The highly promoted "Homecoming Concert" featured Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli among the performers.
Saturday's event came after a series of hip-hop concerts in the last week at outdoor venues around the city.
The concert kicked off amid worries about the contagious Delta variant of Covid-19.
New York City over the past week has averaged just under 2000 new cases of Covid-19 a day, according to state statistics. That's up from just under 200 cases per day in late June. Only about 54 per cent of all city residents are fully vaccinated against the virus.
Those who attended the concert, the majority of tickets for which were handed out for free, had to show proof of vaccination.
