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 erhaps
the organizers of "The Concert for New York City," held
Saturday night at Madison Square Garden and televised on VH-1, didn't
fully grasp the fact that the city's police and firemen really don't
like the terrorists who blew up the World Trade Center. "Hey
bin Laden," bellowed one firefighter from the stage, "You
can kiss my royal Irish ass." Just to let the world's most-wanted
terrorist know he was serious, the fireman added in a gruff voice,
"I'm from Rockaway."
Others on stage
seemed slightly embarrassed; the concert was supposed to be about
paying tribute to the heroism that New York's finest displayed on
September 11. But the firefighter from Queens had real spirit. Guys
from Rockaway helped bring down the Nazis and the Japanese, and
they said things just like that about Hitler and Tojo. When television
commentators talk about the toughness of the Afghans, they might
want to remember Mr. Kiss-My-Royal-Irish-Ass. He's pretty tough,
too.
You don't have
to tell that to Hillary Rodham Clinton. All the junior senator from
New York had to do was walk on stage to hear a round of boos from
the crowd, thousands of whom were the specially invited police officers
and firefighters. If she had any plans for long extemporaneous remarks,
the stunned-looking former first lady quickly abandoned them and
retreated to the wings. Her husband escaped mostly unscathed during
his inevitable appearance, but some of the Hollywood crowd —
among them Richard Gere, who worried that Americans might seek "revenge"
for September 11 — also got the get-outta-here treatment.
On the other
hand, Gere & Co. were lucky they weren't appearing at another
benefit show, "The Country Freedom Concert," held in Nashville
on Sunday night and aired live on Country Music Television. In the
heart of red-state America, patriotism and support for the war on
terrorism reigned supreme. The set was composed of enormous video
flags, and fighting back was a major theme of the evening.
Clint Black
sang the praises of smart bombs and urged American forces in Afghanistan
to "take out the garbage and get back home." The crowd
cheered a video of Travis Tritt visiting a military base in Georgia.
And the show opened with Martina McBride singing "Independence
Day," a song about an abused wife that has a chorus which seems
appropriate for the post-September 11 world. When McBride got to
the line that yelled, "Let the guilty pay," the crowd
went wild.
Of course,
that line would have worked well with the guys from Rockaway. But
the two concerts were very different events. Maybe it was the obvious
red state/blue state differences between Nashville and Manhattan.
Maybe it was an age thing; most of the country performers were a
bit younger and more full of life than the 1960s British Invasion
rock idols who performed at Madison Square Garden (was there a rule
that no one under 50 could participate?). Or maybe it was something
else. But when it comes to winning a war, country beats classic
rock, hands down.
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