Bruce Springsteen sings “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for” in Times Square, with Larry Mullen Jr. of U2 playing drums behind him. Bono, injured in a recent bicycle accident, did not perform.
This is the space where I will be blogging about the World AIDS Day concert in Times Square. Bruce Springsteen, Chris Martin, U2 (minus Bono), Kanye West and Carrie Underwood are expected to perform. (I will post the items in reverse chronological order.)
8:18: Mini-concert over. Everyone comes out and takes a bow together.
8:13: Springsteen sings “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” dedicated to Bono. “Be well, my friend,” he says.
8:08 p.m.: Springsteen joins U2 for “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
8:06 p.m.: I gotta ask: If the point of this whole thing is to raise awareness about AIDS, why did they wait until this afternoon to start publicizing it?
8:04 p.m.: Kanye now doing “Touch the Sky.”
8:01 p.m.: Third Kanye song is “Black Skinhead,” with a lot of the words bleeped out in the live YouTube broadcast. He cuts it short and goes into “Stronger.”
7:56 p.m.: Adam Clayton of U2 introduces Kanye West as “the most groundbreaking artist in music today.” He performs “Power.” It looks like he’s using backing tracks plus a live guitarist. Second song is “Jesus Walks.”
7:55 p.m.: Taped message from President Obama. “We’ve got to stay focused and committed” to the cause of ending AIDS, he says.
7:51 p.m.: Underwood says tonight marks the beginning of the end of AIDS. She sings “Something in the Water,” but with her own band, not U2.
7:47 p.m.: The Edge introduces Carrie Underwood, who sings her own “Change.” It sounds positively U2-esque in this setting.
7:40 p.m.: “Dreams come true,” says Martin, before singing “With or Without You.”
7:35: U2 takes the stage, with Chris Martin in place on Bono. They do “Beautiful Day.”
7:32 p.m.: Bill Clinton addresses the crowd. “You have only a minute and a half of halfway serious talk, and it’s all fun after that,” he says. Says Bono emailed him today, asking him to do the intro.
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