By RICHARD WILLING
USA Today
Before and after, dozens of singers and musicians offered a rich but speedy survey course in American popular music of the last half century. The Unfinished Journey, an 18-minute capsule of American history by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, aired just before midnight.
The concert was free to attendees and was televised nationally by CBS. The dreaded Y2K bug failed to materialize, perhaps collapsing, in the manner of other over-anticipated disasters, under the weight of its own hype.
Terrorists were the other notable no-shows. In fact, the only terrors to be suffered were long lines at the Porta-Johns and two-hour long waits at the four metal detection stations that controlled access to the grounds. The latter was cured when National Park Police suspended the metal checks and threw open the gates about 15 minutes into the three-hour show.
A solution to the Porta-John problem lies perhaps in the next century. "All in all, I think it went really well, fantastic, in fact," said 21-year-old Damien Croel, riding the subway home to the Virginia suburbs. "But this is my first millennium, so what do I know?"
The crowd was large, diverse and remarkably peaceful, with only two arrests reported as of 11:30 p.m. One was for public drunkenness, the other for an undisclosed charge.
Derrick Flemons, a Washington, D.C. grandfather, brought three generations of his family because "I felt like we had to do something, and nothing better came to mind."
There was little talk of computer glitches or security fears, beyond that initiated by reporters. "If (security is) good enough for the President, I figure we ought to be okay," said Stephanie Hollmgren, on break from the University of Pittsburgh. But security did get things off to a slow start for many. Lines formed two hours before the 10 p.m start and soon extended for blocks along Washington's Constitution Avenue and down 17th Street, coiling back on themselves two and three times. Shortly before 10 p.m., D.C. police chief Charles Ramsey was accosted by angry would be patrons at 19th and Constitution. "This is terrible," one yelled. "You invite us down here and then we can't even get in." Ramsey, sympathetic, set out to find National Park Police officials. Within 30 minutes, security was relaxed and the gates were thrown open.
Once through the gates, concert goers got a bang-up show that was kind of a Cliff's Notes of recent American music - rock, soul, pop, country, even opera were performed by artists ranging from Kenny Rogers and Don McLean through Trisha Yearwood and Kathy Mattea to Bobby McFerrin, Luther Vandross and Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle.
The Lincoln Memorial provided a backdrop that was at the time incongruous. Lincoln, placid in his chair, may have been the only one who appeared unaffected by Broadway musical star Bebe Neuwirth's rendering of All That Jazz, the torch song from Chicago . Despite temperatures in the low 40s, Neuwirth performed in a strapless red dress that might not have been worn in public until deep in the recently departed millennium.
The show was not without spontaneity. Muhammad Ali, acknowledged from the stage by film director George Stevens, took a bow. Arizona Senator and Vietnam War POW John McCain, the Republican presidential hopeful, was a late addition, representing American soldiers. An unidentified man upstaged the start of Spielberg's film by jumping naked into the Reflecting Pool near a giant "1999" sign.
Clinton still managed to get in the last words of the last century. The 21st century, he predicted will be notable for advances in the Internet, in genetic research and in exploring the "mysteries beyond our solar system." "In the new century, we may not be able to eliminate hateful intolerance," he continued. "But we will see the rise of healthy intolerance of bigotry, oppression and abject poverty in our own communities and across the world." It is the "eternal destiny of America to remain forever young."
Clinton appeared to cut short his remarks as a giant fuse of light rolled down from the Lincoln Memorial hundreds of yards along the reflecting pool and then up the Washington Monument, reaching the top as the clock struck midnight.
Then the fireworks began.