HOLLYWOOD - Last night's John Lennon Tribute Concert was star-studded and dedicated to peace. Kevin Spacey hosted the event, claiming he was "honored" to be there yet "pissed off that this passionate prophet of peace [Lennon] and so many others aren't with us tonight because we live in an increasingly violent world." Besides hosting the show, Spacey also sang Lennon's song "Mind Games."The show, originally intended to be a taped broadcast to benefit gun control, took a last minute turn to become a live benefit for the bombing victims and rescue workers of the September 11th attacks. "When this happened, we knew what we had to do," said executive producer Ken Ehrlich.
Other Lennon songs covered included "This Boy," sung by Lennon's son Sean; "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by Marc Anthony; "Nowhere Man" by Natalie Merchant; and "Revolution" by the Stone Temple Pilots. Cyndi Lauper performed "Strawberry Fields" in Strawberry Fields Garden, Central Park. Other singers included Dave Matthews, Rufus Wainwright and Robert Schwartzman.
Lennon
's widow, Yoko Ono, also made an appearance, thanking the participants in the relief effort: "You have restored my faith in the human race."
The event was an appropriate symbol of peace, considering Lennon was a vocal anti-war activist who lived peacefully and died brutally in Manhattan, a fate shared by many of the victims of the WTC bombings.