John will perform with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops orchestra at the Philadelphia Freedom Concert and Ball.

The Fourth of July events will include a free concert and fireworks display in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a fund-raising ball, with ticket prices from $500 to $2,500. Funds also will come from corporate sponsors, concert concessions and donations, organizers said.

Organizers said they hope to draw 1.5 million people and raise $2 million for the Elton John Aids Foundation and Philadelphia’s Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund.

John said he recently spent time in South Africa and saw his foundation’s work in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“It will be a long fight, and one that must be met with strength and compassion, but we can all make a difference. I met with vulnerable and orphaned children who have been left destitute,” the 57-year-old rocker said in a one-minute appearance by satellite from Las Vegas, where he is performing at Caesars Palace.

Mark Segal, president of the Hirschfeld Fund, said he hoped the events would emulate the success of the 1985 Live Aid concerts held in Philadelphia, London and other cities to raise money for famine relief in Africa.

Segal said the Hirschfeld Fund was created to raise money for research and prevention as well as education about HIV and AIDS. “People think it’s gone. It is not,” he said.