Last night’s first ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center ended up being billed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee as the hottest ticket of all of the ten official Inaugural Balls, and from a vantage point in the middle of the packed ballroom, it was easy to see why.

The sheer number of hugely famous stars gathered to perform at the ball, which was broadcast live on ABC, gave the event the feel of a sort of All Stars of Superbowl Half-Time Shows Extravaganza, except in a venue not much bigger than the 9:30 Club. Mariah Carey was there. Alicia Keys was there. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were both there. Shakira, Faith Hill, and Mary J. Blige. Mothereffing Steve Wonder. Did someone say something about Sting? Oh yeah, he was there too, even though he was never billed to appear ahead of time.

In juxtaposition to the performers on stage, the attendees of the Neighborhood Ball, with its stated goal of including regular folks from the District of Columbia and beyond by pricing tickets at $25 each, were notable only in that they weren’t. There were plenty of ill-fitting dresses, shabby suits, even sweatshirts mixed in with the tuxedos and fabulous gowns. Apart from sightings of actress Natalie Portman and local D.C. voting rights fixture Eugene Kinlow, none of these people looked vaguely familiar, let alone famous.

Glitzy as the affair was, the fact that it was being broadcast live made attending the Neighborhood Ball feel much more like being part of a live studio audience than at a ball, per se. This was a party with commercial breaks. Surely other balls don’t have Vanessa Williams interrupting with special messages about volunteering in your community.