Concert for Charlottesville and Pilgrimage Festival Politically Charged

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 9/25/2017, 3:56 a.m.
Two concerts held Sunday highlighted America's current political climate. The "Concert for Charlottesville" at University of Virginia's Scott Stadium, headlined …
Pharrell performs with The Roots at "A Concert for Charlottesville

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) -- Two concerts held Sunday highlighted America's current political climate.

The "Concert for Charlottesville" at University of Virginia's Scott Stadium, headlined by The Dave Matthews Band, was held to help the college town heal after white supremacists violently clashed with counter-protesters there last month.

The night was billed as "an evening of music and unity."

Matthews invited Susan Bro onstage during his performance. Bro is the mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old counter-protester who was struck and killed when a car slammed into a crowd.

Other high profile performers included Pharrell, Arianna Grande and Justin Timberlake, who opened his set with the classic civil rights anthem, "A Change Is Gonna Come" by the legendary soul-singer Sam Cooke.

"Give yourselves a round of applause for making history," Timberlake said. "This is what unity does."

He ended his performance yelling "Love trumps hate!"

Timberlake flew in for the concert after opening The Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival in Tennessee on Saturday.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder performed at the Nashville area event on Sunday, taking a knee after he finished his opening song.

Vedder paused and looked over the crowd while on one knee, seemingly in a show of solidarity with former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players.

The singer also talked about current political tensions.

"In the face of a great divider, we must be united," Vedder said at the close of his set. "In the face of division on one side, we must turn it into multiplication on the other. That's the new math."

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