The 46664 concert in London celebrated both Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and 20 years from the landmark June 1988 Free Mandela concert, which managed to rally anti-apartheid groups from all over the world. Mandela himself turns 90 on July 18.

Mandela looked physically frail (better than 90 percent of 90 year olds though!), but displayed the same mental strength which characterized his entire journey from a leader of a guerrilla group to that of Peace Nobel Prize winner.

Hollywood star Will Smith introduced the man of the day with the words "The one, the only, the birthday boy, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandelaaaaaaaaaa." Smith further led the crowd, allegedly of 46664 people, in singing him Happy Birthday.

Mandela's speech warned that work is to be done everywhere where there is poverty and sickness, including AIDS, and where human beings are being oppressed. He remembered the 1988 concert which Mandela said it inspired the anti-apartheid prisoners far away in South Africa.

Nelson Mandela's importance to the world was highlighted by the diversity of both concert goers and performers, which covered the entire racial, social and, respectively, genre spectrum. He was the first South African president to be elected in fully representative democratic elections, in 1994. Mandela spent 27 years in prison before 1990 for his activism and for being the leader of the anti-apartheid paramilitary forces.

After his release in 1990, which was broadcast live all over the world, led the party in the multi-party negotiations that led to the country's first multi-racial elections. In 1994 he won the presidential mandate with 62 percent of votes. He did not run for a second term and retired in 1999.