The Obama Presidential Center will open this Thursday with a star-studded lineup of musicians celebrating the legacies of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Micelle Obama.
The Grand Opening Ceremony will take place in Chicago on Thursday, featuring performances and special appearances from Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Common, Eddie Vedder, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Marc Anthony, Marsai Martin, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Tems and U2’s Bono and The Edge.
This A-list lineup was announced just a few weeks after President Donald Trump had to cancel his “Freedom 250” concert series because almost every artist dropped out after he wanted to make the celebration partisan.
Trump instead canceled the concert celebration decided to turn it into a “Make America Great Again Rally” where he would give a speech “instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Artists who dropped out of Trump’s Freedom 250 concert included Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, The Commodores and Young MC.
The Obama Presidential Center will open in Chicago this weekend. Spectators can watch the grand opening ceremony at Midway Plaisance Park in Chicago Thursday afternoon at 11 a.m. CT. Tickets to the presidential center will be free for visitors this Juneteenth weekend in a “open-house style event.” Reservations are already sold out as of Tuesday afternoon.
Viewers not in Chicago can watch the grand opening ceremony on a livestream on the Obama Presidential Center’s website. The opening ceremony aims to bring together global leaders, artists, changemakers and citizens to celebrate the values that shaped the Obama presidency, according to the organization.
The center pays homage to the 44th president of the United States, located in the city he calls home. The Obama Presidential Center will contain a museum, library and community events as well as housing facilities for the nonprofit Obama Foundation.
