The Concert in Central Park attendees. Although rain fell throughout the day and continued until the start of the concert, an estimated 500,000 audience members made this the seventh-largest concert attendance in the United States in history. The stage backdrop depicted an urban rooftop with water tank and air outlet, symbolic of New York's skyline. At twilight, the backing band went onstage, followed by New York's mayor, Ed Koch, who announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Simon and Garfunkel!" The duo entered through a side stage door, took center stage amid audience applause, looked at each other and shook hands, and began the concert with their 1968
Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa on Nov. 12 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. These would make her the first major musician to visit the newly unified and apartheid free nation following Mandela's winning election. Houston performed to crowd of over 200,000 people in a special series of South African concerts. The concert satellited live from Johannesburg, was released on VHS in December, 1994. All proceedes from the concerts was donated by Whitney Houston and her foundation to carefully selected South African children's charities including two children's museums, the President's Trust Fund (for the freed Nelson Mandela), the Kagiso Foundation and several orphanages. Whitney: The Concert