But then even before the major concert “We Love New York”, which was planned for months, the criticism grew stronger: The number of cases in New York had risen too high again in a fourth corona wave, it was said. Even the mandatory proof of a first vaccination dose for all visitors is insufficient in view of the few people wearing masks on the “Great Lawn” meadow in Central Park. On Saturday, however, it initially looked as if the optimists were right.
Tens of thousands came to the park as planned – with mostly free tickets – and celebrated the welcome from star presenter Gayle King: “We were once the epicenter of this virus. Now we are moving forward to become the epicenter of healing. ” The New York Philharmonic opened the evening and accompanied soul superstar Jennifer Hudson’s powerfully voiced aria “Nessun Dorma” – many visitors on the big screen had tears in their eyes.
The pace of the five-hour concert in front of the meter-high “NYC” light structures was well chosen: between genre stars such as country singer Kane Brown, pop-classical tenor Andrea Bocelli and hip-hop legends LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes played acts suitable for the masses like Santana and Journey their stadium rock hymns “Maria, Maria” and “Don’t Stop Believing”. The visitors danced and were happy about the top-class star line-up.
After a good two hours, the surprising turning point finally came: the foothills of hurricane «Henri», which had been announced for Sunday in the northeast of the USA, pressed rain and thunderstorms into the city. The first lightning bolts flashed near Central Park – according to CNN, according to safety regulations, they were too close to continue the concert. The 78-year-old pop oldie singer Barry Manilow had just started the biggest hits of his career with “Copacabana” and “Mandy” when the organizers broke off.
At first the spectators were only asked to seek shelter, but in the end it was raining heavily. For a moment, it looked like the weather, rather than the pandemic, would ensure that the critics were right with their warnings of a fiasco. But the evening should turn again.
Those who had already made it home by then could experience a great moment of TV entertainment under difficult conditions there on CNN. Moderator Anderson Cooper had Manilow on the phone backstage in the artists’ tent and laughed in the studio to confirm what he had planned for the next song: “I Made It Through The Rain”. But once asked, Manilow did not hesitate and sang the song into the phone, accompanied by a keyboard that was available.
Hope mingled in the spontaneous TV show that followed: Cooper said that concert promoter Clive Davis was negotiating with Mayor Bill de Blasio in the background. Could the outstanding stars like Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, The Killers and Bruce Springsteen continue their show later in the evening without an audience?
Cooper bridged the time to answering this question, among other things, with spontaneous phone chats with Costello and Smith, who waited backstage for a decision. Moderator Stephen Colbert proved to be an excellent conversation partner (“I have to go, hand out snorkels.”) – and finally the Killers sang their hit “Mr. Brightside »improvises acoustically, filmed live with the mobile phone by King, actually a star presenter from the competing broadcaster CBS.
For a while, Cooper filled the time until it finally came to an end at around 10.30 p.m. “It won’t happen again, I’m on the ground,” said the moderator. In the pouring rain, several hundred unwavering fans had to leave the place in front of the stage. You could see helpers dismantling instruments and hugging each other. In the end, however, many people in the city had proven better than it would have been possible at any planned concert what New York can do particularly well: make the best of adverse circumstances.
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