Bono at NetAid at Giants Stadium, in 1999.
Yesterday’s installment of 350 Jersey Songs was a duet by Keith Urban and Alicia Keys at the 2007 Live Earth benefit concert at Giants Stadium. Today’s is from a similar Giants Stadium megaconcert, NetAid, in 1999.
The concert, along with NetAid shows in London and Geneva, was designed to help launch the NetAid organization, a United Nations project intended to harness the Internet’s power to combat poverty. A very eclectic lineup was lined up for East Rutherford, including Sting, Puff Daddy, Wyclef Jean, Jimmy Page with the Black Crowes, Bono, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, Sheryl Crow and Jewel. But the concert and the cause never really captured the public’s imagination, and large portions of Giants Stadium were empty that day.
Only $830,000 was raised, through Internet donations, and though the NetAid organization did persevere for several more years, with other projects, it fell far short of its original lofty goals.
Below is one of the musical highlights of the Giants Stadium concert: Bono, in a rare appearance without his band U2, performing the U2 hit “One” with the help of an orchestra.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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