city, especially with all the city and all of us have gone through, the musical history just in this park. you think that diana ross concert in the rain, i remember as a kid james taylor had a free concert in central park with a huge turnout. it is an iconic space to have an event like this. without question. i was there with simon and garfunkel, witnessing barbara streisand and others. it couldn t be a greater venue in order to celebrate the reopening of new york, so this was a challenge. this is not one artist. we ve come up with about 18 iconic or new artists to represent, anderson, every genre of music. we re talking rap, pop, broadway, even classical music. we have the new york philharmonic.
obviously, a, think it is a fine idea, others will say is this the best time, there s a hurricane coming and covid. aennderson, we have to show strength and resiliency. new yorkers have been through so much but fought through it, did the right thing, got vaccinated. 75%, one dose of the vaccine. what we are doing in the city, we re saying if you want to be part of the great things in life, concerts, restaurants, everything, get vaccinated. this is a reward. reward to the essential workers and to everyday new yorkers doing the right thing and message to people all over this country. we can do great things together. just go out and get vaccinated. what are you doing to keep people safe? outdoors, fully vaccinated. mask distribution. lots of space. it is a big, open setup. people are able to spread out, they were spreading blankets. yes, they re spaced. look, we say to people we want it to be safe. most important thing, our doctors said this consistently.
you re there on the ground. how s it looking? what s fun, it is filling in behind me on the great lawn. they actually just stopped it a couple minutes ago. you see the philharmonic. somebody warming up the crowd. it was really a moment to see people putting their hands in the air, starting to dance. excitement building for the diverse lineup, we have been saying it throughout the hour, it is important, it speaks to the diversity of the city. all different types of musical acts, also from all over. that s really so much of what makes new york city such an incredible, resilient city, anderson. and still surprising to see so many people in one place after all we have been through. everybody has to at least have one vaccine shot and show proof of that just to enter. for a lot of performers, we just
welcome back. we are moments away from the concert starting. clive davis is the legendary music producer, helping careers of most of the stars taking the stage tonight. joining me, the music legend himself, clive davis. thank you so much for being with us. you have launched the careers of so many people. why did you want to produce legendary concert like this that we re about to see tonight? well, first of all, i was asked by the mayor who called me up and said at a meeting with his team, the city event organization and the park commission, they were saying you re the only one that can do this. whether that s true or not, he asked me. look, anderson, i am a born and
this hanna long battle as you know, being a new yorker, long 17 months in this city. so lots to celebrate tonight. i also appreciate you not correcting me saying bocelli showed up, saying bod chel ee instead of bocelli. athena jones is with those entering the concert, have you been watching people as they re showing their proof they ve been vaccinated? reporter: hi, anderson, that s right. this is a massive undertaking. as we have been saying, event ticketed for 60,000 people, everyone under 12 has to show proof of id. it can be a vaccination card or picture of it, something that s called new york state excelsior