By AMY CRAWFORD
By AMY CRAWFORD
Associated Press
BOSTON — City residents rocked Thursday at a benefit concert for victims of the deadly Boston Marathon bombing, jamming to songs from the band Boston and other acts.
The Boston Strong Concert kicked off with Boston playing songs including its 1970s hit “More Than a Feeling.”
“Tonight, we are all Boston,” lead singer Tommy DeCarlo declared to a crowd of thousands of people at the TD Garden.
The show was to feature acts including Aerosmith, James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett.
Dropkick Murphys, New Kids on the Block, Carole King and Jason Aldean also were to perform at the show, which was to include more than a dozen acts.
Comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright also were scheduled to be part of the show’s lineup.
More than once, the words “Boston Strong” were met with cheers and fist pumps from the energetic crowd.
“I love that phrase,” enthused Boston comic Lenny Clarke, whose cathartic set featured a foul-mouthed, one-man reenactment of the capture of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “You know what I don’t love? ‘Shelter in place.’”
Boston area residents were locked down, told to shelter in place, a few days after the bombing while authorities searched for Tsarnaev, who was found hiding in a boat in a backyard in suburban Watertown. Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had died after a shootout with police.
The suspects, ethnic Chechens from Russia, are accused of setting off two pressure cooker bombs packed with shrapnel near the marathon’s finish line on April 15, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. Their mother has insisted that they are innocent.
Concert proceeds will go to One Fund Boston, the compensation fund established by Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino to help bombing victims.
The amount of money raised by the concert won’t be available until next week, a spokesman for the event’s producer said. Ticket prices for the sold-out show ranged from $35 to close to $300.