CLINTON GETS A HAPPY GAGA BIRTHDAY
“Bill, I’m having my first Marilyn moment. I always wanted to have one, and I was hoping that it didn’t involve pills and a strand of pearls,” the pop diva joked as Clinton, wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea sat in the audience. “If someone had told me so many years ago that I’d be doing that right in front of you, I just would not believe them. I would have given a good, American fuck you… I just love you and your hot wife. Tonight I thought we’d all get caught up in a little Bill romance.”
And with that, she began warbling a Bill-referenced take on “Bad Romance,” marking not only Bill’s b-day, but the 10 years of his Clinton Foundation’s work to fight disease, poverty and violence, dubbed “A Decade of Difference.”
A steady stream of performers, including Stevie Wonder, Kenny Chesney, the Somali singer K’Naan, Colombian rocker Juanes, Usher and U2’s Bono and the Edge joined Gaga for a four-hour show that joined pop and politics like in the old days of the Clinton White House.
Wonder started the night with “Superstition” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours),” the latter of which was embraced as President Obama’s theme song in the 2008 campaign, followed by a Chesney acoustic performance.
K’Naan’s set of reggae, East African jazz and rock balladry was plagued by sound problems that persisted even when Bono came out to duet on a new tune. His story of turning from child soldier in a war-ravaged country to international pop star included a performance of his redemptive single, “Wavin’ Flag.”
Colombian star Juanes’ bluesy, dub-infused rock of “La Camisa Negra” was the perfect representation of his country’s Clinton-inspired economic revival.
Hillary herself started getting down to Usher’s smash, “Yeah,” arguably the first time a Secretary of State had ever done so, followed by a short comedic film about the Clinton Foundation’s “Celebrity Division,” featuring Ben Stiller and Ted Danson, among others, supposedly planning a series of failed ventures.
Bono and the Edge closed out the night with an acoustic set of hits they described as “you shelling out a million quid for a couple of Irish buskers.”
But it was Gaga who stole the show. Playing astride what looked like a “Nordic tree fort,” she dedicated “You & I” to Hillary with some interesting allusions that had even Bill admitting, “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
Happy birthday, Mr. President.
