HENRY RAY ABRAMS/AP Mick Jagger, right, performs with Fergie, center, and Bono of U2 at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 30
Jagger, Springsteen, Black Eyed Peas jam with U2 at rock hall concert
By Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger
October 31, 2009
NEW YORK — U2 was the only co-headliner at this week’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concerts that didn’t announce at least some of its guests ahead of time. But the band didn’t disappoint, welcoming Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and the Black Eyed Peas onto the stage of Madison Square Garden, Friday night.
Jagger strutted out from the wings after U2 had started playing his Rolling Stones song, “Gimme Shelter,” and belted it as a duet with the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie (and a little vocal help from U2’s Bono as well). Next came an even more surprising number: a soulful, low-key duet by Jagger and Bono on the U2 song “Stuck In a Moment That You Can’t Get Out Of.” The song came off like a cousin of the Stones’ “Beast of Burden.”
Fergie and her Black Eyed Peas bandmates also joined U2 for a medley of U2’s “Mysterious Ways” and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Where Is the Love?,” with a little bit of U2’s “One” also thrown into the mix.
Springsteen and Patti Smith resurrected their songwriting collaboration, “Because the Night,” with U2 and E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan providing the backing. Their first take was a bit out of synch, with Smith and the band having different ideas about when she should start singing. After messing up another start, they finally nailed the song, with Springsteen playing some wild guitar riffs under Smith’s vocals, toward the end.
Springsteen, who also performed at the first of two 25th anniversary shows for the hall of fame, on Thursday, stayed onstage to sing “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” with Bono.
Friday’s show was shorter (by nearly two hours) and generally tighter than Thursday’s. Metallica was in typically ferocious form during its set, and skillfully executed collaborations that both stayed in their comfort zone (a pumped-up Ozzy Osbourne, on “Iron Man” and “Paranoid”) and made them stretch a little (dour alt-rocker Lou Reed, on “Sweet Jane” and “White Light/White Heat,” classic-rocker Ray Davies of the Kinks, on the melodic but heavy-riffed songs “You Really Got Me” and “All Day And All Of the Night”).
Jeff Beck, who became a co-headliner after Eric Clapton dropped out due to health reasons, added some dazzling jazz-rock guitar playing to the show, with a set that ranged from his expansive instrumental “Freeway Jam” to a a pensive take on the Ray Charles hit “Drown In My Own Tears,” and explosive collaborations with Buddy Guy (”Let Me Love You Baby”) and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons (Jimi Hendrix’ “Foxy Lady”).
Aretha Franklin enlisted Annie Lennox and Lenny Kravitz to help her with classics “Chain Of Fools” and “Think,” respectively, but the biggest surprise in her setlist was a song that doesn’t have a lot to do with rock ‘n’ roll: “Theme From New York, New York.”
Jerry Lee Lewis, who opened Thursday’s show with a solo “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On,” kicked this one off with a solo “Great Balls Of Fire,” and knocked his piano bench over, for theatrical effect, at the end of it.
The two shows will raise funds to establish a permanent endowment for for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, and its museum. Highlights will air on HBO on Nov. 29. Complete reviews of Thursday’s and Friday’s shows will be in the Saturday and Monday issues of The Star-Ledger, respectively.
Here is Friday’s setlist (Thursday’s setlist is here):
Jerry Lee Lewis:
“Great Balls of Fire”
Aretha Franklin:
“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (band instrumental)
“Baby I Love You”
“Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”
“Make Them Hear You”
“Chain Of Fools” (with Annie Lennox)
“Theme From New York, New York”
“Think” (with Lenny Kravitz)
Aretha Franklin encore:
“Respect”
Jeff Beck (not complete):
“Drown In My Own Tears”
“People Get Ready” (with Sting)
“Freeway Jam”
“Let Me Love You Baby” (with Buddy Guy)
“Rough Boy” (with Billy Gibbons)
“Foxy Lady” (with Gibbons)
“A Day In the Life”
Metallica:
“For Whom the Bell Tolls”
“One”
“Turn the Page”
“Sweet Jane” (with Lou Reed)
“White Light/White Heat” (with Reed)
“Iron Man” (with Ozzy Osbourne)
“Paranoid” (with Osbourne)
“You Really Got Me” (with Ray Davies)
“All Day and All Of the Night” (with Davies)
“Stone Cold Crazy”
“Enter Sandman”
U2:
“Vertigo”
“Magnificent”
“Because the Night” (with Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith)
“Because the Night” (second take, with Springsteen and Smith)
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (with Springsteen)
“Mysterious Ways”/”Where Is the Love?” medley (with Black Eyed Peas)
“Gimme Shelter” (with Mick Jagger, Fergie)
“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” (with Jagger)
U2 encore:
“Beautiful Day”
