This concert took place the night after Martin Luther King was assassinated. Riots erupted in major cities across the United States and racial tensions had already been high in Boston. The mayor of Boston wanted to cancel the scheduled concert fearing a riot. But Boston City Councilmember Tom Atkins, the only African-American on the council, convinced the mayor that canceling it would cause a riot. They decided to have it televised live to help keep peace in the city and urged people to stay home to watch the concert. There was no rioting in Boston that night.
There was no onscreen title in the original live broadcast. The televised special was quickly put together and there was no time to make a title card. It preempted the scheduled special, Uncle Vanya (1963).