Although the lineup looked improbable, Fergie and will.i.am had recent experience working around U2’s live production. The Black Eyed Peas supported the band during the concluding North American shows of the 360° Tour. That stretch ended in Vancouver only two days before the musicians appeared together in New York, leaving them familiar with U2’s expansive concert sound and stage setup.

Their comfortable rapport continued after the song. Jagger approvingly described U2 as a great “house band.” Bono answered that the group was available for weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs, adding a comic exchange after a performance built around prominent guests and theatrical presentation.

The arena treatment was not admired by everyone. The New Yorker maintained that presenting an apocalyptic, deeply bleak song as a celebration reduced some of the original version’s menace. Even so, the performance’s defining tension came from that collision: Jagger represented the Stones’ lineage, U2 brought its stadium scale, and Fergie added a forceful pop presence.