Several thousand people gathered a few blocks away for a public viewing of the ceremony.
After former President Barack Obama finished a rousing oration on the mission of the just-opened Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side, Bruce Springsteen walked onto the stage with a somewhat sheepish look on his face. “Hi, I’m Bruce,” he told the crowd of a few hundred VIPs on the grounds of the center and several thousand at a public watch party a few blocks away.
He then launched into an acoustic performance of “Land of Hope and Dreams,” in keeping with the theme of the day. Speeches by Barack and Michelle Obama, Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett and others emphasized that the center, which opens to the public Friday, isn’t just about celebrating Barack Obama’s two terms as president, but rather highlighting the people who do the ground-level work of democracy and try to ensure the United States lives up to its ideals.
After an opening set by The Roots, the day’s program kicked off with Chicago native Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem and “The Impossible Dream.” Christina Aguilera sang “What a Wonderful World” — which Jarrett, introducing her, said she had never performed in public before. Eddie Vedder and teenagers from a music nonprofit called Guitars Over Guns performed an original song they wrote together called “Better Believe.” John Legend sand Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and was the joined by Common and the United Voices of Chicago choir for “Glory.”
