Rolling Stones Will Perform During ‘One World: Together at Home’ Special
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Most rock ‘n’ roll bands are not sheltering-in-place together at this point, which may account for how few groups have been booked for “One World: Together at Home.” But a big one has been landed at the last minute: The Rolling Stones were announced Friday morning to join the all-star television and streaming special that is set to air Saturday night.
Whether the group intends to perform together, remotely, via some kind of Zoom-like arrangement was not disclosed. But the Stones’ core quartet of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood will all be taking part, a Global Citizen spokesperson confirmed.
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“We are honored to be invited to be part of the ‘One World: Together at Home‘ broadcast — from our homes in isolation,” the group said in a joint statement, calling the broadcast “a fantastic event with Global Citizen in the fight against COVID-19.”
The Stones were to have been going on tour shortly, with a “No Filter” addition to the previous year’s outing that would have begun May 8 in San Diego and wrapped up 15 shows later on July 8 in Atlanta. All dates have been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis.
Fans will be particularly eager to see what song the Stones pull out as part of a telecast in which much of the material will inevitably trend toward warm and inspiring anthems, something that is not a dominant theme in the group’s still-raucous shows. (“Doom and Gloom” might be apt in all the wrong ways, but “19th Nervous Breakdown” has some numerological possibilities.)
The Stones will be squeezed into an already packed two-hour telecast that is set to include Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Jennifer Lopez, Kacey Musgraves, J Balvin, Billie Joe Armstrong, Eddie Vedder, Chris Martin, Sam Smith, Lang Lang, Alanis Morissette, Burna Boy, Stevie Wonder and others.
“Together at Home” will air at 8 p.m. Saturday on both coasts. Outlets airing the two-hour special in prime time include ABC, NBC, ViacomCBS Networks, iHeartMedia and Bell Media networks, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, Twitch, Amazon Prime Video, Apple Music, Roblox, Tidal, Alibaba, beIN Media Group, LiveXLive, Tencent, TuneIn, AXS TV, beIN Media Group, MultiChoice Group and RTE. BBC One will air it in Europe Sunday night.
Additionally, a streaming-only, six-hour pre-telecast special — set to begin at 2 p.m. ET and 11 a.m. PT — will feature a list of dozens of performers that includes Adam Lambert, Andra Day, Annie Lennox, Ben Platt, Charlie Puth, Christine and the Queens, Common, Ellie Goulding, Hozier, Jack Johnson, Jennifer Hudson, Jessie Reyez, Juanes, Kesha, Lady Antebellum, Liam Payne, Luis Fonsi, Maren Morris, Michael Bublé, Niall Horan, Sheryl Crow and the Killers.
To read Variety‘s interview with Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans about the planning and purpose of Saturday’s show, click here.
“One World: Together at Home” is aimed at celebrating health workers on the front lines of the crisis, with interstitial segments that will include footage showing how tens of millions of dollars already raised by Lady Gaga and Global Citizen among sponsoring corporations and philanthropists will go to aiding the World Health Organization’s efforts to provide medical personnel with needed supplies.
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