MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Award-winning American singer and songwriter John Legend took to the stage in Bahrain on Monday night, performing to a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 people despite calls by some activists to cancel the concert due to concerns over human rights abuses in the Gulf Arab nation. The concert was guarded by anti-riot police vehicles outside the entrance to the historic open-air Arad Fort in Bahrain's capital. In a statement to The Independent newspaper, addressing calls for him to back out of the Bahrain show, Legend said he has "spent quite a bit of time thinking about human rights, civil rights and other issues of justice."