Being a native New Yorker free concerts in Central Park are not a new concept to me, they are always fun and its wonderful to hear great music played live.
The Global Citizen Festival is something different; it is a free concert where tickets are given to individuals who contribute in large or small ways to the various causes Global Citizen organization supports. Global Citizen Organization describes themselves as a ‘social action platform’ and from what I see; the desire to work to solve challenges throughout the world is genuine. Some examples are global access to education, sanitation, end to extreme poverty, access to clean water, natural conservation, and the list goes on. The platform global citizens’ use is mainly online presence, emails, petitions, tweets, and phone calls to the authorities to express support for the citizens cause(s) of choice.
I had attended one free concert as a guest a couple of years ago but didn’t sign up for the organization, I was hesitant at first because I didn’t know much about it and wasn’t sure if it was just another charity that would email me for donations. Of course, they accept money too but for those that can’t give much we can search for something we care about and get a direction on how we can help as an individual, through petition, email, or tweets. There are different programs within this organization and it really depends on you and how much time you can give toward the issues. As you gain points in Global Citizen throughout the year, you can put them toward a reward and get tickets to certain events on their website or app.
The thing for me that was different about the 2017 Global Citizen Festival was the presentations in between the performances; they recapped their main issues and had speakers from different parts of the world express their contributions to fighting against child marriage, oppression, fighting for education, clean water, and unity. You get a sense of hope for the future and that you are doing something, even if it is as insignificant as a tweet that it may contribute in the end to making a difference. During the concert, for the most part they tried to put aside political opinions and focused on the social aspects, sometimes you do need to get political to change these social issues. There were Republican as well as Democratic speakers, a couple of mentions of stopping the cuts to the budget but it takes funding to make these changes. If I’m honest, Green Day was political when they changed up one of the lyrics in their song American Idiot to, “I’m not part of Don Trump America” but hey rock & roll!
We had the opportunity to hear Ndaba Mandela (Nelson Mandela’s grandson speak), conservationist Jane Goodall, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and more. The musicians included Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Green Day, The Killers, The Lumineers, The Chainsmokers, Andra Day, Big Sean, and Alessia Cara. Green Day is one of my favorite bands and they never disappoint, this show was no different, I had always wanted to see The Lumineers live and definitely want to attend one of their concerts now. Andra Day I had not heard of before, but she was amazing, her performance and voice is killer, I would definitely go if she were performing live if I had the opportunity. The Killers I have seen about four times in concert and they are always on point, this time was no different. Stevie Wonder, what can you say he is in a class by himself, he was fun, friendly, and I just loved being in the moment watching him perform. Pharrell Williams joined in to sing ‘Happy’. Stevie Wonder did a cover of imagine that almost made me cry, was really just lovely. I was amazed all these people came out to lend their time for this event.
Another thing I really was appreciative of and should mention was the NYPD kept everything orderly and because of their presence, it allowed this mass of people to have a good time, I felt safe with the security of this event. MSNBC provided free water to everyone who needed it at the event, which I was also grateful for because it was about 85 degrees, the police also helped distribute the water throughout the crowd.
Being part of Global Citizen does not take away from causes I care about closer to home here in the USA, it has helped to expand my view and reinforces the idea that an individual can have a real impact.
See their link if you'd like to learn more: https://www.globalcitizen.org