Behind Chou, a spotlight shone on two cellists playing on an elevated platform. It would be a memento not just of Li’s first concert, but of how fundamentally COVID-19 has changed public life. “But there is no other way since I’m scared I could be infected because there are so many people in one place,” he said. “There is no argument for not having such a concert,” Michael Gekle, part of the team at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg who conducted the study, said in an interview. A few songs later, Damy Li emerged from below the stage. Lady Gaga helped select the musical lineup, which included Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and more — many more, since there was also a six-hour webcast before the televised broadcast. As you might expect, those in the section with no restrictions had more contact with others than those observing strict social distancing guidelines. In the UK, BBC One will screen excerpts of the concert at 19:15-21:15 BST on Sunday, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, Dermot O'Leary and Clara Amfo. All Rights Reserved. “One World: Together at Home” sought to strike a balance between the vast magnitude of the pandemic and glimmers of hope. “I love that during the chorus part, I’ll just be like da jia yi qi chang!”—he says the phrase for “let’s sing together!” in Mandarin. How did wind power just become America's biggest renewable energy? Around an hour into the show, Chou drew from numbers that were distributed to the fans who bought tour t-shirts earlier in the day and called out 223. Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, who didn’t sing, used their segments instead to point out the severely disproportionate effect of the coronavirus on African-Americans. “I’ll carefully keep it safe.”. BREAKING NEWS ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, NASAL SPRAY PREVENTS COVID-19 INFECTION IN TEST ANIMALS, NEW STUDY FINDS, WHO SAYS IT’S TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE IF MUTATED VIRUS IN MINK FARMS POSES INCREASED RISK TO HUMANS, CDC KNEW FIRST CORONAVIRUS TEST WAS FLAWED BUT RELEASED IT ANYWAY: REPORT, SCIENTISTS DISCOVER CAUSE OF MAJOR COVID-19 SYMPTOM, DENMARK DISCOVERS COVID STRAIN THAT MIGHT HINDER VACCINE EFFORT, To learn more about the risks, researchers held a concert of their own, a test event in Leipzig, Germany, where the coronavirus pandemic has rebounded and the government has ordered a second lockdown. ... Donald Trump in the time of coronavirus. That night, the 10,000-plus concertgoers at the Taipei Arena experienced what few have felt in nearly half a year: the energy of a packed house singing along with a beloved artist’s songs. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2020 TIME USA, LLC. Eddie Vedder, solo on a vintage pump organ, played “River Cross,” a hymnlike meditation on destiny in uncertain times, from the new Pearl Jam album, “Gigaton.”, Despite the Global Citizen moniker, the prime-time special was geared toward American (and English-speaking) listeners, though it did gesture toward the rest of the world with songs by Maluma, from Colombia, and by the ultracool Burna Boy, from Nigeria. “The risk of getting infected is very low.”. While there was a lot of contact between attendees during entry and halftime, most of the interactions were less than 15 minutes long — which public health experts have offered as a general guideline for when exposure becomes most risky. Stoicism? Upbeat defiance? Updated 1:51 PM ET, Wed March 25, 2020 . John Legend and Sam Smith, in split screen from their homes, duetted on “Stand by Me,” and Legend reappeared for “The Prayer” alongside its original performers, Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, with a silently demonstrative Lang Lang on piano and a dramatic Lady Gaga. 10,000-plus concertgoers attended Eric Chou's concert in Taipei as the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe. Lizzo, in a bare-shouldered close-up with gospelly organ backup, reached deep into the tribulations and tenacity of the Sam Cooke standard “A Change Is Gonna Come.”, Stevie Wonder has plenty of inspirational oldies in his catalog, but he started his segment with “Lean on Me” from Bill Withers — who died on March 30 — and segued into his own “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” with its warning of “disaster.” Meanwhile, Elton John pounded and growled a more combative anthem: “I’m Still Standing.”. Shawn Mendes, at the piano, and Camila Cabello shared a reverential “What a Wonderful World”; as a coda to the song’s resolute optimism, they added lines about, “all the pain that we’ve been through/All the fears and the hurt.”, Jennifer Lopez sang the Barbra Streisand hit “People” with an orchestral track and birdsong in the background. The singer-songwriter’s discography is filled with tracks featuring orchestral accompaniment, and the dozen-plus musicians onstage brought deeper emotion to their live renditions. In early June, after no new locally transmitted cases were recorded for eight weeks, restrictions were lifted on audience numbers for large gatherings. After the temperature check stations, fans were ushered toward tables packed with boxes of pink medical masks and square alcohol wipes; M.Star had ordered more than 40,000 masks to cover the four shows—the two in Taipei on Aug. 8 and 9, and two in Kaohsiung on Sept. 5 and 6. “If you want to sing, you can still sing!” he said. In fact, the Taipei Arena’s fall lineup includes several more concerts scheduled for the coming weeks. While the music industry has experimented with socially distanced outdoor concerts, indoor concerts involve greater risk. Our country is in a historic fight against the Coronavirus. “I realized I should write my own songs too, because I want to help people not feel lonely and bring companionship,” he said. Through prevention measures ranging from border control to mandatory 14-day home quarantine for travelers, Taiwan has largely kept the virus at bay. All the participants and staff tested negative for the coronavirus within two days of the event and wore N95 masks. Eric Chou walks on an extended stage that brought him close to fans sitting on the second level of the Taipei Arena on Aug. 8, 2020. Events with large crowds, such as concerts, have been cancelled due to the concern over coronavirus transmission. Lady Gaga, the Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish and more took over the major networks for a Global Citizen event celebrating essential workers and supporting the World Health Organization. He walked around the oval venue and borrowed phones to take selfies with their owners, fans clustering around as they tried to fit into the frame. Chou gave the elated fan a rose, then offered her his second present: the autographed mask. A preprint that has not yet been peer reviewed suggests that certain measures can lower the risk of coronavirus transmission. On “One World: Together at Home,” the mood was usually reflective, with a handful of more lighthearted moments. Taylor Swift sang one of the most somber songs in her catalog: “Soon You’ll Get Better,” about her mother, who has battled cancer. That a concert of this size—larger than any other reported on since social distancing measures began—was taking place in Taiwan is a testament to the self-governing island’s strong response to the coronavirus.