Music

RTÉ to screen Lizzo, Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney coronavirus benefit concert

One World: Together at Home, on April 18th, will support WHO Covid-19 response fund

Lizzo is to play the Coronavirus benefit concert, which will be streamed online on April 18th. Photograph: Etienne Laurent/EPA

Laura Snapes
Tue Apr 7 2020 - 12:56

Lady Gaga is to curate One World: Together at Home, a live-streamed and televised benefit concert in support of the World Health Organization's Covid-19 solidarity response fund and in celebration of health workers around the world.

The musical lineup for the show includes Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Lizzo, J Balvin, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Burna Boy, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Elton John, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban and Lang Lang.

US talk-show hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will host the event, which broadcasts live across US television networks ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as being streamed online, on Saturday, April 18th, at 8pm New York time – which is 1am on Sunday, April 19th here.

RTÉ2 and BBC One will show an adapted version of the concert on April 19th. The full details of the broadcast are yet to be announced.

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Other celebrities slated to appear include David Beckham, Idris and Sabrina Elba, Kerry Washington, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan and Sesame Street cast members.

The WHO and social-action platform Global Citizen have partnered to produce the event. The latter's Together at Home series, launched last month, has featured performances from artists in isolation including Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello and Rufus Wainwright.

In a WHO press conference, Lady Gaga said that she had helped to raise $35 million (€32.2 million) for Global Citizen in the past week. She clarified that One World was not a fundraising telethon and would focus on entertainment and messages of solidarity, with philanthropists and businesses urged to donate to the organisation ahead of the event.

WHO general director, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: "We may have to be apart physically for a little while, but we can still come together virtually to enjoy great music. The One World: Together at Home concert represents a powerful show of solidarity against a common threat." – Guardian

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