Saturday was the Global Citizen Festival, a free annual concert held in NYC’s Central Park to raise awareness and to help the United Nations in their mission to end extreme poverty by 2030.
The event was hosted and attended by many a-list celebrities and world leaders, including Stephen Colbert, Kerry Washington, Salma Hayek Pinault, Olivia Wilde, Usher, Jason Sudeikis, Laverne Cox, Katie Holmes (and Suri Cruise), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Bill and Melinda Gates and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
If you missed the H&M-sponsored event, either because you didn’t attend or because you didn’t realize it was being live-streamed on MSNBC, don’t worry– you don’t have to let your FOMO consume you. Below are some of the important highlights that you’ll want to watch, which include a LOT of killer collaborations.
Ed & Bey singing “Drunk in Love”
After Ed performed his full set (where he brought Coldplay on stage to sing “Thinking Out Loud” with him, and Beyoncé sang everything from her old throwback jams like “Jumpin’ Jumpin'” to her latest solo hits, she invited someone she “respect[s] so much” on the stage… Ed Sheeran! The acoustic duet was a beautiful, slowed-down version of the song. Watch below!
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Ariana Grande & Chris Martin Singing a Duet
Bey and Ed weren’t the only performers to collaborate at the festival. During Coldplay’s set, Martin invited Grande to the stage to sing “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart” (a song co-written by One Direction singer Harry Styles) with him. Apparently, the two were only able to practice once together, just minutes before the show.
Before inviting her out, Martin joked with the crowd saying, “We could just appear as Coldplay, the English band, or we could take a moment in our set where we cross generations with someone much more talented and much more good looking and by association make us look better.”
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Later Martin tweeted that they ran into a little emergency before the show; their piano stopped working, but they definitely managed to pull it off together nonetheless. After the show Grande also took to Twitter, where she thanked Coldplay, and said that it was “an honor to say the least.” Aww.
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Beyoncé introduced (and shares a hug) with the First Lady
Accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama flew to NYC on Saturday to attend the festival, introduced onto the stage by Queen B. The singer also said that Obama is “someone who believes as much as I do in the boundless promise of girls worldwide.”
Obama made a speech promoting #62million girls, and the important of providing ways for girls to receive education.
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Beyoncé & Pearl Jam Cover Bob Marley
Yes, another highlight involving Beyoncé. Pearl Jam welcomed Bey to the stage to sing their rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Watch below.
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To learn about the causes you can visit the Global Citizen’s website. T-shirts that were designed by Coldplay and Ed Sheeran can also be purchased through H&M t-shirt.
Check out the slideshow below to see some more pictures from the event.
[Lead image via YouTube; Gallery images via Getty]
