NEW YORK, NY. (THECOUNT) — “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” the Clive Davis-programmed concert in Central Park, was called off just past its halfway point Saturday due to lightning strikes occurring within a 10-mile radius of the Great Lawn, reports Variety.
Artists like Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Maluma and the Killers had yet to appear at the point it was shut down.
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Barry Manilow was mid-medley at 8:37 p.m. — with more than two hours left to go in the five-hour concert — when he was interrupted by an announcer saying: “Attention. Please pay close attention to the following safety measures. Due to approaching severe weather, all persons should move quickly and calmly to the nearest exits and proceed to your vehicles and protected areas.”
Cameras on CNN showed much of the crowd reluctantly moving toward exits while others stayed in place, disbelieving the show could really over without any heavy rain or lightning immediately in the vicinity. CNN also reported that some on the ground were saying the show might resume if the storm passed. However, with some fans refusing to leave, the voice on the PA at the event began saying that the show was “canceled.”
Despite the declaration to the crowd that the show was officially over, CNN held out hope with a chyron on screen that read, “Concert may resume soon once severe weather passes.”
CNN’s weather anchor said that city officials had previously revealed that the show would have to be called off if there were any lightning strikes within 10 miles, and once those occurred in the Rockaway and Battery areas, there was no choice but to call it off.
Those who had appeared in the first two and a half hours included Jennifer Hudson, Polo G, Earth Wind & Fire, LL Cool J, Kane Brown, Journey, Santana, Jon Batiste and the New York Philharmonic.
Ironically, Manilow had made it far enough in his medley to sing “Copacabana” and “Can’t Smile Without You” but fell just short of being able to get to the planned “I Made It Through the Rain.”
Also ironically, shortly before the concert was abruptly halted, some New Yorkers were reporting on social media that they’d been in line for three hours and still hadn’t been admitted to the park yet.
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