Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and More Perform at NY's Global Citizen Festival

Music

Wonder, who headlines the event to raise awareness of poverty around the world, performs a cover of John Lennon's 'Imagine', while Keys promotes gender equality with 'Girl on Fire'.

Sep 30, 2013

AceShowbiz - Several A-list musicians lent their voices for Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York, on Saturday night, September 28. Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, John Mayer and others performed at the second annual festival to help end poverty around the world.

After being introduced by U2's Bono, event headliner Wonder performed some of his biggest hits in front of a crowd of 60,000 fans. He led fans to sing along to his tracks, which include "Superstition", "Isn't She Lovely", "Higher Ground", "Living for the City", "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and "My Cherie Amor".

During his headlining set, Wonder also talked about gun ownership and violence. "Can you believe that they let blind people carry guns? Come on," the 63-year-old blind musician told the crowd. "We must do something about the gun laws in this country."

He then performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine". "To know that we lost this man because of a gun and because we don't have laws dealing strong enough with mental illness, we lost a great man," Wonder said, referring to Lennon who was shot to death in New York.

Keys' setlist included "New Days", "You Don't Know My Name", "Fallin'" and "Girl on Fire". Keys used the latter track to promote gender equality. "We're all on fire up in here," she said. "If you empower women, we're gonna change the world!"

Mayer brought along his guitar when he delivered songs like "Waiting on the World to Change", "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" and "Gravity". Kings of Leon, Maxwell and Janelle Monae were other artists who also made appearances at the event.