The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts

25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Concert 10/29/09 MSGIn 1964 someone threw on a Beatles album one day in Kindergarten. I was hooked immediately. Thence began a lifelong obsession with Rock and Roll, and music in general. In the years that followed many others artists were introduced to me first by my brother Ira, then followed by AM/FM Radio, TV, and host of friends and acquaintances. Today, the internet thru Pandora.com has turned me on to great new music that is being created daily.Many months ago, I heard The Today Show mention that The Rock Hall Of Fame was having a 25th Anniversary Concert benefit in New York City at Madison Square Garden. The list of artists were stunning. I knew I had to see this show. I dutifully went online exactly at 9:00 am and purchased two seats for the show. Nosebleeds with a decent center view. Section 303, row B.Arriving an hour before the show, I was interviewed by HBO about my feelings towards the event. They liked my soundbyte about seeing so many of the artists on my "bucket list" all at once. If you ever see it during a promo, let me know!I took some mental notes on the show, and will try to recall them as best as possible.A 20 minute video starts the show with montage of Rock hall artists and moments from the history of the Rock Hall Of Fame. Naming the artists was a challenge. Got about 80% of them. Cameron Crowe did a great job putting this together. It's impact was nostalgic and emotional. Video played a big part between sets and to introduce the artists.Tom Hanks came out to give a rousing speech about the emotional impact and importance of Rock and Roll to our American psyche and experience. As Tom is finishing, I see an older man being escorted to a Piano. This would be the first unannounced guest.Tom introduces Jerry Lee Lewis who proceeds to pound out "Whole Lotta Shakin Going On"Next, Crosby,Stills, and Nash take the stage and open with Joni Mitchell's classic "Woodstock". It was great to see them together, but Stephen Stills voice was flat. Though, his guitar playing is still very good.Graham Nash sings "Marakesh Express". His voice is still intact and sweet. Surprised and very happy by the song choice thinking it was bit obscure to be selected. I have always loved this great song about discovery during a rail trip in Morocco during the 60's/early 70's. It tells a great story, and was great to see live.Another surprise was David Crosby singing "Almost Cut My Hair". A rebellious song about not selling out. Crosby's voice was quite strong, and familiar.Bonnie Raitt joins the CSN to loud applause. She is introduced as one of the greatest female voices in Rock and Roll. I agree. Her version of "Love Has No Pride" was soulful and sweet.Nash and Crosby provided great background vocals in this song.CSN with Bonnie Raitt then launched into Greg Allman's solo classic"Midnight Rider. Hoping Greg might appear, but no. Another odd song choice, but a welcome one.Jackson Browne is then announced as one of the greatest Rock Artists of all time. He leads CSN in rousing version of "The Pretender". His voice sweet and clear undeniably Jackson Browne.James Taylor takes the stage and his 70's classic "Mexico" is performed with CSN and company. Nice back up vocals by the boys.Stephen Stills sings "Love The One Your With". James Taylor accompanies on a acoustic guitar, and sings back up vocals along with Nash & Crosby.CSN performs their Buffalo Springfield classic "Rock and Roll Woman". Nice vocals and guitars. Stephen Stills voice improved drastically from the 1st songThe finale of the 1st set is "Teach Your Children". Jackson, Bonnie, and James join CSN in a fabulous send off. Wow, this is only just the 1st set!Paul Simon opens the 1st set quietly by himself with "Diamonds On The Soles Of His Shoes". The band eventually joins him in a rocking finish. There are lot of people on the stage performing with Paul.Paul performs his classic Queens centric song "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard". Mucho fun! Love how Paul whistles the solo during that song."You Can Call Me Al" is next. No Chevy Chase though. Remember, their duo from Saturday Night Live?Paul brings out Dion Dimucci from Bronx's own Dion and The Belmonts. He leads Paul in a rousing version of "The Wanderer". Remember, the great movie that featured it in it's soundtrack. The alto sax is figures prominently in this song. A big picture of Dion And The Belmonts in the day is overhead.. Dion calls out to audience "Yo" "Yo" a bunch of times.Paul Simon dedicates the next song to the founder of big rock benefit concerts George Harrison. In this very venue George in 1971 raised money during The Concert Of Bangladesh. With Graham Nash and David Crosby on back up vocals, Paul sings "Here Comes The Sun". Simply beautiful!With a full horn section Paul rocks out "Late In The Evening". Dance able!Paul invites Doo Wop pioneers Little Anthony and the Imperials to croon "Two People