The July Fourth party carried over into July 5.
After a three-hour-plus rain-and-lightning delay on Saturday night, the One Philly: Unity Concert for America for the nation’s 250th birthday finally resumed on Sunday morning.
Shortly before midnight, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway grounds that had been evacuated earlier in the evening due to severe weather were reopened and thousands of diehard concertgoers made their way to the front of the stage.
There DJ Aktive hyped up a crowd — younger, on average than at the earlier hour — that was a mix of Philadelphians and visiting World Cup soccer fans by spinning records by Beyoncé, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, and Journey. (Yes, Journey.)
Then at 12:44 a.m., Mayor Cherelle L. Parker — last seen on stage with Gov. Josh Shapiro four hours earlier — came out, led the crowd in a “Ain’t no party like a Philly block party because a Philly block party don’t stop” chant, and introduced “the Legendary Roots Crew!”
Starting with a sly intro — a few measures of Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” — the unparalleled Philly hip-hop and Tonight Show house band then put on a musical master class. Rapper (and singer) Black Thought displayed his trademark staggering breath control as he led the band (who were accompanied by DJ Jazzy Jeff) in a 20-minute nonstop workout that pulled from a century of Black music, including the band’s own rich 30-year catalog.
It was busy day for the Roots, as well as a logistically challenging one. Before taking their positions on stage in front of the Art Museum, the Philly hip-hop crew were scheduled to headline the pregame festivities at the France-Paraguay World Cup match in South Philly.
And after the Roots, it was time for the all-Philly guest list. (Christina Aguilera, from Pittsburgh, the scheduled headliner, did not perform.)
First up was Kathy Sledge, who now performs the hits she scored with her siblings as Sister Sledge under her own name.
She was accompanied by a team of dancers, and on “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” a couple of eager-to-boogie dudes brought up on stage from the crowd.
The showstopper, of course, was “We Are Family,” which with Questlove keeping the beat and sousaphone player Damon Bryson moving along with the dancers, played out as a wee-hours-of-the-morning singalong.
This year’s July Fourth pre-fireworks concert on the Parkway was managed by the City of Philadelphia, after in previous recent years being produced by Wawa Welcome America, a nonprofit established by the city. The Inquirer has reported that the city is due to pay Philly-based ESM Productions about $15.5 million for the show, considerably more than the total of $6.6 million that constituted the budget for Wawa Welcome America’s entire slate of events in 2024.
Stars from the city that ‘raised a nation’
Sledge was followed by the full complement of the State Property crew, which meant not only Beanie Sigel and Philly Freeway, but also Peedi Crakk and Chris and Neff, the duo formerly known as Yung Gunz, who provided the high point of their Roots-backed set with their ageless rap classic “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.”
“I’m loving the energy tonight, I’m glad we came back,” said the next guest, Meek Mill. “I was headed out of town, and I had to double back.”
With the Roots backing him, and Questlove in particular locked in, it was at once the most tightly disciplined and casually freewheeling Meek performance I’ve ever seen.
That went for throwback tracks like “ImaCQ Boss” and “House Party” as well as an especially epic “Dreams and Nightmares,” before which the rapper asked the crowd to light up the night, which they did, with phones and flames.
Last but not least was the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith, who came bounding out shortly after 2 a.m. in a red Phillies cap and jacket to join the band and Jazzy Jeff, his musical partner Jeff Townes, with whom he was catapulted to stardom in the late 1980s.
Smith has had a rocky time of it since he set his career back significantly by slapping Chris Rock on the Oscars in 2022, and his relatively joyless 2025 comeback rap album Based On a True Story didn’t help matters much.
But on the Parkway, Smith was in his element and back on form.
“Every dream I ever dreamed I dreamed in these streets,” Smith said. He then got into Semiquincentennial mode.
“And this city didn’t just raise me. It didn’t just raise us. It raised a nation. Two hundred fifty years ago, it all began here. So Happy Birthday, America!”
And with that, Smith, Townes, and the Roots did the song everybody wanted to hear, in this season in 2026: “Summertime.”
International superstar opening
Before the storm drama, the One Philly: Unity Concert for America celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday got going with an international superstar opening act.
British pop-rock vocalist Seal went on at 5:45 p.m., dressed in a yellow jacket, just as the sun dipped low enough to provide a sliver of shade and some relief for the red, white, and blue crowd gathering in front of the stage.
Seemingly unbothered by the heat, the London-born singer of Nigerian and Brazilian descent demonstrated that he knows how to play to a Philadelphia crowd. His second song began with the instantly recognizable “doo, doo, doo-doo doo-doo’s” of the Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle.”
In fine, smoky voice, he finished his version of that 1976 hit and quipped: “I know you want it to be ‘Fly, Eagles, Fly,’ but you not going to get it. Not in this lifetime.”
For Seal’s mellow, sultry summer afternoon set, he was backed by a band that included West Philly native Gail Ann Dorsey, who previously toured frequently with David Bowie.
Fast-paced country
Louisiana-born country singer Jordan Davis — who was a late add to the One Philly concert lineup — has scored a number of country hits in recent years.
His music leans slightly toward rock and roll, taking a page out of arena-sized star Eric Church’s playbook. His slick 40-minute set was fast-paced, with hits like “Tucson Too Late,” and “Turn This Truck Around” coming in rapid succession as if Davis was worried that if he slowed down, Philly hip-hop and R&B fans would start to wonder what this country guy was doing singing in their city on its big July Fourth celebration.
Jill Scott gets in the groove — and then an evacuation
The evening found its groove after comedian Wanda Sykes introduced Jill Scott, the first hometown hero to take the stage, which pictured her on a video screen image framed by the purple outline of the Liberty Bell.
The crowd — complete with a contingent of French fans fresh from their team’s World Cup victory in Philadelphia earlier in the evening — filled out the area in front of the stage.
The size of the crowd, though, seemed several magnitudes smaller than the 300,000 that had been projected in advance to attend throughout the night. In fact, it was much more comfortable and less packed than during the years Jay-Z staged his Made in America festival on the Parkway, which was capped at 50,000.
Scott, who now lives in Nashville, seemed delighted to be back in her hometown. Looking radiant in a blue chambray dress and matching denim hat, Jilly from Philly thanked “the city that made me, the love that grew me, and the reason that I’m how I am right now.”
Fronting a funky eight-piece band — “This is live music,” she reminded the core at several junctures — Scott sampled classics from her catalog such as “A Long Walk.” She also shouted out Girls High and Temple University and also fondly recalled seeing Frankie Beverly & Maze perform at the Robin Hood Dell East as a girl.
She also sang a snippet of Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,” and thanked “these streets, hip-hop, a dollar cheesesteaks that kept me going.”
Scott’s set really caught fire when she called out “North Philly, baby!” And brought out Philly rapper Tierra Whack for a deliriously fun pas de deux on “Norf Side” from Scott’s new album, To Whom This May Concern.
At that point the crowd was looking ahead to three more hours of music before the 250th birthday fireworks scheduled for about midnight.
But instead, attendees were asked to leave the premises because of imminent severe weather.
The One Philly show was shown on NBC10 and streamed live on Paramount+.
