Sting will join No Doubt onstage for a special collaboration at the Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn in New York’s Central Park on Saturday, September 27th. The announcement follows the festival’s founder and CEO, Hugh Evans’ teaser announcement at a reception for the festival last week, that said only that the current star-studded lineup would see a special guest added to it. Details on the collaboration are still sparse, though live event and television producer Ken Ehrlich was able to comment on how the collaboration come to be. “In this case, it was pretty organic,” Ehrlich, who joins the team to produce this year’s show, explains to Billboard. “It came from No Doubt. We talked about a couple of possible people to do something with. As soon as we mentioned Sting, they loved that.” Alicia Keys, who performed as a headliner at the festival last year along with performances by Stevie Wonder and John Mayer, has also been added to lineup as an independent guest performer.
This year, Jay Z will be headlining the festival. The hip-hop artist said in a statement that, “Change only takes place when and where there is action. I’m joining the 2014 Global Citizen Festival because I believe through actions, whether it be by raising awareness, getting involved or educating ourselves, the goal to end extreme poverty by 2030 is possible.” Formed in 2008, The Global Poverty Project is intended to advocate awareness and encourage action to end extreme poverty worldwide. Organizers continue to schedule the festival to line up with the United Nations General Assembly to draw the attention of world leaders to the severe poverty problem. Since the festival started two years ago, organizers state that promotion stipulated by the festival’s attendees has furthered $1.3 billion in new funding. Evans told Rolling Stone, “We’ve found the power of this movement can create bigger, and more impressive, change.” Tickets are still available at the Global Citizen website, for free. Also available there are petitions and access to email world leaders along with other options as well for becoming involved and taking action.
The show on Saturday marks the first time No Doubt has played together in two years, but they felt it was an event they couldn’t miss. As bassist and co-founder Tony Kanal told Rolling Stone, “It was such an honor to be asked to play this particular concert. It’s unacceptable that over 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, and it’s got a pretty eclectic lineup, which reflects the event’s true spirit of diversity.” Also taking the stage Saturday will be Carrie Underwood, Tiesto, the Roots, and fun.