As a Historic Event, Sunday’s We Are One concert on the Mall was often stirring and inspiring. But as a show? As music?

Pretty much the same, actually. These all-star Frankenstein line-ups, usually the stuff of benefit gigs and 20th century Super Bowl halftime shows, are often train-wrecks. But We Are One reflected the same rare mixture of persuasion and efficiency that Team Obama showed during the presidential campaign. The talent fell into line. None of the performers embarrassed themselves or seemed cowed by the weight of the occasion. The only real surprises were where the highlights came from: Who’d have thought John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses” or Garth Brooks singing “American Pie” would go over bigger than Bruce Springsteen or U2? Who’d have thought Jamie Foxx would be funnier than Steve Carrell?

Well, who would have thought that America would overwhelmingly elect a black man president?

DCist was there to document this thing in exhaustive detail. But first, the vitals.

TWO THINGS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TELEVISED BUT WEREN’T: The Right Rev. Gene Robinson’s invocation, and Challenger and Mr. Lincoln, the only two temperamental prima donnas in the lineup stuffed with Grammy-and-Oscar-winners. (They’re bald eagles, and if they’re all this hard to work with, no wonder their species is endangered.)

ARTISTS (AND “ARTISTS”) IMPORTANT ENOUGH, OR APPROPRIATE ENOUGH TO THE OCCASION, TO PERFORM THEIR OWN SONGS: Bruce. U2. Stevie Wonder. (So far, so great.) James Taylor. Crowd-favorite Garth Brooks.

PERFORMERS WHO GOT TO DO MORE THAN ONE SONG: Bruce. U2. Garth Brooks.

WHO GET TO DO MORE THAN ONE OF THEIR OWN SONGS: Just U2. (But what percentage of the estimated 400,000 people in attendance do you think recognized “City of Blinding Lights”?)