The 121212 Benefit Concert for Sandy Relief held at Madison Square Garden last night was an epic six-hour event. It has been reported that ticket sales alone raised more than $35 million. Many millions more is expected to be raised from sales of the concert DVD, online auctions of memorabilia, and from donations by viewers.
Megastars like Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Alicia Keys performed on stage as the concert was simultaneously streamed live to theaters and on 37 U.S. TV networks and television feeds to more than 2 billion homes around the world.
More than 20,000 followers signed on to the official @121212concert Twitter feed and the to-be-expected snarky comments (some a bit ageist) popped up with the trending #121212concert hashtag. Twitterers bashed Kanye West's leather skirt, the predominance of aging rockers, and the homogeneity of the MSG audience with deep pockets.
But it you were following the benefit concert on Twitter, some of the 140-character tweets were heartfelt and/or genuinely funny. Here are some of my favorites:
The 60-plus crowd SCHOOLED the youngsters tonight.#121212concert
Baby boomer music. They should do their next concert to bail out Medicare. #121212concert
My 58 year old father feels like he's 22. Happiest anyone's seen him in a while. #121212concert
The roles have truly reversed. I just texted my parents asking them to turn down the volume because I'm trying to sleep. #121212concert
Love how we are ALL watching this together... in real time. Is that not the most awesome thing? #121212concert
Please don't pan the audience! It's like the Seinfeld episode where Elaine dances. #121212concert
Can the one person who watched 'X-Factor' tonight tell us what happened? #121212concert
Maybe we should hold a celebrity benefit concert to help pay down the national debt #121212concert
#121212concert needs on-screen listings of who's who & what they're performing. My kids don't know the old stuff and I don't know the new.
....And @PaulMcCartney takes to the stage. 70 years old and starting his gig at 12:30 am... True #rockstar. #121212concert
Having the cast of Sopranos taking donations is a wise move. Are YOU gonna tell them no? #121212concert
Watching #121212concert. Hey I have an idea, let's put together a 9 hour concert on a Wednesday night
Is it wrong to wish for more natural disasters so we can have more legendary benefit concerts? Asking for a friend. #121212concert
This concert has now lasted longer than the actual storm. #121212concert
If you're in the Eastern time zone and watching the #121212concert- welcome to the "I'm going to be a zombie at work" club.
Tweeting tonight was the best timeline night ever! Everyone rocked it here tonight! It was awesome! What an experience #121212concert#EPIC
Reading hilarious #121212concert tweets is almost more entertaining than the concert itself.
...Highlights of the night?...experiencing a sound based event only through Twitter with no sound...you people are nuts...#121212Concert };)
Coolest part of the #121212concert watching @PaulMcCartney hang & take pics with all the sandy heroes on stage effortlessly#iloveyoupaul
If tonight's show didn't move you, you are truly made of stone.#121212concert
Thank you all for donating tonight. Keep it coming. Thanks again. 1-855-465-4357. #121212Concert
To see how you can donate to the Robin Hood Foundation to support the victims of Hurricane Sandy, visit the official 12-12-12 website.
