Philly’s Great and Not-So-Great Fourth of July Concerts

Performers at previous Fourth of July concerts in Philadelphia (Getty Images)

This year, LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan co-headline Philadelphia’s Fourth of July concert. Here, we take a look at some of the ups and downs of Philadelphia Fourth of July concerts past.

1994

The 218th birthday of American independence was celebrated with 54-year-old Smokey Robinson. Somehow, the Daily News‘ Jonathan Takiff raved, “We’d be hard pressed to find a better star for the… July 4 bash on the Parkway…” Really? Meanwhile, Czech President Vaclav Havel was in town to accept the Liberty Medal. Captain Noah (it was his last year on TV) was grand marshal of the Liberty Lighted Boat Parade.

1995

The Beach Boys gave what might be the worst Philly Fourth performance ever. Interestingly, they still owed the city $267,000 for a 1985 “charity” concert debacle, but we paid them to play here anyway. The Daily News launched an investigation, and Meryl Levitz, then one of the people in charge of our July 4th celebrations, told the paper she couldn’t remember who chose the Beach Boys. But we’re pretty sure that then-Mayor Ed Rendell had something to do with this unfortunate choice.

1996

The bad taste of the Beach Boys was washed away by a showstopping set from Philly’s own Patti LaBelle. Naturally, she closed with “Over the Rainbow,” wearing a sequined red dress.

1997

You haven’t seen “America the Beautiful” performed live unless you saw Ray Charles do it here.

1998

Boyz II Men harmonized gorgeously, seven years after Cooleyhighharmony.

1999

The greatest-hits set from Dionne Warwick included “Walk On By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and her 1985 song “That’s What Friends Are For.” The Philadelphia 4th of July concert took place one year after the Psychic Friends Network, which Warwick had controversially been shilling, went bankrupt. The week’s festivities also included a black-tie tribute to … Gregory Peck?!?!

2000

The guys from Earth, Wind and Fire put on a good show, and they came back less than a month later to entertain GOP leaders at a soiree on the waterfront during the Republican National Convention we hosted. (Remember that?) Their July 4th set included “September,” “Boogie Wonderland,” and Beatles cover “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

2001

Country music star Garth Brooks played some tunes, but the real celebrity power that day came from the Hollywood A-listers on hand for a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 225th anniversary of its adoption by the Continental Congress. The event included pre-embarrassment Mel Gibson, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Bates, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kevin Spacey, among others.

2002

Brian McKnight made us swoon. But we’re still questioning the decision to hire the Baha Men (responsible for the treacherous earworm “Who Let the Dogs Out?”) to open.

2003

Neo-soul crooner Musiq was joined by 1970s wah-wah-wah-wah-wah enthusiast Peter Frampton. The 4th of July concert in Philadelphia was uneventful. But on the same day, the National Constitution Center opened its doors for the first time, and that event was not without incident: Mayor John Street was taken to the hospital after stage equipment fell onto him while U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was speaking.

2004

We’re guessing that Mayor Street was a huge fan of headliners The Isley Brothers. Kind of upstaged by Madonna, who brought her Re-Invention Tour to what was then The Wachovia Center. The same week, Philly hosted the Guinness World Record attempt for world’s largest salsa-dancing competition. Hey, you gotta have goals.

2005

This Philadelphia 4th of July concert was also known as the Philadelphia Freedom Concert, and it starred Elton John and Patti LaBelle. If you wanted a seat near the front, you had to fork over $500 for HIV/AIDS research, and there was a $1,000/person ball as well. The show itself was fun but didn’t exactly meet its fundraising goal of at least $1,000,000 for local charities and organizations. In fact, it was a big flop. Organizer (and Philadelphia Gay News publisher) Mark Segal placed the blame on the Live 8 concert, which occurred in Philadelphia just days before. “[Live 8] took the publicity edge away,” Segal told the Inquirer. “We couldn’t get the people after that. Everything dried up. It’s just an unlucky break.” Sir Elton opened the family-friendly show with “The Bitch Is Back.”

2007

Hall & Oates, back when they were still on speaking terms. We love them, but … there were as many sour notes as technical problems. The intense rain also, er, dampened the whole experience. At 10:45 p.m., the city sent everyone home due to the rain and potential for lightning. Then, about forty minutes later, the fireworks were set off anyway.

2008

John Legend slayed, as the kids now say. For some reason, the day also featured a sculpture of our Founding Fathers made out of … wait for it … Cheez-Its.

2009

The show was originally announced as just Sheryl Crow, to absolutely not thunderous applause. The Roots were soon added to the bill, and they would remain the centerpiece of Philadelphia’s 4th of July concerts for the next several years. Crow’s VIP swag bag included lemon body butter, a Starr gift card and a free dinner at Chima (woo hoo!).

2010

Questlove and company were joined by … the Goo Goo Dolls?! The Philadelphia Weekly rightly gave the latter its “worst music pick” of the week.

2012

One of the best Fourth shows ever featured Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill as well as a “Paul Revere” tribute to the just-passed MCA from the Beastie Boys. But things went south after news broke of a shooting at 15th and JFK right after the show, with Mayor Michael Nutter taking to TV to call the juvenile shooter a “little asshole.”

2013

Kevin Hart hosted. Jill Scott tore it up. We probably didn’t need to add John Mayer to the night.

2014

This is where things started to fall apart. Somehow, the city thought that Nicki Minaj would be appropriate for what’s supposed to be a family event. She wasn’t, and it wasn’t, and a scandal was born. Just for one example, she rapped: All these bitches is my sons / And I’ma go and get some bibs for ’em / A couple formulas, little pretty lids on ’em /If I had a dick, I would pull it out and piss on ’em. Happy fucking birthday, America! When faced with criticism over Minaj’s expletive-filled performance, Mayor Nutter suggested that anyone with small children could have taken a bathroom break during those songs. Nice.

2015

Somewhere around 175,000 turned out for lewd singer Miguel, who, fortunately, did not deliver a lewd performance. The Roots also played. The band promised a special guest who would join them for a song but the best they could conjure up was CeeLo Green. Most entertaining was Mayor Nutter doing “Rapper’s Delight” with the Roots.

2016

A night that included soul singer Leon Bridges, rapper Yazz the Greatest, and Philly legends the O’Jays, Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes, and the Intruders paying tribute to local songwriting icons Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

2017

For the 25th Welcome America concert, we made the right call by bringing in Mary J. Blige. Her set almost didn’t happen due to a severe thunderstorm blowing through.

2019

The word epic is overused, but it’s the only way to describe what Jennifer Hudson did on stage.

2020

Well, you remember what 2020 was. The virtual concert wasn’t the worst thing to happen in Philadelphia during COVID, but it certainly was far from the best.

2021

Lots of grown-ups wondered, Who the hell is this Flo Rida character? The concert, which also included Bebe Rexha and Cam Anthony, actually took place at the Mann Center this year, but the fireworks stayed on the Parkway.

2023

Demi Lovato and Ludacris co-starred. And though he was in Philly, Ludacris opened his set with “Welcome to Atlanta.” No reports of mass booing.

2024

Ne-Yo and Kesha dominated the stage, but we really enjoyed the pre-show spot by Philly party band Snacktime.

Published as “Let Freedom Sing” in the July 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.