Metallica, Mariah Carey to headline Global Citizen NYC concert

Metallica, Mariah Carey and The Jonas Brothers will headline a free concert in New York’s Central Park next month marking the 10th anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival organized by the international nonprofit fighting extreme poverty.

The September 24 event will also feature a concert across the globe in Accra, Ghana, with Usher, SZA and H.E.R.

But the day will be less a celebration and more of a call to action to immediately address numerous international crises, Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans said.

“We are actually at one critical inflection point where COVID has pushed nearly 100 million people into extreme poverty and now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the situation so much worse,” he said. “As many as 323 million people are now facing acute hunger. And if we don’t take urgent action now, as many as 200 million more people are likely to be plunged into extreme poverty by November, bringing the total number of people living in extreme poverty to over a billion people again.”

International organizations count people living on the equivalent of $1.90 a day as living in extreme poverty.

'Quantico' star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who will host the Central Park event, said Global Citizen has always encouraged people to use their voices to convince world leaders and decision-makers to take action against hunger and poverty. However, the need to focus on those issues is now even more pressing.

“If we are going to do something about that, then we need urgent mobilization,” Chopra Jonas told The Associated Press. “So just seeing all of these people from different stretches of society, different professions — regular folks coming together, motivated to actually make change now in an urgent way — is just so inspiring.”

As with all Global Citizen events, tickets to the concerts are free. However, to get the tickets, people must join Global Citizen and take action on a series of the campaign’s issues.

Pop star Charlie Puth, Latin sensation Rosalia, country star Mickey Guyton and Italian rockers Maneskin are also on the Central Park bill, while rapper Stormzy, Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems and Ghanian stars Gyakie, Sarkodie and Stonebwoy will also perform in Accra. Both concerts will be broadcast and streamed on ABC, ABC News Live, FX, Hulu, iHeartRadio, Twitter, YouTube, and other outlets. ABC will broadcast a primetime special, 'Global Citizen Festival: Take Action NOW,' from the shows on September 25.

• Americas