Global Citizen Live

Global Citizen has held an annual music festival since 2012, one of the organization's main events to raise awareness of global poverty and climate change; founded in 2008, it aims to end poverty by 2030. The live 2021 festival, held across six continents, was the largest, as part of Global Citizen's 2021 Recovery Plan for the World program. Added to the festival mission was an aim to help bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on vaccine equity.[1][2] It was timed to occur during the G20 summit and UN general assembly meetings.[3] Global Citizen had held "Vax Live: The Concert To Reunite The World" earlier in 2021.[4]

Compared to Live Aid and one of the biggest international charity events ever, the festival featured live global performances from some of the world's top recording and classical artists across various cultures. More than 60 artists were scheduled to perform.[3][4] Simon Le Bon, who performed with Duran Duran at both Live Aid and Global Citizen Live, said that the intention of Live Aid had "diminished in people's minds" and become forgotten. The band's bassist John Taylor said that Global Citizen Live was the closest thing to Live Aid in the age of streaming, and would not be possible without Live Aid and Band Aid creating the precedent.[2]

Global Citizen estimated that tens of thousands of people would attend the in-person events, and millions would watch the live broadcasts. Tickets were free, and awarded at random to people who shared Global Citizen campaigns through their app; attendees had to prove either a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination against it.[4] The organization does not aim to raise money with the festival, but encourage people to take action - and pressure leaders to take action - on global issues.[2] However, prior to the festival, Global Citizen reaches out to corporations, organizations and even nations for financial and material pledges towards reaching its aims, which are then announced between performances during the festival.[5]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made an appearance at the New York event, calling for global vaccine equity.[6]

Several performances were pre-recorded. Some locations did not have live events open to the public, but were broadcast live.[1] The live performances were held over the 24 hour period beginning at 1 pm on September 25 in New York.[7][lower-alpha 1]

Sources:[1][8][9][10][11][12]

