Watch Stevie Wonder, Roots, Dave Matthews Perform at All-Star Alabama Concert
Stevie Wonder, the Roots, Dave Matthews, Usher and more performed at the Equal Justice Initiative’s Concert for Peace and Justice Friday night in Montgomery, Alabama. The event was live-streamed on Tidal for both subscribers and non-subscribers of the streaming service.
The all-star concert, which celebrated the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, also featured Common, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Jon Batiste, Kirk Franklin and more.
Wonder’s mini-set featured the music legend performing alongside the Roots on “Higher Ground,” “Visions” and a rousing rendition of “Another Star” that featured all of the evening’s performers onstage.
Throughout the event, the artists onstage paid tribute to the victims in the fight for equality – National Memorial for Peace and Justice is dedicated to the over 4,400 documented lynching victims – and voiced hope for a better future.
“I come to you with a deep pain in my heart and a great love in my soul,” Wonder told the audience during his performance. “I dare you, I challenge you, to have a year of atonement. I dare you artists and you leaders of the world and this nation – including you, Mr. President – to see with your eyes that are open as clearly as my eyes that are blind… My hope is that we will come together as a united people, before it’s too late.”
Matthews dedicated his three-song set to the memory of John Henry James from his hometown Charlottesville, Virginia; James was lynched in 1898. “I didn’t know his name before, but I saw it at the memorial today,” Matthews said (via AL.com).
The Concert for Peace and Justice will replay throughout the weekend on Tidal.