The freshly-pressed suits, bleached shirts and solid-color ties splattering the crowd at the FleetCenter will have to be put in the closet for a few nights during the DNC.
To welcome the politicians to Boston, the Boston Pops and their conductor, Keith Lockhart, will be playing a free concert at City Hall Plaza Sunday, July 25. Also slated to perform that night is the O’Jays, a soul music group known for their song, “Love Train.”
“I am proud to take part in a celebration that will allow the world to see first hand Boston’s culture of artistic expression in music, theater, and the visual arts,” Lockheart said in a release.
Lockheart has a few degrees of separation with the musical facet of Presidential Nominee John Kerry’s campaign; the orchestra performed with David Lee Roth on the Fourth of July. Roth was formerly involved with the rock group Van Halen, who sings John Kerry’s campaign song, “Right Now.”
The show at the plaza begins at 7 p.m. with local musical acts and will end at 10:30 p.m.
Also on July 25 in Cambridge’s Central Square, a Citywide Music Festival will run from noon to 6 p.m. The event will have nine stages of pan-ethnic music and dancing.
The music will include jazz, rock, gospel and motown.
On Tuesday, July 27 in Cambridge, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will be playing the Middle East Downstairs as part of “Music for America (MfA).” The Middle East is located at 480 Massachusetts Ave.
MfA is a partisan, political nonprofit whose goal is to have 1 million new voters participating in the 2004 elections. At the show, MfA will be distributing voter registration and “issue cards,” cheat sheets of the major issues concerning youth during the election, a representative for MfA said.
Also perfoming is Radio 4 and DJ Klaus, of Certainly, Sir. The show, which proceeds benefit MfA, is $12 in advance and $14 at the door. Doors open at 8 p.m.
“[Tickets] are selling pretty quickly because it’s a big show,” said Kieran Fallon, who works at the Middle East’s box office. “It will probably sell out, but not until the night of the show.”
Also, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are scheduled to be playing at the Louis Boston store on Newbury Street Wednesday, July 28. The concert is sponsored by the Creative Coalition.
With a guest list including Ben Affleck, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Janeane Garofalo, it’s going to take a lot of scratch to make it into the doors. For example, for 40 Gala tickets and gift bags, the cost is $50,000; and for one ticket and a gift bag, it’s $1,000.
The Creative Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan group, strives to bring politcal and public issues to the forefront through the arts and entertainment communities. It was founded by Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon and others in 1989.
For more information, visit www.boston04.com.
