The 2015 Global Citizens Festival proved a raging success with electric performances from headliners ColdPlay, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Pearl Jam.
Here are some of the highlights of the festival, from surprise musical guests, to an appearance from First Lady Michelle Obama.
More than 60,000 fans attended Saturday’s Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn in New York’s Central Park. Economist Jeffrey Sachs shared a stage with actress Olivia Wilde, and Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin introduced Vice President Joe Biden as the “handsomest man in politics”.
“That made me really upset and realize just how good we have it here in the USA”, Mike Cooper said.
“We are running out of time”, Leonardo DiCaprio told the crowd. The British crooner has cover Beyonce’s song before but this is the first time these two superstars performed the song together.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Global Citizen Jay Z was spotted in the A-list crowd.
You could see it in the way Beyoncé, co-founder of Chime For Change, a global campaign for girls’ and women’s empowerment, weaved in themes of gender equality to her performance.
Sheeran even joined Beyonce for a guitar-based version of her thumping R&B hit “Drunk In Love“, which earned roaring applause.
Ed, Coldplay, Beyonce and Pearl Jam will be performing. Vedder then brought out Beyonce for a duet on Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” However, the band wasn’t fazed and performed an electric set. Or because teenage Nobel Peace Prize victorMalala Yousafzai’s plea for educating girls received as big an ovation as the entrances of Beyoncé and first lady Michelle Obama. “Right now, more than 62 million girls worldwide are out of school”, said Obama. But, the star-studded night didn’t stop there as Chicago rapper, Common, took the stage with Sting for a couple of songs from The Police frontman’s catalog including “Every Breath You Take” and “One World (Not Three).”
Despite wide official endorsements of the so-called Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nationsestimates that achieving them would cost the world up to $5 trillion each year – a huge commitment. Which they most certainly did. She may be leading the stage but others weren’t sidelined as well.
“I want education to be the top priority because how can we end poverty… when we deny the right to education?”