New York, New York – Alicia Keys played the Nokia Theater in Times Square on Tuesday night. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor being injected with a dead virus would keep me from this show. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining nor sleeting. Dead virus aside, Alicia Keys rocked the house. Ms. Keys, in town to promote her new album The Element of Freedom and raise awareness for World AIDS Day, took the stage with her 13-piece band and showed us how it’s done. The concert was sponsored by American Express, who donated all the proceeds to the Keep A Child Alive foundation. Take that, Capitol One. It was also simulcast live on YouTube, although in the digital age, that isn’t saying much. I was able to simulcast it live on YouTube from my press seat, but I didn’t announce it.

Alicia ran through her hits like “Fallin’,” “No One,” “Superwoman,” “A Woman’s Worth,” and added a few more that I didn’t recognize but enjoyed nonetheless. She was joined by her opener, the new crooner Jermaine Paul. This guy has a little bit of Al Green in him and a little bit of Tracy Chapman, and I don’t mean that in a he-sings-like-a-girl way. I mean it in more of a when-he-plays-guitar-it-reminds-me-of-”Fast-Car” way. Or maybe it was more like Richie Havens when he sang “Freedom at Woodstock” — take your pick.

Ms. Keys and Jermaine Du-Paul (that’s his new nickname) sang their song, and then Alicia invited five people to Africa. Well, not right then and there — first you have to donate to her cause, and then you have to go online and fill out a form. After that, however, you are free to be chosen to join Ms. Keys in Africa to support her cause. You might want to get a shot first.

To close things up, she went into her new solo rendition of “Empire State,” because clearly people are sick of hearing her sing it with what’s-his-name. It was at this very moment that some of us savvy media types conjectured if Mr. Brooklyn himself could find a way in his heart to perhaps make a surprise appearance and complete the duet. It was just a thought, so as Alicia broke into the original version of the song, who do you think wandered onstage? Oh (pause) My (pause) God — or for those of you born after 1990, OMG! Jay-Z enters to sing his chorus, and the crowd goes wild. If this was pro-wrestling, it would have been like Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out to smack Vince McMahon.  It was the “Everyone in the audience gets a car!” Oprah moment of the show. Whatever it was, it was awesome, and props to both of them for putting on a great show for a good cause. Go ahead, text “Alive” to 90999 and donate $5 dollars to charity. Tell them I sent you.