When Jay-Z was announced as the main headliner in this year’s Global Citizen Festival, it was almost expected that he would bring a special guest along with him. Unsurprisingly, that guest was wife Beyonce and yet when she appeared Saturday night, fans that were leaving the festival ran back to see Hip-Hop’s royal couple perform for free as if she popped out of nowhere.
Beyonce lent her vocals to the tracks “Holy Grail” and “Young Forever.” At times, it didn’t seem like a duet was there but rather her stealing the spotlight. As they reach the end of a major summer tour, divorce rumors and endless stories of Beyonce’s mild wardrobe malfunction during the set, the couple seemed happy to be around each other.
Jay-Z’s set primarily consisted of his notable hits including: “Empire State of Mind,” “Big Pimpin,” “99 Problems,” “U Don’t Know,” “Ni--as” in Paris“ and ”Public Service Announcement."
No Doubt produced an impressive set as they opened up with “Hella Good” and played their hits such as “Don’t Speak,” “I’m Just a Girl,” “Simple Kind of Life” and “Underneath It All.” Sting performed with the band on the track “Message in a Bottle.”
Carrie Underwood glowed in a black dress with high heel boots as she performed “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” and “Cowboy Casanova,” and“Before He Cheats.”
Fun.’s set consisted of their hits “Some Nights,” “Carry On,” and “We Are Young.” Also performing included The Roots while Tiesto brought his EDM act to the stage. Alicia Keys made an appearance as she performed a special song written specifically for the festival.
Although the music was one of the highlights of the Global Citizen Festival, the primary focus was to expose the issues that plague less developed countries such as: education, gender inequality, lack of access to water, toilets and medication.
Because of the U.N. summit the past week, several prime ministers were in attendance including: Narendra Modi of India. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also attended the festival among various A-list celebrities.
