IThis is the hype-up mystery in 2021: How can you get people excited to party if you are people who explicitly said they should not party and also no one can go party because it is a pandemic? The opening ceremony of the Biden Institutional Committee for the week of swearing-in events was then about as uncomfortable and as confusing as you would expect.
A hard effort to put together something uplifting and enjoyable on Sunday night We the people concert and fundraiser (a small donation that gave Biden / Harris fans access to the virtual event) was kind of stupid, kind of sad, incredibly random, pitifully low energy, scrappy, admirable and in the end maybe a little nice?
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The series was not just the normal hilarious eclectic discussions that telegraphed. “We know that the guest of honor has no idea who most of these people are, but we were determined to hire at least one act to mark off each demographic to prove that we are inclusive” for which these political events are notorious.
Maybe it’s because the big guns are reserved for Wednesday’s first inauguration concert, or that they do not justify the attempt to perform at a virtual live event, but the spirit of a live concert, but We the people characterized by whiplash-inducing twists from A-list performer to, not entirely Z-list, but perhaps P-list? Q-light?
Keegan-Michael Key and Debra Messing, from the iconic ‘I’m for Joe’ meme, served as co-host, and was very cheerful and staying there, so good to them. But even as they enthusiastically launched the night’s series, it was tempting to laugh with the declining returns: “Cher!” “And fall out!” ‘And [pause] Kal Penn … ”
The president-elect and Dr Jill Biden spoke, as did Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. “Even though our inauguration traditions look a little different this year,” Biden warned, “we are still all together across America.”
And therefore it may be necessary to enjoy these things for what they are in these extreme circumstances: the best that anyone can do. For that you have to feel.
Between pandemic restrictions and ongoing threats of insurgency, this is the worst time to try to trumpet excitement for a new government, and they are doing their best to do what they can and what is appropriate. It’s an impossible situation, like when someone gave you a barrel of Busch Light in your twenties, the keys to the party room at the Ponderosa Steakhouse, and said, “Turn it into a presidential event.”
There are many thoughts about it. It is exhausting that there is always an urge to do these kinds of things, days of celebrations and ultimately uninteresting concerts as part of some civil splendor and circumstances, and especially now when we are in a pandemic. Still, it’s time to start feeling good about things – or at least believe that it’s possible to feel good about things again one day.
To that end, it is inspiring and enjoyable to have the opportunity to meet people who are excited to support not only the newly elected president, but also the promise of what the country can be under his leadership.
But at the end of the day, how empowered can you feel, sitting on your couch on a Sunday at 8pm on your couch and watching a live stream on your computer while Grace Adler and the man who made Meryl Streep it in The Prom are you trying to think that Fall Out Boy’s actions are similar to seeing Beyoncé for Coachella?
Is the Founding Committee trying to evoke sad memories of the Obama era with the seemingly out of nowhere discussed? We tried to re-associate Biden with times when Trump was just a harsh reality TV star, and the only face masks we saw were in the cast of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights, and we all go down, in an earlier round, sugar, do we go down swinging?
Until the oral history of how this event was broadcast – the first known presenter was Michael Bivins, a former member of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe … – we will have to be content with polite confusion about how the favorite rock group of my high school graduation class of 2005 became a headliner. (Their performance of their 2014 single “Centuries” was … good?)
The discomfort of everything could not be saved.
A pop trio called AJR, appointed by Messing and Key to write and produce songs from their own living room, performed ‘Bummerland’ as if the jokes had not yet been written by them.
Yes, they discussed Barbra Streisand, but only for a voice-over. She teased that she would sing a song she performed for three presidents, and was excited to make Biden the fourth, and then played the archive footage of her “Happy Days” during a concert years ago. What was that about ‘Bummerland?’
‘A pop trio called AJR, appointed by Messing and Key to write and produce songs from their own living room, performed ‘Bummerland’ as if the jokes had not yet been written by them.”
Kal Penn joined in to talk about the famous bagels from … New Jersey (?), And the similarities between the possibility that America offers and being an actor. Will.i.am acted, which I can say with confidence that no one wanted.
By the end, we were blessed by the presence of Cher, who delivered a delightful speech before lip-syncing with her ballad “I Hope You Find It” from different parts of her home, not too much like a self-shot music video. that I lip-sang along to a Cher song from the 13-year-old in my own living room.
The truth is, I think I dedicated this review as snarky, which is admittedly easy to do, especially considering the random set list and the drowsiness of trying to pump people over a Zoom video. Instead of applause, Deb and Keeg make themselves tormented and shout about how good each artist was. There was no cheering or laughter, but there was the biting gleam of video blots that we are all so familiar with now.
But there was legally something pleasant, even uplifting, about it.
The first artist, for example, was Ben Harper, who sang the wonderful song “With My Two Hands”. It has a beautiful, overflowing cadence, with lyrics like: “I can make peace with my own two hands / I can clean the earth with my own two hands / I can reach out to you with my own two hands.”
This is currently a surreal message. It is much needed, but can only be metaphorical. We can do nothing with our own hands – at least not without a bath of disinfectant and diligent COVID testing – but these are appropriate messages.
We have all received the loud and clear marches in recent weeks that every person who wants this current national nightmare to end must actively participate in digging ourselves out. This will only be possible if there is support: from the government, from the community. And that will only be possible if there is empathy, a new concept these days.
The final chorus of the song changes the lyrics to “with we possessed two hands. “Maybe the inch of ice that has formed over my heart for the past four years is only now beginning to thaw, because I am being touched.
Carole King sat at a piano and performed ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. James Taylor dragged along as he crowned his own version of ‘America, the Beautiful’. There is no time when looking at one of those things is not the highlight of any day. They were lovely.
But just when we won, the grand finale started and made us excited again beforehand that we were even doing it. Just like during the striking, impressive Democratic National Convention – a triumph of ingenuity and democracy – this concert ends, inexplicably, with a DJ.
This time it was DJ Cassidy instead of Diplo, but it was just as weird to watch a person on a YouTube-sized screen explode dance music as if we were all together in an arena ready to party and not in the same place on the couch where we’ve been for the past 11 months, half paying attention as we browse through Twitter.
I do not know what we ever want from these events that happen every four years, and I certainly do not know what we want from a pandemic.
Maybe we can just say that it was the ultimate opening act for Wednesday’s big show, which will call in Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake and the ultimate headliner: the United States of America is rescuing from its current fiery hell. It did not matter if you missed it, but to make sure you got excited for the main event.