Rock N' Rock Hall of Fame concert inspires legendary teamups

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty, Simon & Garfunkel, Smokey Robinson, and Jackson Browne were but a few of the music legends who rocked Madison Square Garden on October 29th to kick off night one of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 25th Anniversary Concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Tom Hanks, who was one of the event's producers introduced the event, which was peppered with amazing archival footage and mini-documentaries throughout the show. Perhaps the highlight of the night was Billy Joel sitting in with the E Street Band for venue-shaking versions of his own "You May Be Right," "Only The Good Die Young," "New York State Of Mind" and "Born To Run" -- with the last three featuring Springsteen and Joel trading off verses.

The definite low point of the evening was watching Stevie Wonder struggle through a muddy sound mix and the confusion of trying to find him a live microphone. A lesser artist would've stormed off stage after five minutes of dead time.

Highlights throughout the night:

CSN set: "Woodstock," "Marrakesh Express," "Almost Cut My Hair," "Midnight Rider" with Bonnie Raitt, "The Pretender" with Jackson Browne, "Mexico" with James Taylor, and all three guests staying on for Teach Your Children."

Paul Simon set: Simon meshing African rhythms and doo-wop for "Diamonds On The Soul Of Her Shoes," introducing an a Capella tune from Little Anthony and the Imperials' "Two People In The World," Dion taking center stage for "The Wanderer," Crosby and Nash joining Simon for the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun," as well as Simon & Garfunkel performing "The Sounds Of Silence," "Mrs. Robinson" in medley with Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," "The Boxer," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Cecelia."

Bruce Springsteen set: Apart from Billy Joel's standout performance, Sam Moore of Sam & Dave performed and electrifying double shot of Stax with "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and "Soul Man." John Fogerty joined the expanded E Street Band -- with a full horn section -- for covers of his Creedence Clearwater Revival classics "Fortunate Son" and "Proud Mary," along with a show-stopping duet with Springsteen on Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman." Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello guested on "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" the Clash's "London Calling," and "Badlands." Darlene Love stole the show with her spot on performances of her classic Phil Spector-produced hits "Fine, Fine Boy" and "Da Doo Ron Ron." Springsteen welcomed all his guests -- along with Jackson Browne -- back on stage for a rousing show -ending version of Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher."

The show on October 30th will feature U2, Beck, Buddy Guy, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Ray Davies, Aretha Franklin, Annie Lennox, Lenny Kravitz, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Graham Nash credits CSN's loyal and trusted crew for helping a logistically tricky set movie along with ease: "We've always had our own crew, they've been with us for years, we have incredibly loyal people and we're very loyal to our crew. We've had people working with us 25 -- almost 30 years in some cases. So we've always taken our crew with us. Always."

James Hetfield explained that when Metallica was inducted into the Rock Hall earlier this year, they bypassed all the politics that most bands usually get mired in: "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was always so notorious for the drama and the 'oh, he's out of the band, and he's not showing up 'cause of this and that' and all that crap. And we didn't want that. So we invited everyone and everybody, and whoever showed up, it was up to them."

Highlights of both night's Madison Square Garden concerts will be part of a four-hour broadcast next month on HBO.
Submit the above story to:

Del.icio.us   Digg   reddit   StumbleUpon   Facebook