Definitionally, there is a certain amount of pill-swallowing at a concert like the Global Citizen Festival, which on Saturday - for the third year in a row - brought 60,000 people to the Great Lawn at Central Park.
At almost six hours, the show included plenty of speeches from charitable-foundation executives and heart-rending videos about those who suffer from poverty and its symptoms sprinkled in between performances from music superstars.
But even if this made for some neck-snapping juxtapositions - Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, giving way to Carrie Underwood, high priestess of Nashville - show organizers bent over backward to not give the impression that the do-good bits were the chaff to the musical wheat.
The Global Citizen Project, which organizes this festival, has the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. All the performers - Jay Z, No Doubt, Ms. Underwood, the Roots, Fun., Tiesto - donated their services, making for an afternoon and evening of gleaming music for a set of causes too often deemed unglamorous.
Still, some of the brightest moments came when facing issues head-on: Mr. Modi reaffirming his commitment to provide toilets to all Indian citizens by 2019, or even a video featuring Elmo and Raya from 'Sesame Street' talking about the necessity of clean toilets. There were videos about the devastation caused by polio, and the need for vaccines; Erna Solberg, prime minister of Norway, pledged more than $1.2 billion over the next six years for vaccinations in underserved countries. And there were steady reminders that poverty often disproportionately affects young girls.
Yes, there were famous musicians, too, probably the highest star wattage of the event's three years. (Previous performers have include Stevie Wonder, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and John Mayer.) The hugeness of the event, though, felt cause-driven, not celebrity-driven. Even the generally unflappable Jay Z, the show's headliner, marveled at the scene: 'That's the most incredible thing I ever saw,' he said, looking out over the crowd.
Tickets could be earned via laptop activism - sending tweets, signing petitions, sending Facebook messages and so on. For the first time, the concert aired live on MSNBC, placing it in line with other large-scale charity events and telethons. (It was also live streamed, and a truncated version was shown on NBC.)
No Doubt was taut and convincing, with Gwen Stefani maturing into full Debbie Harry mode, singing in a tough husky voice. (The band was joined by Sting for a cover of the Police's 'Message in a Bottle.') Early in the day, Fun. served up its family-sized Queen-isms, and Tiesto his booming post-trance pop. Ms. Underwood appeared to be undersinging during her set of bionic anthems, either to protect her voice or because cameras can't really tell the difference.
Celebrities - Adrian Grenier, Olivia Wilde, Jessica Alba - popped up here and there to introduce musicians or to flog their own charitable efforts. But it was far more intriguing to watch various officials take a turn on the big stage: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations was bashful; the American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, was authoritative; and, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, was surprisingly limber and enthused. Ndaba Mandela, one of Nelson Mandela's grandsons, led the crowd in a fevered call-and-response chant.
Only in a few places did the music performed onstage veer into the neighboring territory of polemic. The Roots performed a moving version of Fela Kuti's 'Water No Get Enemy.' It was the sort of gesture that underscores this band's value - it's flexible, improvisationally deft, and unafraid of statement-making. (The show's credits indicated D'Angelo was to perform with them, but he was nowhere to be seen.)
A more leaden approach to inspiration came from Alicia Keys, who performed with Idan Raichel, an Israeli musician, and with Ali Amr, of Palestinian background, on a new song, 'We Are Here,' made exclusively of spine-crushing treacle ('Let's talk about Chi-town/ Let's talk about Gaza'). It was the sort of big-tent anthem meant for group singalong, a throwback to an outmoded idea of what activist music might mean.
More than any of the other acts, Jay Z's set was full of message music, though not the sort that lined up with the day's causes. (On television, his set was heavily censored for language.) His songs are about a different sort of poverty - suffering under its thumb and overcoming it - and he delivers them with the confidence of someone who's seen both sides.
Here, he smiled - a lot. He is an easeful performer, and during this show, an enthused one as well.
And of course Beyoncé came out, with hair at full Tina Turner, to perform a duet with Jay Z, her husband, on two of his lesser songs, 'Holy Grail' and 'Young Forever.' The strength of their marriage has been the subject of rumor for months, and they've strategically used public appearances to refute them. On a night devoted to the world's causes, this was a moment that far too easily reshaped the narrative: two people doing an act of charity, for the planet but also each other.
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