Cher, Beck Trey Anastasio and Alicia Keys were just four of the highlights of Thursday night’s ninth annual Love Rocks NYC Benefit Concert for God’s Love We Deliver. Held at New York’s Beacon Theatre, the concert raised more than $4 million for the organization, which cooks and home-delivers nutritious, medically tailored meals for people unable to shop or cook for themselves.
The four-hour plus concert was hosted by Alex Edelman, Amy Schumer, Susie Essman and Tracy Morgan, and also featured performances from Mavis Staples, Michael McDonald, Kate Hudson, Peter Frampton, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics with singer Vanessa Amorosi, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Grace Bowers, Jesse Malin, Luke Spiller and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.
Cher delivered the evening’s most eye-grabbing performance, kicking off her three-song set dressed as Elvis Presley and performing “Walking in Memphis.” She donned two different (lower-key) outfits for her next two numbers, her own “(This Is) A Song for the Lonely,” which featured images of old New York displayed behind her, celebrating the spirit of the city’s resilience, and of course closed with her smash “Believe.”
Alicia Keys opened the show by paying tribute to Roberta Flack, who passed away last week, with a cover of her 1973 hit “Killing Me Softly,” and then honored her hometown with her hit “Empire State of Mind.” Other highlights included Mavis Staples joined by Michael McDonald for a soulful performance of the Staples Singers’ classic “I’ll Take You There,” and the night concluded with an all-star performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” which embodied the event’s celebration of unity.
Terrence Meck, the president & CEO of God’s Love We Deliver, noted that the organization has raised more than $50 million to date and helped to fund 5 million meals for New Yorkers living with severe illnesses.
“God’s Love We Deliver is unique in New York City – we are the only non-profit provider of medically tailored meals. We started as an AIDS services organization nearly 40 years ago, and now we cook and home deliver medically tailored meals, to people living with more than 200 different diagnoses,” he said.
The ninth annual Love Rocks NYC was executive produced by international fashion designer John Varvatos, NYC real estate broker and concert producer Greg Williamson and concert/events producer Nicole Rechter and was presented by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
From Variety US