Miami Beach will be celebrating with a centennial concert next month featuring Andrea Bocelli and Barry Gibb.
The free concert on March 26 will take place on 8th Street and Ocean Drive, The announcement was made Monday at a press conference at the New World Symphony building.
"I will be happy to be here for the birthday of Miami and I will do my best," Bocelli said.
"I want to be able to say Happy Birthday Miami on that night," said Gibb.
Many more performers are in store, including Miami's own Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada, Nestor Torres and Nicole Henry. The event is sponsored by Hard Rock International and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The 100-hour festival will highlight the city's special history, from the days of casinos, to Art Deco architecture and the present.
"Carl Fisher saw something here in this amazing barrier island and people came from all over the world, to the 1940's when Miami Beach played an amazing integral role in winning World War II when the army commandeered all of our hotels," Mayor Philip Levine said.
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Both Bocelli and Gibb have made Miami Beach their home, and both said there's nowhere they'd rather live.
"We are an immigrant family just like Mr. Bocelli. And we came here about 35 years ago to make an album and try and make a comeback, you know, and we fell in love with the sky," Gibb said.
"I felt a beautiful air, great atmosphere and then arriving in the city I remember there was many people on the street singing," Bocelli said. "It was like a big fest, you know, and I thought this is my city."
The weeklong celebrations begins on Sunday, March 22nd and ends March 26th with the free mega concert.
