Preparations for tonight’s Mandela Day concert are in full swing at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, where technicians, musicians, journalists, cameramen, caterers, hair and make-up artists, and the production team for tonight’s live webcast are working hard to ensure that the concert is a success.

 

Journalists rub shoulders, sometimes literally, with the stars and the possibility of colliding with a musician in the cramped backstage hallways is high. The venue is humming with pre-concert energy and nerves as the countdown to the first Mandela Day concert begins in earnest – all of this against the backdrop soundtrack of the artists practising for tonight.

 

Wyclef Jean checks something on a computer, while a little later the great divas Gloria Gaynor and Yvonne Chaka Chaka wander through the halls. Cyndi Lauper steps into the lift and heads off to her dressing room.

 

It’s all slightly surreal watching so many famous acts getting ready: chatting, eating, practising, all of them getting ready to rock New York City tonight.

 

Baaba Maal wanders out of the bathroom. Chris Chameleon and his manager head off downstairs to grab a bite to eat – all the while Will.i.am rehearses his songs on stage.

 

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy arrives. Photographers go crazy.

 

The sound in the hall is staggering – crisp and clear – and as Chris Chameleon, back from lunch, and Baaba Maal practise their track, backed up by the Soweto Gospel Choir, the musicians waiting in the wings bob their heads in time with the music.

 

Wyclef Jean sends out a video podcast spreading the Mandela Day message and encouraging people to watch the concert, to the sound of Zucchero, who’s up on stage.

 

Dave Stewart wanders around, looking super-cool in dark glasses, dark jeans and a black jacket.