![]() ![]() ![]() This was also known as the Philadelphia Freedom Concert, and it starred Elton John and Patti LaBelle. The same night, Madonna brought her Re-Invention Tour to what was then The Wachovia Center. ![]() We’re guessing that then-Mayor John Street was a huge fan of headliners The Isley Brothers. On the same day, the National Constitution Center opened its doors for the first time. Neo-soul crooner Musiq was joined by 1970s wah-wah-wah-wah-wah enthusiast Peter Frampton. We could live with Brian McKnight, but special guests The Baha Men? Oh, what, you don’t remember The Baha Men? They gave us the treacherous earworm “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Below, the segment where an extremely sweaty McKnight performs “Back at One.” The live recording of this isn’t so good, but here’s a pre-recorded version they did: It included Mel Gibson, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Bates, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kevin Spacey, among others. (Remember that?) July 4, 2001Ĭountry music star Garth Brooks played some tunes, but the real celebrity power that day came from the Hollywood A-listers on hand for a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 225th anniversary of its adoption by the Continental Congress. The guys from Earth, Wind and Fire put on a good show, and they came back less than a month later to entertain GOP leaders at a soiree on the waterfront during the Republican National Convention we hosted. The week’s festivities also included a black-tie tribute to… Gregory Peck?!?! July 4, 2000 The greatest-hits set from Dionne Warwick included “Walk On By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and her 1985 song “That’s What Friends Are For.” This was one year after the Psychic Friends Network, which Warwick had controversially been shilling, went bankrupt. Consummate bluesman Keb Mo was the featured guest. July 4, 1998īoyz II Men, seven years after Cooleyhighharmony, at the beginning of their slow slide down the hill of fame and fortune. You haven’t seen “America the Beautiful” performed live unless you saw Ray Charles do it here. Naturally, she closed with “Over the Rainbow,” wearing a sequined red dress. The one, the only, the queen of Philadelphia’s soul, Miss Patti LaBelle. The truly terrible performance has been preserved for all the world to see on YouTube. But we’re pretty sure that then-Mayor Ed Rendell had something to do with this unfortunate choice. The intrepid Daily News launched an investigation, and Meryl Levitz, then one of the people in charge of our July 4th celebrations, told the paper she couldn’t remember who chose the Beach Boys. July 4, 1995Įven though The Beach Boys owed Philadelphia $267,000 due to a debacle surrounding a 1985 “charity” concert they did here, we still paid them to show up again in 1995. Captain Noah (it was his last year on TV) was grand marshal of the Liberty Lighted Boat Parade. The 218th birthday of American independence was celebrated with 54-year-old Smokey Robinson, while Czech President Vaclav Havel was in town to accept the Liberty Medal. Here, in the interest of of historical preservation, the last 20 years of July 4th concerts in Philadelphia. So, we dug deep into the archives to make our own list. Back in May, when we were writing about the announcement of this year’s 4th of July concert on the Parkway, we went looking for a list of all of the July 4th concerts in Philadelphia from the last 20 years. ![]()
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