Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert
November 03, 2009 //
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This past friday I went to the second night of the 25th anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden. These were free tickets and we were seated behind the stage so we weren't expecting very much of the show. However it turned out to be much better than expected. For one thing, the stage was a rotating stage so we got to see the work that went in to setting up a stage while the other band would be performing. We saw all the roadies tuning the instruments and everything. Since we could see over the stage, we could see what it was like to see the audience from the band's point of view and we could see the teleprompter being used (U2 used it the entire time. Guess Bono can't remember his own lyrics). What was really cool was that the many guest stars that would show up, sat behind the stage before they were to make an appearance, so for one or two songs before they performed, we were able to see them hanging out behind the stage. It was really cool seeing them before the audience who paid tons of money got to. Unfortunately the sound wasn't the greatest. It started with Tom Hanks giving an introduction speech and then Jerry Lee Lewis playing "Great Balls of Fire" and the sound was extremely quiet. Then Aretha Franklin performed a few of her songs and there was this annoying echo and it was still quiet. Annie Lennox performed "Chain of Fools" with her and Lenny Kravitz also came out to perform with Franklin. Overall it was not impressive at all and it set us in a bad mood expecting the whole concert to be like that.
But then the Jeff Beck Group (who was playing last notice in Eric Clapton's place because he was sick) came out and the guitar sounded fantastic. Several people came out and performed with him (makes sense since they have no singer) such as blues guitarist Buddy Guy and the singer from ZZ Top. Sting sang "People Get Ready" which I really enjoyed. I've never been a fan of the Police or Sting, but he sounded great live. One of the last songs Jeff Beck played (maybe it was the final one, I'm not too sure) was his rendition of "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles on guitar. The John Lennon part on the guitar was amazing, but once it got to the part Paul normally sings,it was a little hard to follow. It sounded too moody and downbeat compared to the actual song, but then it returned to the Lennon part again and overall, it was great to hear.
Next was my favorite part of the concert, Metallica came out to play. They started out with "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which I'm not too familiar with but then went into their song "One". Lou Reed from the Velvet Underground then came out to perform with Metallica. I didn't enjoy him that much. But then Ray Davie from the Kinks came out. I've never been a huge fan of the Kinks although I love the songs I know by them, but hearing him sing "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" live with Metallica playing heavy guitar in the background was one of my favorite parts of the entire night. Ozzy Osbourne came out after Davies, which made more sense for him to perform with Metallica, and he sang "Iron Man" and "Paranoid" by his former band Black Sabbath. It was cool to see a rock legend like him perform and sit back stage. Following that Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, started talking about how he owes his learning guitar and starting a band to the band Queen (which is one of my favorite bands) and then played "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen. I was completely surprised by that and it was another one of my favorite parts of the night. Metallica ended by performing Enter Sandman, which thrilled my brother Justin because a screen came down and they showed clips of Mariano Rivera from the Yankees running out onto the field and pitching (He comes out on the field during games to that song), I'm assuming to thrill the New York City audience, and it definitely worked.
Following Metallica, was the headlining band U2. I've never liked them either, but I have to say, I went and downloaded a bunch of their songs after this concert. Before going on stage, Bono acknowledged us who were behind the stage and waved to us which really got everyone excited considering how none of the other headliners could care about us. The first song they played was "Vertigo" which everyone was excited for. His mic didn't work at first but it finally started working into the first verse. Afterwards, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith came out and performed "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of". I personally found the song boring and was glad when it ended. However, I guess they messed up and they decided to play a second runthrough of this song which seemed like 5 or 6 minutes long, so I sat through the same song I didn't like twice. Lame. Anyway, after they left, the Black Eyes Peas showed up and performed "Where is the Love?" which is my favorite song by them. Once that song ended, the Black Eyed Peas left the stage except for Fergie who remained on stage as U2 started playing "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones and then Mick Jagger ran on stage and started singing with Fergie (we saw Jagger dancing behind the stage during "where is the love?" and it was pretty amusing). Jagger and Fergie were almost competing in their stage performance and more or less had a dance off. Fergie left after that and Jagger stayed on stage to perform either a more recent Stones song or a U2 song. I'm not sure which but either way I wasn't too fond of it. Afterwards Mick Jagger left and U2 performed a couple more songs such as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Beautiful Day". Overall, it was an amazing concert and the fact that we came in with such low expectations made it all the more impressive.
Performers/guest appearances:
Tom Hanks
Jerry Lee Lewis
Aretha Franklin
Annie Lennox
Lenny Kravitz
The Jeff Beck Group
Sting
Buddy Guy
Billy Gibbons
Metallica
Lou Reed
Ray Davies
Ozzy Osbourne
U2
Bruce Springsteen
Patti Smith
Black Eyed Peas
Mick Jagger
Great great concert. I believe they are going to edit the two concerts together in an HBO special on Thanksgiving weekend.
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