Chris Stapleton and Chaka Khan celebrate America's 250th birthday at the LA Coliseum

In New York, the Brooklyn Bridge briefly caught fire during a fireworks show. In Washington DC, stormy weather delayed a grievance-filled speech by President Trump.

And here in Los Angeles? On Saturday night, tens of thousands of Angelenos peacefully joined their voices at the LA Memorial Coliseum to sing along with Chris Stapleton as the country star compared a lover to Tennessee whiskey.

Stapleton, a unifying cultural figure beloved by liberals and conservatives alike, headlined a Fourth of July benefit concert that also featured Smashing Pumpkins, Chaka Khan, Maren Morris and Queen Latifah. (I would be surprised if those five names had previously appeared together in the same sentence.) The show, with tickets priced at $17.76, was presented by America250, a bipartisan commission that Congress created in 2016 to plan the country's 250th birthday celebrations; Proceeds went to Feeding America, which calls itself the largest national hunger relief organization in the United States.

Share via

“No politics, just purpose” is how America250 president Rosie Ríos described the night in remarks from the stage, and it wasn't difficult to interpret the distinction she sought to draw between her group and Freedom 250, the rival Trump semiquincentennial initiative that hosted Saturday's event on the National Mall (not to mention an earlier Vanilla Ice concert that was canceled due to the threat of rain).

But here's the thing: Compared to the president's celebration, where he complained about his treatment by the justice system and suggested we should refer to his current term as his third, the show at the Coliseum really felt like a politics-free zone: the rare occasion these days when people from different walks of life come together just to listen to music and drink expensive micheladas.

Shortly after finishing his presentation, Stapleton said, “I'm not going to waste my time talking.”

The success of America250 was not a sure thing. Despite the relatively low price, tickets moved slowly in the weeks leading up to the concert; A guy I talked to on Saturday told me he paid six dollars for a discounted pass. However, in my opinion, the Coliseum was almost full when Stapleton entered.

The country singer was as solid and soulful as ever, growling softly on “Bad as I Used to Be” and then exchanging loving harmonies with his wife, Morgane, on “Millionaire.” He closed with “Tennessee Whiskey,” of course, a reliable but somehow unworn Americana piece that earned a place on the shelf alongside Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” and Willie Nelson’s “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.”

Smashing Pumpkins were perhaps an odd fit for an explicitly patriotic event – “The world is a vampire,” frontman Billy Corgan sneered on “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” – yet the band sounded sharp and punchy on '90s alt-rock hits that have drawn zoomers and even Generation Alpha kids to their audience.

Not inaccurately billed on the concert poster as “the legendary Chaka Khan,” the 73-year-old funk doyenne showed off her vocal chops in impromptu renditions of “Ain't Nobody” and “Tell Me Something Good” and had people raising their drinks to “I'm Every Woman.” Morris, who had flown in from New York after attending her friend Taylor Swift's wedding on Friday night, transitioned incredibly smoothly between her and Zedd's synthy “The Middle” and the rustic “My Church.”

As host of the show, Queen Latifah shared uplifting thoughts on American idealism throughout the night, but also got her own spot to perform her classic “UNITY” with the help of a boisterous drum line. It's a song with an unapologetic message about demanding respect, and the touching thing about hearing it here is that no one seemed put off by that idea.

I'll wave a flag for that.

Here are more photos from Saturday's concert: