World News – Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down and Lee Greenwood are among the musicians to play an inaugural event next week in Washington D.C., the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Friday.
The event, which is free, is one of two scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump officially takes the oath of office at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.
The announcement comes amid reports of Trump’s troubles attracting celebrities to the inauguration — despite his boast to the New York Times that plenty of “movie and entertainment stars” would be there.
Also slated to appear at “The Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” is actor Jon Voight, The Frontmen of Country, singer Jennifer Holliday and Trump himself, the inaugural committee said.
A second event, “Voices of the People,” will feature, among others, the Republican Hindu Coalition, the Northern Middle School Honors Choir and the D.C. Fire Department Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, the committee said.
Inaugural committee chairman Tom Barrack described the events as a celebration of American history and heritage that will set “the course to a brighter and bolder future for all Americans.”
Trump previously told the New York Times that his inauguration could see a “record-setting turnout.” The Department of Homeland Security has predicted that 800,000 to 900,000 people will attend, a crowd roughly half of the 1.8 million crowd at Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
Barrack of the inauguration committee previously told reporters the ceremony won’t so much resemble “a circus-like celebration” as a “poetic cadence.”
“That’s the way this president-elect won,” he said.
by TIM STELLOH, NBCNews.com
