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Welcome America Fourth of July music fest rocks the Parkway

The Wawa Welcome America! Fourth of July music festival opened on a surprisingly soft, clear evening (after a day of lowering clouds), promising the crowd filling the Parkway a night of celebratory, A-list entertainment.

The Wawa Welcome America! Fourth of July music festival opened on a surprisingly soft, clear evening (after a day of lowering clouds), promising a night of celebratory, A-list entertainment.

The show kicked off with the Vicci Martinez Band, the five-piece outfit fronted by 2011 The Voice finalist and CeeLo Green protegée. Sporting a partially bleached blonde faux-hawk, the Tacoma, Wash., singer and guitarist warmed up the crowd with an agreeable enough five-song set of soul-rockers that peaked with her 2012 single "Come Along."

She then thanked the still-assembling crowd for letting her warm up the stage, and introduced a closing power ballad by saying, "This is about not wanting things to end." And in the song, she repeated the words "I don't know how to quit you" like a mantra.

This 4th of July Jam aired on VH1, as well as cable music station Palladia, for the second year running. It's the sixth consecutive year The Roots have performed in front of the Art Museum on Independence Day. (The Roots Picnic, the band's edgier music festival, has been happening at the Festival Pier at the start of the summer music season for seven years now.)

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