Stalwart patriotism, showy entertainment and flagrant nostalgia ruled the day at the “Make American Great Again! Welcome Celebration” inaugural concert in Washington on Thursday. The show, presented in front of the Lincoln Memorial a day before Donald Trump’s official swearing in as president, earned uncommon advance coverage for an embarrassing reason. So many major stars turned down the offer to perform at the event, it seemed like any critically respected, or commercially significant, artists would sooner be struck deaf than participate. One star who initially signed on – singer Jennifer Holliday – felt pressured by her fans to back out days before.
The two-hour free show managed to wrangle several star acts – including Toby Keith – though they were mainly ones who appeal to listeners who live far outside the country’s largest cities, and whose music ranks low on the approval scale of the nation’s tastemakers. In that sense, the performers aptly mirrored the sensibility Trump so deeply tapped into. CBS correspondent Chris Van Cleef described the audience in the ticketed seats for the event as “not particularly diverse”.
The free show began with the US army band pumping out traditional instrumental marching music, followed by The Star-Spangled Banner. More historic music came from The United Old Guard Fife and Drum Corp, who performed a medley of songs from the 18th and 19th centuries while decked out in period military pomp.
The first pop performer to take part – DJ Ravidrums (Ravi Jakhotia) – stressed the athletic side of percussion rather than the soul or groove of it. The Vegas-friendly star, who has served as a personal DJ for Hugh Hefner, bashed a drum set sprawling enough to entirely entrap him while multiple screens flashed the names of every US state. A brief segment in his opening set interpolated America the Beautiful as if it were being performed at a rave.
The classic soul singer Sam Moore, of Sam & Dave, echoed Jakhotia’s song choice. He performed the anthem in a gospel-soul arrangement, recalling Ray Charles’s famous take on the song. Moore, best known for boomer touchstones such as Hold On, I’m Coming, sang the song gamely, first with a lone piano accompaniment, then with a fine gospel choir backing him.
A cobbled-together group (The Frontmen of Country) also appeared, sifting together members of three second-tier Nashville acts – Little Texas, Restless Heart and Lonestar. They offered a medley of songs saluting great American places – three of them set in Texas, all of them honoring the south. The songs included The Bluest Skies of Texas, God Bless Texas and Walking In Memphis, a cover of the old Marc Cohn hit. The Frontmen’s set melded into a performance by 74-year-old Lee Greenwood of his touchstone God Bless the USA, which brought the crowd to its feet. The song implicitly presents patriotism as something disfavored and in need of defense against unmentioned foes.
3 Doors Down, the sole rock act to appear, qualifies for that genre to the same flimsy degree that Nickelback does. The band’s opening song called for people to “stand up and take back your world today” – a clear rebuke to the Obama administration.
The Piano Guys struck a more conciliatory note, announcing at one point: “It’s time to put all our differences aside. When we do, it’s going to be OK.” Like Trump, the foursome rose to power outside the usual system, initially using YouTube as their path to success rather than the major labels. The act lived up to its reputation for squeaky-clean family entertainment, offering an instrumental take on One Direction’s bubblegum hit What Makes You Beautiful.
For a flash of showmanship, three of the four members plucked the inner strings on the grand piano, making it seem less like a musical performance than a team sport.
The show’s headliner – Toby Keith – struck a balance between outreach and outrage. At the end of his first number, American Soldier, a sincere salute to America’s veterans, he thanked the outgoing president, Barack Obama, for “his service”. But his four-song set culminated in a hit that represents the most bellicose brand of patriotism possible. Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American) presents America as an engine of vengeance, with lyrics like: “You’ll be sorry that you messed with/the U S of A/Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass/It’s the American way!”
During one long lag between the performers, the sound system pumped out recordings by The Rolling Stones, including (bizarrely) Let’s Spend The Night Together and You Can’t Always Get What You Want (which Trump had used during his campaign stops).
Early in the event, one speech broke up the musical entertainment. Actor Jon Voight presented Trump as a victim of a “grueling year” fueled by a “barrage of propaganda” and all the “negative lies” fired his way. At an event meant to unite, statements like those could barely have leaned harder into America’s wide divides.
