5th Annual Global Citizen Festival 9-24-16

Saturday was a mad scene in Central Park as 60,000 turned up to see, by any standard, an impressive lineup of talent. The musical parade in the early going in the afternoon included Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding, and Major Lazer as well as special guest Usher. Speakers included Queen Rania, Nancy Pelosi, Salma Hayek Pinault, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, and Seth Meyers added their personalities. The event unfolded, as in past years, with about a 4:1 mixture of music and politics. It makes for a long day but the crew and talent were on it and the weather was fine. Individual issues were seized upon within the broad Global Citizen framework of ending extreme poverty by 2030. Those watching the concert on MSNBC were urged to take specific actions primarily by using social media advocating a handful of issues such as empowering girls and women and aiding millions of refugees from war-torn regions around the world.

Chris Martin who, as Eddie Vedder pointed out, has done more for the organization than anybody [who isn’t aco-founder] was charming when he improvised lines about Rihanna and turned in a fine Crowded House cover with Eddie Vedder. EV spoke about the antiquated values of Trump making a last gasp and also shared the stage with Yusuf/Cat Stevens for an excellent reading of Father and Son. The men of peace spoke briefly about the times we are experiencing. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar killed it, Metallica crushed it, and Yandel sexed it right up. Rihanna found a new level of sex and it was over.

In October, Yusuf released his third album under that name, Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, which followed 11 albums released between 1967 and 1978 as Cat Stevens.  The new record was produced by Rick Rubin and features appearances by Richard Thompson, Charlie Musselwhite, and Tinariwen.  That same month, his first concert dates in North America in 36 years were announced!  The tour began on Monday in Toronto and continues this week with shows in Philly, Chicago, and Boston.  Sadly for fans in New York, The Beacon show was cancelled because Yusuf couldn’t accept the scalping of tickets that the state law preventing paperless tickets makes impossible to prevent.  However, he promised to come back to New York if he could figure out how to solve that problem.

It was in New York where we met recently and the dramatic view of Manhattan from the 35th floor of the Sony Building at 550 Madison was immediately forgotten when Yusuf walked into the room. He is magnetic. He smiled when I showed him my original copy of Teaser and the Firecat – the 1971 Cat Stevens album that belonged to my parents which, as it was one of the albums that made me fall in love with music, I had commandeered from their collection decades before.

It was good to have an ice breaker as Yusuf has reason to be distrustful of the press: his beliefs have been misrepresented. In our conversation, he set the record straight on his new album, but that’s only part of what he discussed. Yusuf spoke thoughtfully. He described how, like Joni Mitchell, he was an artist before he was a musician. He painted a picture of London in the sixties and how the music he heard then – particularly the blues and blues-based rock – is the foundation of his new songs.

He spoke about two near death experiences that caused him to reconsider first, the kind of music he wanted to make and second, his faith. Get to know this generous man of peace and music in this FUV Live session.