in case you missed it-- "We Are One"

As promised, I'm here to tell you all about the "We Are One: Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial" from Sunday night.

Unfortunately, a lot of these videos aren't allowed to be circulating the internet, so if any fail to work, I'm sorry!

I can't remember the exact order of events, either, so I'm going to go completely random with this. And you're not going to care.

I think my favorite two performances were Usher, Stevie Wonder, and Shakira singing "Higher Ground," and Will.i.am and Sheryl Crow singing "One Love" with Herbie Hancock.

First of all, I just love seeing Usher back on the scene, especially as such a huge event, and to be performing with Stevie Wonder is obviously something special. But the way they both sound is just great in itself.

I don't like Shakira coming in, though. In fact, I think I hate it. She almost could have ruined it, and I'm not sure why they even brought her in to do that performance, but whatever. As long as sweet Barack liked it.



Will.i.am has been hugely involved within the whole Obama campaign since day one, so it's no wonder he got to perform at this ceremony. Sheryl Crow has also been pretty involved, and she's a wonderful person, so I love that they did it together.

And it's clear why this is a perfect song for this history we are all witnessing. We're all coming together as one. What I love best about this whole thing is when Will.i.am breaks into his/the Black Eyed Peas' song, "What's Goin' On" while still keeping the Bob Marley beat.

Minus the awkwardness of them trying to share the microphone, this is a fantastic show.



Another really great one was James Taylor, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland [who was obviously VERY excited about being there], and John Legend singing "Shower the People." I love John Legend's voice, and when it's an event like this, I think his voice is unique and so fitting for it. He's amazing.

And James Taylor, pff, he's a legend. There's no wonder he's there. Jennifer's voice just compliments and adds a nice, extra tone to the song. It's pretty. :)



Some solo performances that are necessary to mention are Garth Brooks' "American Pie" and Beyonce's "America the Beautiful."

Garth sounded good, but it wasn't anything I'm jumping out of my seat for. That is, until he broke out into "Shout!" It was a good break from all of the seriousness and readings of the history of this country. Barack definitely seemed to be diggin' it, too!



Finally, Beyonce has an amazing voice. I won't deny it. And she sounded amazing singing this song. They picked a great person to do it. [Only one better would be Jennifer Hudson, I think.. But I'm sure she's still struggling with personal issues...]



Mary J. Blige did "Lean On Me" which was really good, too. It started off iffy, in my opinion, but it was good. Click here if you want to check it out. :)

[Bruce Springsteen also performed to open up the show, and U2 did a couple songs, including the one that has become THE song of the Obama campaign.]

On top of all of these performances, TONS of people made appearances. Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Jack Black, Denzel Washington, Steve Carell, and Marisa Tomei are just a few of them.

Most people talked about the history of former presidents, what they did for this country, and how they helped us get to the point we are now. They also introduced different performers, presenters, or whoever.

My favorite, was Jamie Foxx. [Surprised? Probably not.] Only because his was a little different in the sense he did offer a little bit of comedy within the seriousness. He did his own little impersonation of PRESIDENT Barack Obama, and it was dead on.



I love that man.

And, of course, Barack Obama gave a speech, and, well, every speech that he gives will give you goosebumps, and this one was no different. [To keep from this site taking 2398472 hours to load, just click here if you haven't seen or heard it.]

So overall, the show was amazing, and for those who witnessed it, you're really lucky. If not, maybe these pictures [Thanks to the Washington Post] can help you feel like you were, and see how ridiculous the crowd really was.

Congratulations Barack Obama, and thank you to all you celebrities! And HBO for broadcasting. :)

love,
elizabethany