Lauryn Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers Draw Fans to Rainy Central Park Aid Fest

Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
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Lauryn Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers Draw Fans to Rainy Central Park Aid Fest

Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Lauryn Hill performs with Pras Michel and Wyclef Jean of the Fugees at the Global Citizen Concert in New York, US, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Lauryn Hill, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jungkook drew tens of thousands of fans to Central Park on Saturday despite torrential rains, as part of a marathon concert urging global development aid.

Majestic rap icon Lauryn Hill graced the stage as her seminal album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" turns 25, performing her smash single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and reuniting The Fugees during the Global Citizen festival in New York.

The legendary hip-hop trio performed tracks including "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready Or Not."

"Africa needs to control their own natural resources. Haiti needs to control their own natural resources. The world, we need to stop famine," said member Wyclef Jean to cheers, as fans waved their lit phones.

The message was in line with the aims of the day, which marries musical performance with calls to increase funding against global ills including poverty and climate change.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the night with a set throwing back to their classics including "Can't Stop," "Scar Tissue," "Dani California," "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "Californication."

And Jungkook had the poncho-clad crowd screaming and swaying along as he serenaded them with hits including "Still With You."

Wearing acid-wash jeans and a brown shirt, the megastar told fans it was necessary to "make an impact together to make sure everyone, everywhere has access to their basic rights like food and education."

He wasn't billed as a headliner but Jungkook was a major draw of the night: many drenched concertgoers streamed out of the park just after his set ended, even though the evening at that point was scheduled to continue for another three hours.

Earlier Anitta brought her impressive twerks and dance party of a show to the stage, performing hits including her recent "Funk Rave."

Brazil's biggest pop star called attention to the importance of protecting the Amazon rainforest, reminding fans it's "the lungs of our planet."

Just prior to kicking off her booty-shaking set, she said that governments must do more to "protect the people there, the indigenous people, the communities there... whose only reality is the Amazon."

Rappers including Busta Rhymes and Common put on a tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, one of many the city has hosted in recent months.

Taking place since 2012 as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, Global Citizen distributes free tickets to supporters who pledge to take actions such as sending letters to their governments in support of development aid.

Pledges came from leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced via video message a $150 million commitment to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), AFP reported.

"We have to fight together against poverty, climate change and for biodiversity," Macron said. "This is why we want to take our part as well."

The Rome-headquartered IFAD is an arm of the United Nations aimed at addressing poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.

Along with Macron, the organization said Norway had pledged $90 million to IFAD.



How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".