On May 14, 1988, the Atlantic Records label held its 40th-anniversary celebration by staging, at Madison Square Garden, New York, a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours[1] starting at noon and ending just shortly before 1 am the following morning.
Only artists who had released material on the Atlantic label in the United States performed, spanning the company's forty-year existence.
Other notable performers included Yes, Genesis, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer (representing Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Bob Geldof, Booker T. Jones, Wilson Pickett, The Coasters, The Spinners, Phil Collins, Peabo Bryson, The Blues Brothers (featuring Dan Aykroyd and Sam Moore), Roberta Flack, The Manhattan Transfer, Bee Gees, Ben E. King, and Vanilla Fudge.
[3] The concert was broadcast live in the US on FM radio and HBO television; commentary for the latter being provided backstage by comedian Robert Townsend.
HBO commenced its live broadcast a few hours into the event and interspersed footage of the concert that had been taped earlier by the network.