John Legend, one of the performers at the World Cup kickoff concert, gets into soccer

John Legend, World Cup performer, gets into soccer

NEW YORK — John Legend is like a lot of Americans — he’s not an avid soccer fan, but when the World Cup comes around, he gets into it.

Legend watched the last World Cup in 2006, and that piqued his interest.

“When you get down to it, it’s an interesting sport. It’s a sport that’s easy to follow, and when there’s the extra kind of excitement of such a big event, it’s something that I definitely can watch,” he said in a recent interview.

Legend also said he’s glad that the World Cup, which begins Friday, is coming to Africa for the first time, and said he is excited that South Africa got the opportunity to host such a big event.

Legend is one of the performers at an all-star concert that kicks off festivities for World Cup. Other acts include Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Juanes and Hugh Masekela. Thursday’s concert will be shown on Friday on ABC.

The addition of the concert adds more star power to the Cup, but Legend doesn’t think it is needed.

“This is pretty much one of the biggest events in the world,” he said. “They don’t really need a concert to make it that, but it certainly won’t hurt.”