Image Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty ImagesLast night marked the grand kick-off to soccer’s premier event, the World Cup, which holds its first match today in South Africa. To get the month-long party started, the Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, and Shakira — who sang this year’s World Cup anthem, “Waka, Waka” — took to the stage in Soweto, Johannesburg for an inaugural concert. Miss the star-studded event? Check out the clips after the jump:
Also hitting the stage was the Somalian-Canadian triple threat, poet-singer-rapper K’naan.
What did you think of the performances? And did they kick you into gear for the start of the games?
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I love K’Naan so much.
Yeah, I love him so much that I prefer the Young Artists for Haiti version of his song to this Coca-Cola ad. ;-P
Wavin’ Flag, ABCs, and In The Beginning are on heavy rotation on my ipod. K’Naan rocks.
Wavin’ Flag should have been the only official song. Shakira’s is embarrassing – Waka Waka? Really?!!?
Canada’s proud of you K’Naan!!!
Well it didn’t appeal to the FIFA. So suck it Canada.
an edited version of this show airs tonight from 8-10p on ABC
I love the BEP. of all today’s hip-hop/R & B acts, they can affird the best drum machines and samples. lotsa talent.
High-larious. Agreed.
Don’t get me wrong, I love BEP, Alicia, Shakira and K’naan, but I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t have any local South African talent performing at the concert. I mean, the World Cup is in SOUTH AFRICA for crying out loud. Oh well.
Maureen, the South Africans DID perform, Hugh Masekela and others performed….EW just showed the American artists.
I thought the sound system was fantastic. Alicia sounded better this time than anytime I’ve seen her. That was generous of her to intro a new musician.
I don’t get why Dave Matthews didn’t perform at the kickoff concert, him being the most famous South African artist in the world.
@Sally in Chicgo: Okay then, that’s good! Thanks for letting me know!
They couldn’t find any decent entertainers?
Love K’Naan and he’s reppin Canada! Wavin’ Flag is such a fanatastic song that it translates well in all the different versions (this World Cup one, the Young Artists for Haiti and the original).
I thought Shakira, K’naan, and Alicia did amazing but the Black Eyed Peas sounded a little rough. I mean, they did Ok. Sorry, but it’s the truth! Also, I have never heard of “K’naan” before but that was reall cool. “Ohhhh, South Africa…”
WAVE YOUR FLAG!
I caught a little of the concert yesterday – I was blown away by Angelique Kidjo. But the real entertainment is the game itself.
The concert was full of African performers who absolutely rocked – the BEP were probably the worst performance of the night – but I guess that people need to put out what they think people will respond to. Angelique Kidjo – AMAZING! Shakira’s song is actually a cover version of a Cameroonian Song that came out in 1986 called “Zangelewa”. It was one of those songs that captured the entire continents imagination and still has a good number of fans. Props to her for nailing the pronunciation, but you know…they should have had an African singer do it.
shakira did a great job, she is so hot and I liked the african song is pretty kool
wow…I can’t believe EW censored my last comment. I can’t post under Simon’s rap/hip-hop’s blogs, either. EW must have a problem with people pointing out that rap is just buffoons and machines. which is 100X milder than what the rap lyrics they’re promoting contain.
K’Naan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would have loved if K’naan would have shared the stage with David Bisbal. Shakira was the highlight. I wish she would have sung “Waka Waka” in Spanish, but since the universal language is English, I guess not.