Saturday’s 7th Annual Global Citizen Festival in Central Park nearly turned into a catastrophe when attendees, thinking that gunshots were fired at 7:35 p.m., stampeded away from the stage. It was actually a security barrier that toppled over, creating a sound that reverberated and scared many in the crowd. Global Citizen reported seven injuries.
New York police raced to the stage and took over the mike, attempting to calm the fleeing concertgoers. “The fence fell,” a female captain stated. “We’ve got to get these barriers open. We’ve got to get these people out. People are getting crushed. Please move backwards!”
Global Citizen veteran Chris Martin of Coldplay tried to help, telling the crowd: “A barrier fell down. There’s no need to rush. Nobody is trying to hurt anybody. You’re all safe. When you guys are all ready, we can watch Janet Jackson.”
At 8:15, about 40 minutes after the commotion and with some of the crowd returning to the area where the fence collapsed, Jackson hit the stage, performing a seamless set of her hit songs from the ’80s and ’90s, including “Rhythm Nation,” “Nasty,” “Miss You Much,” “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “When I Think of You” and “Control.”
Related
Cardi B to Perform at American Music Awards
Cardi B-Nicki Minaj Fight Was ‘Disheartening,’ Says ‘Love & Hip Hop’ Executive Producer
Toward the end of her set, Jackson weighed in on the key issue of the day: women being sexually assaulted by men. “I’m sick, I’m repulsed, I’m infuriated,” she said. “Injustice, bigotry and prejudice has to stop.”
This echoed the opening message from Janelle Monáe, who kicked off the show at 4 p.m. “I dedicate this to Dr. Ford,” she said, referring to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who testified Thursday at a Senate Justice Committee hearing about being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 1982. “I dedicate this to Anita Hill… Let the vagina have a monologue!”
Following sets by John Legend and Shawn Mendes, Bronx-born rapper Cardi B made a pitch for the 60,000 attendees, mostly in their teens and twenties, to vote. “Last election, everybody took it as a joke, even me, I’m not even going to front,” she admitted. “Because I thought, ‘Man, that person ain’t going to win,’ and look where we at now.”
Cardi B’s kinetic set consisted of snippets of her hits – “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It,” “She Bad” and “Be Careful.” “We need to tone it down for my health,” she said mid-set. “It’s asthma season. I can’t breathe.”
The overriding Global Citizen concern is to end world poverty by 2030. Many foreign dignitaries and sponsors (Proctor & Gamble, Cisco) pledged money and campaigns to contribute to that effort. Sub-topics throughout the day included stopping ocean pollution created by plastic — one speaker warmed of an island made of plastic the size of France — and putting a halt to cash bail.
“The cash bail system violates justice,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared. “If you can’t make bail, you sit in jail.” He called for the closing of New York’s notorious Riker’s Island prison where 70% of the inmates “have not been found guilty. I’ve closed more prisons than any governor in the history of this state. I’m not done yet.”
Due to the fence fall and ensuing pandemonium, the show was extended an extra half hour to allow The Weeknd to finish it up, albeit with a shortened set of his hits – “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Party Monster” and “Secrets.”
“Can we go all night, New York?” the Canadian singer asked rhetorically. But, a few minutes later, he announced, “I have to cut it short.”
It was an anticlimactic ending to an unsettling day.
Source: Read Full Article