On Saturday the National Mall played host to a half dozen marquee bands and even more celebrities to bring about awareness of a greater cause. Yeah, it seems like we just did that, but the Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day event was more of a call to action than a show of appreciation. The superstars in music were joined by dignitaries and humanitarians from around the world (including Nelson Mandela’s grandson Kweku Mandela and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon) in the hopes of rallying people into fighting for two lofty goals—to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to provide solutions to climate change by 2020.

This was a much more ambitious event than the Earth Day concerts of years past. Global Citizen, the organization responsible for bringing Jay-Z and Carrie Underwood to Central Park in 2014 to incite the 50,000 concertgoers to take action against poverty took charge this year. They reportedly quintupled that number for Saturday’s event, although the Mall certainly didn’t feel as packed as the Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear (which drew 215,000 people). The truth may just be that Earth Day 2015 was less chaotic. To be fair, the Radiohead washout fiasco of 2008 was less chaotic than the Stewart/Colbert Rally. The 2009 Obama inauguration was less chaotic than the Stewart/Colbert Rally. The Earth Day 2015 event was still sprawling, overwhelming, and intense.

There were several organizations, among them Toyota and NASA, with educational booths underneath a giant tent with a four leaf clover attached. Those booths were placed away from the onstage action on the other side of the Washington Monument but concertgoers did not necessarily have to visit those exhibitions in order to know what these companies and others had dedicated themselves to do to fight the evils plaguing our world. Many of them at some point took the stage in between musical acts. The introduction of the Toyota Mirai, a vehicle powered by hydrogen, was particularly memorable. Meanwhile, the NASA presentation was more memorable for being botched by co-host and co-presenter Will.i.Am who read lines like “Where have I heard that before?” in a deadpan monotone rather than the intended lighthearted jest.

Oh, Will.i.Am. You sir, should never be forced to read a teleprompter. When the Black Eyed Pea and co-host of the day looked up, asked people to make some noise and went off the script, he was magnetic and effective. However, when reading out facts he paled in comparison to co-host Soledad O’Brien, who, admittedly, reads off of a teleprompter for a living and has done so for years. It seemed like they utilized her to introduce the visiting world leaders and humanitarians. One YouTube personality, Yousef Erakat, actually zinged the host for horribly mispronouncing his name.

Of course, the real stars of the day were the musical acts and, although there were six big names that were plastered on all of the promotional materials, concertgoers were also treated to Nigerian hip-hop act D’Banj and Korean boy band Vixx. Both were impressive, but sandwiching D’Banj’s ode to big butts in the middle of calls to end the systemic misogyny wholly present in the culture of poverty was a little bizarre. To be fair, D’Banj was also sandwiched in between Usher and No Doubt — right around the time when audience members (I kid you not) started to sit down and take naps in between musical acts due to exhaustion.

Since “ending poverty” and “stopping climate change” were such large, overarching agendas (that encompass everything from ending Ebola to providing education and proper sanitation), it seems like some of the small but important points in the day almost certainly got lost. Muriel Bowser made a plea for D.C. Statehood. The creators of Angry Birds announced that they had added an in-game experience designed to combat climate change. Actor Don Cheadle made a plea to remove lead from household paints used in all countries. None of these were quite as memorable as Usher’s golden crutch.

All six of the marquee acts made an impression, but Usher’s may have been the biggest. The R&B star showed up with a giant boot on his broken foot, so to compensate for his lack of impressive dance moves, he took the stage with a golden crutch and a golden microphone. He moved as much as his compromised body would allow and during “Yeah!” he actually dropped the crutch, hopped around on the extended stage into the crowd and picked it back up without missing a beat. His entire set wasn’t as gloriously triumphant (his U2 cover and his collaboration with EDM artist Martin Garrix both fell flat) but he was clearly one of the audience favorites of the festival and he deserved it. He brought Common to the stage to help him out.

The other audience favorite of the festival was Fall Out Boy, the emo-tinged arena rockers from Chicago. The teenage girls that still make up their core fan base responded with the day’s loudest cheers and more posters expressing adoration went into the air during their 25 minutes onstage than during the rest of the sets combined. But here’s what these dedicated superfans failed to notice (or refused to notice) about Fall Out Boy’s performance: it completely lacked a sense of fun. It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that a band that named an album Save Rock and Roll took themselves way too seriously, but it did. They looked like they were working very hard up on that stage in the April heat but they never really emitted the positive energy and joy that their arena rock predecessors like Green Day and No Doubt have perfected.

Speaking of No Doubt, they were everything that Fall Out Boy was not. The crowd was exhausted and had thinned out somewhat before their day-ending set, but Gwen Stefani didn’t seem to mind. “There are 270,000 of you! You can scream louder than that!” she chided playfully as she bounced her way around the stage and into the crowd during their parade of hits. The band didn’t interact with each other perhaps as frequently as they might if they were mid-tour, but Stefani and bassist Tony Kanal still danced with each other played off of each other’s energy. It was a little funny to realize how dated set-ender “Spiderwebs” really sounded in terms of lyrical content (who screens phone calls anymore?) but twenty years after they came to national attention, they’re still utterly worth the attention they got initially.

The emotional winner of the day for this reviewer may have been Mary J. Blige. She only performed for twenty minutes, but she packed those twenty minutes with effortless soul and energy. She strutted around in her white pantsuit getting the crowd to wave their arms regardless of whether the song was hit “Real Love” or her deeper cut from The London Sessions. Also, she had the day’s better U2 cover. It just seemed like she connected with the crowd in a very real way and could therefore do no wrong. Admittedly, at the end of the set, the camera panned onto her tired face and showcased how wiped out that set had left her, but hers was maybe the only set that would have turned casual watchers into new fans.

Then again, she was such a welcome palate-cleanser after Train that it only added to her appeal. Train’s catchy adult contemporary songs provided the crowd with the first sing-a-long of the day with “Hey Soul Sister.” But while Train lead singer Pat Monahan may have won the crowd over, he was extraordinarily awkward to watch and the lyrics made this reviewer viscerally ill. “My love for you went viral”? Those words just came out of your mouth, Pat Monahan! Sure, “Drops of Jupiter” is an earworm, but it came from someone who clutched his stomach in a look resembling constipation. Their spot on cover of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” was the set’s only saving grace.

My Morning Jacket was a good choice for starting out the day. They didn’t focus on the “hits” (and if a band performs at DAR Constitution Hall — they have “hits”) instead, setting the mood for the day. Their southern-fried guitar rock was a perfect complement to the day’s sunshine and Jim James immediately established himself as a consummate rock star. It wasn’t just the crazy mariachi jacket or his wild, unruly hair, but the way that he owned the stage with that persona during set-closer, Evil Urges‘ “I’m Amazed.”