As Barack Obama’s historic presidential inauguration draws near, so do the many celebrations planned in his honor. The biggest of them all is the inaugural concert at Washington, D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, January 18, which features performances from some of music’s biggest stars.

Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bono, John Legend, Mary J. Blige and Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock and Usher are just a few of the nineteen artists across genres contacted to perform at We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial. The Association Press reports that John Mellencamp, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, and Josh Groban will also make appearances. Queen Latifah, along with Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III and Denzel Washington, will give historical readings at the event. At the upcoming show, the singers will not be performing their hit singles. Instead, they will be delivering songs appropriate to the occasion. Springsteen will sing “The Rising” and one musician, yet to be disclosed, will be asked to perform “A Change Is Gonna Come”, the song which was made famous by Sam Cooke.

Moreover, Barack Obama’s Inauguraral Celebration concert is aimed to kick off a four-day schedule of inaugural events that will include another 10 official Inaugural Balls around Washington D.C. including the Beastie Boys and Sheryl Crow headlining a “Hey, America Feels Kinda Cool Again” event on Jan. 19 at the 9:30 club; WAR and Marc Anthony appearing at the Latino Inaugural Gala at Union Station on Jan. 18; Jay-Z Jan. 19 at the Warner Theatre (the tickets for Jay-Z’s performance went on sale from Jan.9 at 10am via the Live Nation website). According to rapbasement.com, Obama has expressed he is a fan of Jay-Z, saying Jigga is a regular on his Ipod and even “brushed dirt off of his shoulders” in reply to jabs directed at him from former presidential hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton. Additionally, Bela Fleck and Wynton Marsalis performing at CNN’s Inaugural event on Jan. 19 at the Kennedy Center., as well as an Inauguration-Day-eve youth concert at the Verizon Center.
For those who can’t make it to the capitol for the free event, HBO will be televising the show at 7 P.M. through an open feed, meaning that it will be free to anyone with cable.
In other news, Bruce Springsteen, who has performed other concerts previously in support of Obama during his election campaign, is preparing for the release of his 16th album ‘Workin’ On A Dream’ (out January 27).

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 6:46 am and is filed under News.