Olympia Dukakis made a career out of playing the smartest woman in the room
The Covid-compliant concert aimed to educate a world still ghting the pandemic and remind fans of life before
As COVID- wanes in the United States, symptoms like loss of taste and smell are on the outs too. Imminently returning to the “in” list, though: hearing loss.
“This is a fucking rock concert!” yelled Dave Grohl, repeatedly, as a Foo Fighters performance that seemed a third louder than any other act’s capped the Global Citizen-produced Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World May . A TV taping for a special to air across networks on May £, it doubled as the first concert at L.A.’S new Sofi Stadium, and America’s first real stadium show since the pandemic began. Even with the Foos bringing tinnitus back (abetted by AC/DC’S Brian Johnson joining Grohl for “Back in Black”), you could hear the wider reverberations.
“I don’t know how it’ll be looked at five years from now,” says Ken Ehrlich, one of the broadcast’s executive producers. “But I can tell you from the emails that I’ve been getting — not just from people that were there but who saw it on the news — that this was the prow of the ship that said it’s OK to put music back in venues. It ain’t Live Aid or Woodstock, but in , to have that many people in one place to listen to music, and get a message through about why we haven’t seen this for over a year, is historic.”
Bookending the night, Eddie Vedder covered Fugazi and Little Steven at the start, while Grohl ended it with minutes of hits. The broadcast sequence gives Jennifer Lopez both those spots. The opening will have Lopez’s mother, Guadalupe, come out for the lullaby she once sang to her star daughter: Neil Diamond’s
“Sweet Caroline.” The TV finale doubles down on a maternal theme, as Lopez is joined by dancers for “Ain’t Your Mama.”
Producing partner Live Nation enlisted J Balvin to do “Otra Noche Sin Ti” from inside a huge half-moon prop. Ehrlich, a champion of Oscar winner H.E.R. in his Grammy-producing days, pushed the idea of a Sofi parking lot performance of “Glory” as drive-by vaccinations were taking place. To ratchet it to , CAA music head
Rob Light proposed having H.E.R. backed by an army of teen guitar students. (For more photos from the concert, see page .)
Says Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans: “We were contemplating the show in November but didn’t decide to do it until late February.” The potential audience count “changed every day based on county, state and city regulations.” Ultimately organizers could’ve gone to % in California’s latest tier, since all attendees — mostly, frontline responders and health workers — had to show proof of vaccination. Producers opted to max out at , to ease anxiety in the house and send the right message on TV.
Host Selena Gomez and guests like co-chair Prince Harry were there to convey two overarching messages: urging Americans to overcome vaccine hesitancy and encouraging viewers to pressure governments and corporations to send doses and/or money to India, Africa and other regions where even most health workers stand little chance of an imminent shot.
Adds Ehrlich: “How celebratory can you go when we’re pointing out there’s a big part of the world where it’s worse than it was here five months ago? All I asked was that nobody walk out onstage and say, ‘Hey, let’s party.’” Except Grohl effectively did just that — tossing in a few “it’s not over” caveats, but also acting like a big rock ’n’ roll puppy who’d just been thrown his first ball in months. “You couldn’t fault him,” Ehrlich laughs. “He was expressing his joy. I don’t think anyone will misinterpret that for not caring.”