Lady Gaga, The Roots, Ricky Martin, Jazmine Sullivan, and more open for Kamala Harris at the Art Museum

The massive crowd gathered in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Rocky steps on Monday night had many hours to wait between before the evening’s headliner — Vice President Kamala Harris — finally took the stage.

Luckily, the star of the show had a pretty good slate of opening acts warming up the stage for her. Those included a number of elected officials, including Sen. Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, and a highly skilled hype woman in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who took the stage at 7:30 p.m. and shouted out all the name brand attractions to come, including Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Oprah Winfrey, and an impressive lineup of homegrown talent like, The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Freeway, and Jazmine Sullivan (who actually had already performed by that time).

It wasn’t all homegrown though. Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin brought plenty of show biz pizzazz to the stage, fronting a big band with a full troupe of dancers and dropping a lyric about waking up one morning and not realizing he was in Pennsylvania into “Livin La Vida Loca” and working his endorsement for Harris into “La Copa de la Vida.”

Earlier in the evening on the Ben Franklin Parkway, DJ Diamond Kuts kept the crowd entertained with a mix of hip-hop and old school R&B hits, before Philly soul and hip-hop vocalist Sullivan walked on in a black leather jacket and sunglasses. She introduced herself to the in-person and live stream audience, saying she supported Harris in part because “I always feel safer when a woman is in a position of power.” She started off “with a classic, Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On,’” because, she said, “they’re trying to take away our reproductive freedom. What’s goin’ right now?!”

Her interpretation achieved the nearly impossible task of making Gaye’s timeless protest song her own, adding subtle vocal embellishments without showing off in the least. She followed that with her own “Masterpiece,” which she explained was a song about self love.

AfterSullivan’s eight minute-long set, up next was Philly’s own Freeway teamed with North Jersey DJ-producer Just Blaze for a punchy two-song set of two of his best known songs. The duo kicked off with “Rock the Mic,” from the 2002 Beanie Sigel starring film State Property, and concluded with “What We Do,” from his debut album from the same year, Philadelphia Freeway. He dedicated the latter to three of his family members who have died in the past four years — his father, son, and daughter. “What We Do,” which Freeway called “Philadelphia’s National Anthem,” rides an irresistible hook sampled from the Creative Source’s “I Just Can’t See Myself Without You.” Before departing, he told the crowd: “See you at the polls.”

The performances were brief, seemingly designed to fit into a live stream event that stitched together entertainment from several rallies around the country, with the likes of Katy Perry singing in Pittsburgh and James Taylor playing in Raleigh, N.C. (playing “Carolina On My Mind,” no doubt).

On the ground on the Parkway, that meant long breaks between acts, with the crowd passing the time swaying along to Stevie Wonder and Stevie Winwood songs or entertaining itself with “E-A-G-L-E-S … Eagles!” chants.

Thankfully though, the Roots set quickly followed Freeway. The Philly hip-hop collective and Tonight Show house band started off by going deep with “Dear God,” their moody, philosophical folk-rap collaboration with Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Monsters of Folk from 2010.

That seemed like a downbeat left turn at first, but it was all part of an elaborate plan. Two verses in, drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson stopped the song in its tracks, and said “Wait a minute, Tariq!” addressing the band’s coleader Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter. “We’re home. We need to energize this crowd. We’ve got Jazzy Jeff with us,” which they did, sitting and scratching on his turntables.

With that, the band first jumped into a hyped up James Brown style funk jam, with Black Thought leading the crowd in calling out Harris’ first name. He then transitioned into “Web,” the Roots rapper’s showstopping rapid fire burst of gatling guns rhymes in which he referred to himself as “Black master of any trade under the sun / Talk sharp like a razor blade under the sun.” He also added that he was “all out on my own like Patti LaBelle.” That set lasted 15 minutes.

Followed Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro on stage, Bronx born rapper Fat Joe, whose given name is Joe Cartagena, started off with, “I heard they needed a Puerto Rican in Philly and I was so happy to come here.” Talking about former president Donald Trump’s insistence that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs, the “Lean Back” rapper asked the crowd “when is enough enough?”

He did not perform but introduced Ricky Martin.

While people waited for a behind-schedule Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, and Harris, DJ Cassidy, took on the role as de facto host and emcee, stalling for time. Rally goers got to see Harris’ running mate Tim Walz give his stump speech on the video screen twice — once from Milwaukee and once from Detroit. The second was followed by a feed of Jon Bon Jovi and husband and wife duo The War and Treaty in Michigan teaming up on an acoustic “Living On A Prayer” with the crowd in Philadelphia singing along.

Lady Gaga’s eventual appearance at about 11:20 p.m. turned out to be simple and her time on stage short. She sang only one song which was not one of her own: it was “God Bless America,” sung alone at the piano. Gaga then talked about all the women who helped make her the woman she is, and introduced Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who then in turn introduced Oprah Winfrey, who then introduced a surprise guest: Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, who rap-sang a version of his 2008 Obama anthem, “Yes He Can” revamped as … wait for it … “Yes She Can.”

That sprightly tune led into Beyoncé's “Freedom,” which has been Harris’ theme song for the duration of the campaign. The candidate then put her faith in her audience: “Pennsylvania will determine the outcome of this election … and we will win!”

“We started this fight 107 days ago. And it has not been a fight against something, but a fight for something. It’s about our love for our country, and our faith in a future that we will build together with energy and joy … Generations of Americans have led the fight for freedom. And now the baton is in our hands,” she said.

Harris made her exit to Beyoncé's “Freedom” and it seemed like the long evening — “the biggest get out the vote rally of all time!” according to DJ Cassidy — was over. But not just yet, it turned out.

Lady Gaga came back for one more song. She was back at the piano with a power ballad time, “The Edge of Glory,” from her 2011 album Born This Way. ”Where my girls at?” she asked, as she started out quiet and built to the song’s over-the-top climax, as the crowd shuffled off the Parkway and presumably and eventually on their way to their polling places on Tuesday.

“As long as we’re together,” Gaga assured them. “We’ll be alright.”