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The Obama Presidential Center and Library opened Thursday in Chicago with a guest list for the opening ceremony that could rival any music festival: Bruce Springsteen, U2’s Bono and The Edge, The Roots, Stevie Wonder and many more.
The Roots opened the ceremony with a funky version of jazz legend Donald Byrd’s “Change (Makes You Want to Hustle),” which seamlessly segued into their own “You Got Me” and eventually morphed into a bluesy rendition of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” Afterwards, The Roots kept the spirits up with a cover of Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie.”
Jennifer Hudson and the national anthem
EGOT winner and Chicago native Jennifer Hudson was also there, singing the national anthem and “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from the musical “The Man of La Mancha” – a piece that Hudson previously performed at an NAACP tribute to Muhammad Ali in 2009.
Christina Aguilera took the stage next and performed a song that is one of the Obamas’ favorites – even though she had never played it live before: Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”, with a new arrangement of the oft-covered classic.
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, a Chicago native and ardent Cubs fan, teamed up with local music nonprofit Guitars Over Guns to premiere a new song he co-wrote with youth, “Better Believe.”
John Legend remembers Obama
John Legend, also an EGOT winner, then took to the microphone and covered Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” – and recalled meeting Obama for the first time when he was still a senator from Illinois.
This article will be continually updated…