The concert, held at The Forum in Greater Los Angeles, featured performances by Carole King, James Taylor, Quincy Jones and his Orchestra, and Barbra Streisand.

Matt Goldbach in charge of McGovern's California campaign activities expressed his wish that the event should be a political rally with speeches, while some Hollywood celebrities thought it should be more like the Academy Awards ceremony, but the performers had already decided on a purely musical concert.

Security for the event involved the usual Wells Fargo guards, augmented this time with 24 athletes from the UCLA Bruins football program.

McCune Sound brought a proprietary new loudspeaker system, the JM-3, designed by Bob Cavin and John Meyer, with speaker positions and coverage determined by Abe Jacob.

[9][10] Serving the $100 seating section, celebrity ushers were announced ahead of time: "Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Julie Christie, Sally Kellerman, James Earl Jones, Jacqueline Bisset, Michelle Gillian, Mike Nichols, Shirley MacLaine, Goldie Hawn, Gene Hackman, Elliott Gould, Marlo Thomas, Burt Lancaster, Jon Voight, Raquel Welch, Michael Sarrazin, Britt Ekland and more.

She sang more songs and then talked to the crowd, pretending to toke on a marijuana joint, warning playfully against the evils of weed; a schtick she had performed many times in Las Vegas.

"[13] Beatty's sister, actress Shirley MacLaine, was also campaigning strongly for McGovern, and she appeared as an usher at the concert.

McGovern was scheduled to arrive late at The Forum; he and his wife, Eleanor, were flying in from Detroit after speaking at a Democratic Party fundraising dinner, the annual Jefferson–Jackson Day event.

[2] At intermission, many of the newspaper and television reporters abandoned the concert stage and waited in a hockey locker room so that they could witness McGovern's entry.

James Taylor told Peter Greenberg asking about McGovern's chances, "I don't think he can beat Nixon, but who knows?

"[6] When McGovern walked in to the locker room during Streisand's set, he stepped straight over to Carole King and said, "I'm one of your ardent fans, and you're really great to do this."

George McGovern took the microphone to make a very brief statement to 18,000 fans: You know there’s an old French proverb that says gratitude is the heart’s memory.

[2]Maureen Orth, reporting for The Village Voice, said that the audience applauded the surprisingly short speech, but she was unmoved, and noticed others were shaking their heads or shrugging their shoulders at the confusing song inference.

Beatty spoke to reporters after the concert, saying that more such celebrity fundraising events could be staged,[2] and he quickly organized another at the Cleveland Arena in late April,[14] and a third in New York after McGovern had won the important California primary.

Media response to the Los Angeles concert was mixed, with some in favor, and others decrying the strange new element: mass activism of celebrities.

Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News said that Hollywood actors should stay out of politics, that "Presidential candidates should leave endorsements to makers of false teeth cement.

"[13] In the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries in June, McGovern carried California, but with a 5% margin, not the expected 20% more than Hubert Humphrey.

For a benefit concert on June 14, Beatty convinced Simon and Garfunkel to reunite for McGovern, supported by Dionne Warwicke, Nichols and May, and Peter, Paul and Mary in a fundraising rally for the presidential hopeful, held at Madison Square Garden in front of 18,000.

"[17] By November 1972, Nixon had undercut McGovern's anti-war stance by promising a negotiated end to the Vietnam War.

[18] Nine months later, in response to the December 1972 Nicaragua earthquake, the Rolling Stones mounted a benefit concert at The Forum on January 18.

Los Angeles music writer Jacoba Atlas responded, "No, there's only been two big concerts for great disasters – unless you count McGovern.