City	Venue	Host(s)	Artist(s)	Songs
Oceania
Sydney, Australia (UTC+1000)	Sydney Opera House		Delta Goodrem	"Keep Climbing" "Born to Try" "The Show Must Go On" "The Power"
Asia
Seoul, South Korea (UTC+0900)	Sungnyemun Gate		BTS	"Permission to Dance" "Butter"[13]
Mumbai, India (UTC+0530)	Gateway of India	Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Riteish Deshmukh, Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Dia Mirza[14]	Farhan Akhtar	"Mard"
			Ajay–Atul	"Zingaat" "Vishwam Bharatam Swagatam" "Deva Shri Ganesha" "Vande Mataram"
			Badshah featuring Aastha Gill	"Paani Paani" "No Mercy" "Genda Phool" "Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai"
			Tanishk Bagchi	Medley (featuring Zara Khan, Yasser Desai and Nikhita Gandhi)[15]
			Amit Trivedi	"Songs of Faith" medley (featuring Yashita Sharma and Devender Pal Singh)[16]
Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa (UTC+0200)			Sho Madjozi
			Muzi
Lagos, Nigeria (UTC+0100)	New Afrika Shrine		Davido	"Ke Star"[17] "Blow My Mind"[18] "Jowo"[19] "If"[20] "Fia"[21] "La La" (with CKay)[22] "Fall"[23]
			Femi Kuti	"Water No Get Enemy" featuring Made Kuti and Seun Kuti[24]
			Made Kuti	"I Won't Run Away"[25]
			Seun Kuti
			Tiwa Savage	"Attention"[26] "Koroba"[27] "Tales by Moonlight" (with Amaarae)[28] "Somebody's Son"[29]
			Alhanislam	"Conscience"[30]
Europe
Madrid, Spain (UTC+0200)[lower-alpha 2]	Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid		Camilo	"Vida de Rico" "KESI" "Machu Picchu" (with Evaluna Montaner)[31]
Paris, France (UTC+0200)	Champ de Mars		Black Eyed Peas	"Let's Get It Started" "Pump It" "Hit It" "Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life)" "Girl Like Me" "Where Is the Love?" "I Gotta Feeling"
			Christine and the Queens	"Fais comme l'oiseau" "People, I've Been Sad" "Tilted" "Doesn't Matter (Voleur de soleil)" "Freedom"
			Doja Cat	"Rules" "Juicy" "Like That" "Kiss Me More" "Tia Tamera" "Need to Know" "Say So"
			Elton John	"Tiny Dancer" "Your Song" "After All" (with Charlie Puth) "Rocket Man"
			Angélique Kidjo	”Mother Nature”
			Måneskin	"I Wanna Be Your Slave" "Bury a Friend" "For Your Love" "Beggin'" "Zitti e buoni"
			Fatma Said
			Ed Sheeran	"Shivers" "Thinking Out Loud" "Bloodstream" "Perfect" "Shape of You" "Bad Habits"
Lajatico, Italy (UTC+0200)[lower-alpha 3]	Teatro del Silenzio		Andrea Bocelli
London, United Kingdom (UTC+0100)	Sky Garden		Duran Duran
			Kylie Minogue	"Can't Get You Out of My Head" "Dance Floor Darling"
			Rag'n'Bone Man
			Nile Rodgers and Chic	”Le Freak” “We Are Family”
			Stormzy with Rabea Massaad[32][33]	"Crown" "Rachael's Little Brother" "Lessons"
South America
Buenos Aires, Argentina (UTC-0300)	Kirchner Cultural Centre		Lali	"Boomerang" "Laligera" "Bailo Pa' Mi"
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (UTC-0300)	Sugarloaf Mountain	Dedé Teicher[34]	Criolo and DJ DanDan	"Sistema Obtuso" (with Tropkillaz)
			Liniker	"Lili" "Baby 95"
			Mart'nália	"Chamego Bom" "17 de Janiero" (with Mosquito)
Manaus, Brazil (UTC-0400)[35]	the Amazon		Alok[11]	"Amazon" "Jungle Beat"
			Indigenous peoples of Brazil, including:[36][37] Mapu (of the Huni Kuin) Aldeia Mutum (of the Yawanawa) Owerá-Kunumi MC Rasú (of the Yawinawá) Guaraní people
North America
Louisville, United States (UTC-0400)	Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center		Metallica	"Hardwired" "The Four Horsemen" "Home (Sanitarium)" "The Struggle Within" "My Friend of Misery" "The God That Failed" "Of Wolf and Man" "Nothing Else Matters" "Through the Never" "Don't Tread on Me" "Wherever I May Roam" "The Unforgiven" "Holier Than Thou" "Sad but True" "Enter Sandman" "Blackened" "Creeping Death"
New York City, United States (UTC-0400)	Great Lawn		Jon Batiste[38]	"We Are" "Whatchutalkinbout" "I Need You" "Boyhood" "One Love" "Don't Worry, Be Happy" "Lean on Me" "Tell the Truth" "Cry" "Moonlight Sonata" "Don't Stop" "Freedom"
			Burna Boy	"On the Low" "Jerusalema (Remix)" "Kilometre" "Anybody"