in The World". Sweet voices and harmonies.Art Garfunkel takes the stage to "The Sounds of Silence". The audience is pretty stoked. Some nearby woman are crying. "Mrs. Robinson" into Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" back into "Mrs. Robinson" . Joe Dimaggio lyrics elicit applause. Meanwhile the Yankees are losing 1-0 in the World Series as the song is being performed.The first notes of "The Boxer" begin. Amazing! What great songwriters, and performers these two are! Harmony's are us. Beautiful. Art Garfunkels voice is an American treasure."Bridge Over Troubled Water" with it's signature piano quietly woos the audience. The garden is euphoric. Truly remarkable performance."Cecilia" concludes a blow me away set. Still the second half of the show to look forward too!Stevie Wonder takes the stage to terrible technical problems. The mic's are not working. He sits by the keyboard wagging his head back and forth waiting. Finally, he opens with Dylan's "Blowing In The Wind"Next, a medley of great hits. "Everything is Alright", "I was Made To Love Her", "For Once In My Life", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered", "Boogie On Reggae Woman" (play harmonica). Stevie's voice is great, and performances very solid.Smokey Robinson comes out and sings a soulful "Tracks of My Tears". An 60's picture of Smokey and The Miracles is projected overhead.John Legend takes the stage. Sings a tribute to Marvin Gaye "Mercy, Mercy, Me". Marvin's picture is projected over the stage. He does Marvin justice!Stevie sings and John plays dueling keyboards honoring the King Of Pop Michael Jackson with "The Way She Makes Feel". Stevie breaks down in the middle and cries. Eventually, he finishes the song. Stevie croons Walk With Michael Jackson, Jimmy Hendrix, and Bob Marley.BB King joins Stevie and performs "Thrill is Gone" with Lucille, his guitar. Voice is great, and guitar tone and playing are wonderful.Stevie sings "Living For The City" to a very enthusiastic crowd.Sting performs "Higher Ground" on the bass with Stevie. Underrated bass player he is! Nice.Sting Launches into a fast rocking version of "Roxanne". Missed the Police reunion, but saw this. Great performance. Stevie launches back into "Higher Ground".Jeff Beck joins Stevie for "Superstition". His classic rock guitar styling was an awesome fit to this funky song! Jeff looks 40! Awesome!The crowd goes wild to the announcement of the Yankees 3-1 victory over the Phillies!Bruce hit's the stage with 10th Avenue Freezeout. I move really close to the stage in the $1,000 seats for the rest of the show.Bruce performs "Hold On, I'm Coming", and "Soul Man" with Sam Moore from Sam and Dave. Bruce tells the audience that he learned how to lead a band from Sam during the 60's when he used to see him perform at the Saturday Night lounge in Fort Dix, New Jersey.Tom Morello guitarist from Rage Against The Machines joins Bruce with a beat up guitar with long stringy guitar strings coming out of the top. They perform "Ghost Of Tom Joad". Wow! Never seen anyone play like that. Mad crazy skills! A virtuoso. Simply in Awe!John Fogerty joins Bruce on stage. They rock out to "Fortunate Son". Great! Song still resonates and is relevant today. The two have excellent synergy.Next "Proud Mary" with Clarence Clemens doing the Ike Turner baritone "Rolling". The crowd is loving it!Bruce honors who he considers one of the greatest voices in Rock and Roll, and pioneer of rock song structure Roy Orbison. Saying he would dare not do this song alone, John and Bruce sing "Pretty Woman". Mercy!!!!! Fun. Nils playing an acoustic guitar giving that song it's classic twangy sound.The piano begins that familiar solo leading into "Jungleland". Bruce runs around the stage as Clarence bangs out the sax. Great!Darlene Love joins Bruce for a song or two.Bruce announces he will do a song from one the best bands ever to come out of England. He smashes and slashes a punky version of "London Calling". I'm in heaven, Not seen that song live since 1983! Little Steven sings part of the song. Cool!Tom Morello comes back out and plays guitar on "Badlands". I can tell you now, no one has ever strummed that song like that ever. Very cool!Bruce announces that New Jersey and Long Island were once one before continental drift. That maybe that's why the populations are so similar. He says their will a reunion, a summit at the Garden. A bridge and tunnel meeting summit. Out comes Billy Joel or as Bruce says the King Of Long Island.Billy sings "Only The Good Die Young". Bruce sings ½ the lyrics. They embrace after the song.Billy plays the piano, and the timely "New York State Of Mind" is on its way. Bruce again sings ½ the lyrics. Wonderful. Can't believe so many people had left and missed this, and that we we are so close now!Bruce launches into "Born To Run" with Billy playing the piano. So cool! The crowd is loving it. I know the end is near. It's 1:30 AM.Finally, everyone joins together for "Higher and Higher". A fitting end to a magical evening!

