘Sandy’ victims. On Friday, each song sung at the NBC’s benefit concert became a message song. The hour long concert was hosted by Matt Lauer and was held to help the victims of the super storm. The telethon was heavy on stars as they rolled out songs that had lyrics identifying with the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas that bore the brunt of the deadly storm. The concert was a mix of the storm footage, music and calls for donations made by Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Fey, Jon Stewart and others.
Jon Bon Jovi from New Jersey put in extra effort to give significance to his “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” while Billy Joel incorporated the Staten Island, which is the decimated New York borough.
The mood throughout the hour long concert was somber but it was full of hope and life. Christina Aguilera sang “Beautiful” while Bon Jovi belted out “Livin’ on a Prayer”. Mary J. Blige’s ballad “The Living Proof” came up with the declaration of the apt-timed “The worst is over/I can start living now.” Billy Joel came out with “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)”, a song which came into being in the 1970s when New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy. Jimmy Fallon led the performance of the Drifters’ that featured Bruce Springsteen, Joel and Steven Tyler on the song “Under the Boardwalk”. He then sat behind the piano to play the very emotional “Dream On”. Continuing with the performance, Sting showed his passion and energy in The Police hit “Message In a Bottle”.
The musical night ended with a performance from Springsteen along with the E Street Band who sang the “Land of Hope and Dreams”. Being natively from New Jersey, Springsteen thanked all and concluded the show with a “God Bless” message.
The concert that was performed by some of the best known celebrities from the music industry was aired live from the NBC studios. The networks that aired the concert included NBC Universal networks including CNBC, USA, E! Entertainment, MSNBC, Bravo and The Weather Channel. Other networks were also invited by NBC Universal but everyone did not sign in to air the event probably because of the rivalries between the networks.
