Overall, Michelle Obama’s passionate address dressing down Donald Trump was the vibe of Monday’s first installment of the four-day 2020 Democratic National Convention, but the evening’s musical acts were similarly emotional, not to mention surprisingly mellow. Except for Billy Porter’s set, of course, but mellow isn’t why you invite Billy Porter to sing a protest song at your political event, now is it? For her rendition of “Back in My Body,†singer Maggie Rogers was introduced by Democratic Senate hopeful Sara Gideon and performed on a rocky shoreline on the coast of Maine, while Leon Bridges, along with vocalist Terrace Martin and their socially distanced backing band, took to a sun-drenched roof top for “Sweeter.â€
At the end of the convention’s nightly run, Billy Porter, his gigantic cape, and Stephen Stills, of Buffalo Springfield and Cosby, Stills, Nash & Young fame, closed things out with their green-screened duet of Buffalo Springfield’s classic protest song, “For What It’s Worth.†You can watch the entire evening if you missed it here, or pick back up tomorrow, and later this week, for acts like the Chicks, Billie Eilish, and Jennifer Hudson. Oh, and, you know, all the speakers!