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The Joe Biden Inaugural Committee gave the Macy’s Fourth of July Spectacular a run for its money on Wednesday night as Katy Perry closed out Celebrating America backlit by an epic fireworks display.
The 13-time Grammy nominee had the Twitterverse abuzz as she belted out her 2010 hit “Firework” in front of the Washington Monument. The American Idol judge was dressed in all white as she performed before President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who were joined by First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on the Truman Balcony.
Watch Perry’s performance below:
Hosted by Tom Hanks, Celebrating America aired across multiple networks and featured speeches by Biden and Harris, as well as a joint appearance by former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Additional performers included Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Ant Clemons and Justin Timberlake, Foo Fighters, John Legend, Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard, and Demi Lovato.
Earlier that day, Lady Gaga performed the National Anthem at the inauguration ceremony, which earned a TVLine reader grade of “A-” (watch it here). She was followed by Jennifer Lopez (who sang “This Land Is Your Land,” while casually sneaking in a snippet of “Let’s Get Loud”) and Garth Brooks (who dropped by to perform “Amazing Grace”).
Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who was among the first to comment on Perry’s grandiose performance, joked that the fireworks display “was so large that I believe it violates the Paris Climate Accord.”
What did you think of Celebrating America‘s grand finale? Hit PLAY on the video above to watch Perry perform, then grade it below.
That was the perfect ending for a perfect day. Great job to Katy and the inaugural committee!
It was. I loved the pictures in the background too.
I had a night class last night and missed this special. Does anyone know if it’s available in its entirety to watch??
You can probably watch some of the performances on YouTube. C-SPAN might also rerun it at some point.
This is the moment where I felt it’s all like the ending of Return of the Jedi. I’m feeling good about things.
Thats because it was. Like the celebration scenes from INDEPENDENCE DAY or V – THE FINAL BATTLE. Its the happy ending scene after the worst movie in the entire history of the world. We survived this threat. Now we celebrate. And hopefully learn from it.
Not going to lie. She started a little off but ended perfectly. This whole show was fantastic and for me I hope future ones are similar. Beside the dresses, the balls were always a little boring. Whoever was in charge of this, A+++++++.
If you were watching it on MSNBC, I really enjoyed Rachel Maddow’s deadpan wrap-up to the spectacle, which was something like: “And with that, all of the remaining fireworks in the United States have been fired. If you needed fireworks for something, you are now out of luck.”
Honestly an A+ performance and the song just bursts with positivity in which this Country is in dire need of, no matter which side of the political spectrum you side on. Fireworks were amazing and her vocalization was off the charts, I didn’t realize she could hit notes that well. I just watched the four minute video on youtube, worth the watch .
The entire celebration was excellent andKaty Perry’s song with the fantastic fireworks brought tears of joy and a happy feeling in my heart that I haven’t felt in such s long time. Thanks President for allowing all of America to come to the inauguration ball!,
Beautiful and electrifying. A fitting end to a new era of hope.