A Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together Telethon was held last night in the hopes of bringing relief to the millions affected when Hurricane Sandy ripped through the East Coast of America.

NBC aired a commercial-free telethon last night (Nov 2) live from storm-ravaged Staten Island, with Matt Lauer helming the celeb fest that urged viewers across America to pledge what they could and help the millions suffering from the storm.

Christina Aguilera got things started, entering a dark stage and delivering a powerful, stripped down version of ‘Beautiful.’ After the Staten Island native’s performance, a rolling montage of just some of the destruction was played, ending with a still of the once bustling Jersey Shore, after which Jersey native Jon Bon Jovi gave acoustic performances of ‘Who Says You Can’t Go Home’ and ‘Living on a Prayer’ with guitarist Bob Bandiera and Lorenza Ponce on the violin.

Tina Fey then gave a sober introduction to Ann Curry’s live report from the streets of Staten, followed by a performance from Billy Joel and then a plea from another New Jersey native, Danny Devito, who introduced Aerosmith. 

Further performances from Sting and Mary J Blige, followed, with Kevin Bacon’s demonstration of how quickly you can pledge your support being the last of the non-musical pleas. One last montage led us into the final proceedings of the show, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivering a two song set, with the final words on the show coming from the Boss himself: “God bless New York, God bless the Jersey Shore.”