			Camila Cabello	"Havana" "Never Be the Same" "Senorita" (with Shawn Mendes) "Empire State of Mind" "Don't Go Yet"
			Alessia Cara	"Scars to Your Beautiful" "Best Days" "Stay"
			Coldplay	"Higher Power" "Clocks" (with Lang Lang) "Fix You" (with Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell) "Viva la Vida" "Human Heart" (with We Are KING and Jacob Collier) "Jehovah" (with Esther Chungu and Jacob Collier) "Yellow" (with Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes) "My Universe" (with BTS) "A Sky Full of Stars"
			Billie Eilish	"Bad Guy" "My Future" "Oxytocin" "Your Power" "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" "Happier Than Ever"
			Lang Lang	"Bohemian Rhapsody" "Imagine" (with Billy Porter) "The Greatest Love of All" "We Are the World" (with Young People's Chorus of New York City)
			Cyndi Lauper	"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" "True Colors" (with Jon Batiste)
			Lizzo	"Good as Hell" "Rumors" "Truth Hurts" "Juice"
			Jennifer Lopez	"Cambia el Paso" (with Rauw Alejandro)[31] "All I Have" (with LL Cool J)[39] "I'm Glad" "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" (with Ja Rule)[39] "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" (with Ja Rule) "Jenny From the Block" (with Jadakiss)[40] "On My Way"
			Skip Marley	"One Love/Get Up, Stand Up" ("Bob Marley medley") (featuring Nile Rodgers, Angélique Kidjo, Jon Batiste, Chris Martin)[41]
			Meek Mill	"Going Bad" "I'm a Boss" "Dreams and Nightmares"
			Shawn Mendes	"Wonder" "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" "If I Can't Have You" "Monster" "Treat You Better" "Summer of Love" "In My Blood"
			Paul Simon	"The Boxer" "The Sound of Silence"
	Pier 17[lower-alpha 4]		Fugees	"Ready or Not"[44] "Zealots"[45] "Killing Me Softly"[46] "Fu-Gee-La"[47] "Cause and Effect"[48]
	Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park		Lorde	"Solar Power" "Fallen Fruit"
Berkeley, United States (UTC-0700)	William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre		My Morning Jacket	"One Big Holiday" "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2" "Wordless Chorus" "Spring (Among the Living)" "Feel You" "Regularly Scheduled Programming" "Love Love Love" "Climbing the Ladder" "Run It" "Tropics (Erase Traces)" "Master Plan" "I'm Amazed" "Circuital" "Wasted" "Steam Engine" "What a Wonderful Man" "Phone Went West" "Victory Dance" "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 1" "Mahgeetah"[49]
Las Vegas, United States (UTC-0700)	MGM Grand Garden Arena		Ricky Martin	"Vente Pa' Ca" "Qué Rico Fuera" "Livin' la Vida Loca"[31]
	The Colosseum at Caesars Palace		Keith Urban
Los Angeles, United States (UTC-0700)	Greek Theatre		5 Seconds of Summer	"She Looks So Perfect" "Teeth" "Ghost of You" "Youngblood"
			Chloe x Halle	"Ungodly Hour" "Baby Girl" "Do It" "Have Mercy" "Cool People"
			Green Day[lower-alpha 5]	"Pollyanna" Boulevard of Broken Dreams Longview
			H.E.R.	"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" "Bloody Waters" "Fight for You" "Hold On" "Are You Gonna Go My Way" "We Made It"
			Adam Lambert	"Superpower"
			Demi Lovato	"Anyone" "Mad World" (with Adam Lambert)
			The Lumineers	"Cleopatra" "Brightside" "Ophelia" "Gloria" "Stubborn Love"
			Migos	"Avalanche"[50] "Bad and Boujee"[51]
			OneRepublic	"Good Life" "I Lived" "Secrets" "Apologize" "Someday" "Counting Stars"
			Ozuna	"MAMACITA" "Caramelo" "Del Mar" "Taki Taki"
			Stevie Wonder	"Superstition" (with H.E.R.) "Overjoyed" "The Living Killing Life" "This I Know" (with Sheila E. and OneRepublic)
Unknown[5][52]			DJ Snake
			Deborra-Lee Furness
			Hugh Jackman
			Usher
			The Weeknd

The festival was broadcast around the world and was available to livestream on various platforms.[1]

The television broadcast in the United Kingdom was stopped for a period to show Strictly Come Dancing, but all performances were available via the BBC iPlayer.[3]

Broadcasting live to the same feed from six continents and the International Space Station posed a technical challenge described as "once in a generation".[9]