The Obama Foundation has unveiled a star-studded list of musical performers for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center, with names including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Christina Aguilera.
The Obama library’s grand opening ceremony is being held on Thursday, June 18, the day before the presidential center opens to the public on Juneteenth for thousands of guests.
The full roster of performers includes Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, The Roots, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Marc Anthony, American rapper Common and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
U2's Bono and The Edge, Nigerian singer Tems, and actress and producer Marsai Martin are also slated to perform.
The lineup is quite a contrast to the turnout for President Donald Trump’s series of events for the American Freedom 250 celebrations happening this summer, which mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
During Sunday night’s UFC cage fight spectacle at the White House, rumored invitees Adam Sandler, Guy Ritchie and Tom Brady did not show up.
Last month, several musicians pulled out of performances at the Great American State Fair after learning the event was sponsored by Freedom 250, a Trump-affiliated group.
Trump named nine artists slated to perform, including Grammy-nominated vocalist Martina McBride, dance music group C+C Music Factory, funk group The Commodores, “Ice Ice Baby” rapper Vanilla Ice and “Good Feeling” rapper Flo Rida.
At least six of the nine music acts, including Bret Michaels, Young MC, the Commodores, Morris Day and the Time, and Martina McBride, quickly pulled out as they distanced themselves from its politics.
The Obama Center — located on the South Side of Chicago — will open this week after a decade of planning, construction and setbacks.
In 2015, the former U.S. president announced his library would be built in Chicago, his home for more than two decades. Construction began in 2021, but it was slowed by legal problems.
With a price tag of $800 million, raised through private donations, it will be the most expensive presidential library ever erected. Sitting on a sprawling 20 acres, it is set to include an array of buildings, gardens and parkland.
Trump has previously derided the Obama Presidential Library as over budget, calling its construction a “disaster” and comparing it to a trash can. Earlier this month on his Truth Social account, the president shared an AI-generated image of the Obama Presidential Library deteriorating, surrounded by homeless encampments and with a large pile of garbage on top of the structure.
But Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett, who served as a senior adviser in the Obama administration, has since said that the center would welcome Trump to view the center for himself.
The center will offer a wide range of educational experiences for all ages. The campus will feature a museum with exhibits on the military and former first lady Michelle Obama’s fashion, alongside a branch of the Chicago Public Library, recording studios and classrooms for educational programming.
Currently, there are 16 presidential libraries and museums throughout the U.S., documenting presidents from Herbert Hoover to Joe Biden, according to the National Archives.
The ceremony itself is invite-only, but the Obama Foundation is hosting a free watch party at Midway Plaisance starting at 9 a.m CT. The opening ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. CT and will be streamed on the Obama Foundation's YouTube and social media accounts.
