If last year’s birthday bash for Nelson Mandela was to be any indication, the stars were going to pull out all the stops for the anti-apartheid icon’s 91st birthday. That included a serenade from the first lady of France:

“Bruni made her American stage debut at the show paired with Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart as her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, sat cheering in the audience. She paid homage to Mandela’s social activism by covering Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, calling it a song by another famous activist.

For her first song, a slow French ballad, she told the crowd: ‘This one’s not good for dancing. But it’s good for dreaming.’

But from an early performance by disco queen Gloria Gaynor to the star-studded finale led by Stevie Wonder, the crowd was on their feet for most of the night.”

But, alas, the birthday boy wasn’t there to enjoy the festivities.