Given the credible fears of a domestic terrorist attack that preceded Joe Biden’s bow as president on Wednesday, you had to be at least a little bit surprised by inauguration organizers’ decision to end the festivities with a fireworks display that left much of the nation’s capital shrouded in smoke.

But then to worry too much about scaring unwitting Washingtonians would have been to miss the opportunity to loudly proclaim that — after four long years in which virtually every one of Hollywood’s power players turned a cold shoulder to Donald Trump — the American presidency is back in the business of show.

From Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez in the morning to Bruce Springsteen and Katy Perry (who sang her feel-good hit “Firework”) at the end of the night, Wednesday’s various inaugural events were positively lousy with superstars — “the most A-list of A-list” talent, as Rachel Maddow crowed on MSNBC.