I still have The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concert on my DVR from when it originally aired on HBO at the end of 2009, and I still often find myself viewing many of the standout performances pretty regularly to this day. I have vowed not to erase it until it is released on Blu Ray and DVD, and finally owning this will be a welcome treat!If you're wondering where the Blu Ray version is of the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts and you're reading this prior to November 2, 2010, the DVD is available at Amazon on September 28th, 2010, and the Blu Ray version of the package is available only at Best Buy for the first 30 days. Man, I hate that. But I've waited now for a year for this release, so waiting an extra 30 days is no sweat I guess. Anyway....If you were at The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts or you saw it when it aired on HBO you already know how awesome these performances were that occurred over the course of two nights in late October 2009. If you haven't seen this and you like music, even just a little, you're in for a great experience. This collection is worth its weight in gold.The great news is that the DVD and Blu Ray releases include a ton of bonus stuff that wasn't aired on HBO, so it'll be great fun again for me to give this entire release a fresh look.According to Time Life, following is what's going to be on the release, and I've marked the standout performances with this mark: ***** Rest assured that almost every performance stands out; it's all a matter of musical preference. I like all kinds of music with a preference for hard rock, but some of these performances truly converted me into a fan of acts that I never liked or really paid little attention to prior to seeing this:TOM HANKSIntroductionJERRY LEE LEWISGreat Balls of FireCROSBY, STILLS & NASHWoodstock*****Almost Cut My HairLove Has No Pride with Bonnie RaittThe Pretender with Jackson BrowneLove the One You're With with James TaylorSTEVIE WONDERFor Once in My LifeThe Tracks of My Tears with Smokey RobinsonThe Way You Make Me Feel with John Legend (watch how Stevie chokes up singing this tribute to Michael Jackson...quite touching)The Thrill Is Gone with B.B. KingHigher Ground/Roxanne with Sting*****Superstition with Jeff Beck*****PAUL SIMONMe and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (not included on the HBO airing)You Can Call Me AlHere Comes the Sun with David Crosby and Graham NashThe Wanderer with Dion DiMucciLittle Anthony and the Imperials:Two People in the WorldSIMON & GARFUNKELThe Sounds of SilenceThe Boxer*****Bridge over Troubled WaterARETHA FRANKLINBaby I Love YouDon't Play That SongChain of Fools with Annie LennoxMETALLICAFor Whom the Bell TollsSweet Jane with Lou ReedIron Man/Paranoid with Ozzy OsbourneAll Day and All of the Night with Ray DaviesEnter SandmanU2VertigoMagnificentBecause the Night with Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Roy BittanI Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For with Bruce SpringsteenGimme Shelter with Mick Jagger and Fergie***** This performance just blew me away; I've watched this over and over again!Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of with Mick JaggerBeautiful DayJEFF BECKPeople Get Ready with StingLet Me Love You Baby with Buddy GuyFoxy Lady with Billy Gibbons*****A Day in the Life*****This number is also part of Beck's Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD which I also highly recommend, but the performance of it here at the R&R 25th is greatly enhanced by large images of The Beatles behind the band.BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND (Gotta admit that I was not the biggest Bruce fan prior to seeing him here; his performances with Sam Moore, and then of all people, Tom Morello absolutely knocked it out of the park.)Hold On I'm Comin' with Sam Moore*****Soul Man with Sam Moore*****The Ghost of Tom Joad with Tom Morello***** Okay, this is THE most memorable performance of the entire concert for me; Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine plays a guitar solo in this song unlike any rock solo I've ever seen!Fortunate Son with John FogertyPretty Woman with John FogertyJungleland*****A Fine Fine Boy with Darlene LoveNew York State of Mind with Billy JoelBorn to Run with Billy JoelYour Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher with Darlene Love, John Fogerty, Sam Moore, Billy Joel and Tom MorelloBONUS MATERIALCROSBY, STILLS & NASHMexico with James TaylorTeach Your Children with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James TaylorSTEVIE WONDERUptightI Was Made to Love HerSigned, Sealed, Delivered I'm YoursMercy Mercy Me with John LegendSIMON & GARFUNKELMrs. Robinson/Not Fade AwayMETALLICATurn the PageIron Man/Paranoid with Ozzy Osbourne (the HBO version was edited; this apparently is not)U2Mysterious WaysWhere Is the Love/One with the Black Eyed PeasJEFF BECKFreeway JamBig BlockBRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BANDLondon Calling with Tom MorelloYour Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher with Darlene Love, John Fogerty, Sam Moore, Billy Joel and Tom Morello (the HBO version was edited; this apparently is not)I don't know how the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert organizers could ever top this. All of these artists join together and play like they've been playing together forever to give viewers one of the most memorable shows in recent rock history.There is no question here. Add this to your cart.

I echo those who found some of the performances extraordinary. I cannot believe that Fergie was the greatest thing on here, but her duet with Mick Jagger, backed by U2, is just an amazing moment. She blows Bono and Jagger OFF THE STAGE. She's that good.Simon dueting with Nash and Crosby on George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun...stellar.Springsteen and Tom Morello--RIVETING.Springsteen overall contributes the finest set. Metallica, the worst, in my opinion, but then, I'm not a big fan of metal, so YMMV. Springsteen was so GENEROUS with all of his guests, which compares rather ill with Stevie Wonder, who barely made space in his song for John Legend. Springsteen made each of his costars take center stage, so Billy Joel, John Fogarty, Sam Moore, and Darlene Love all got to glow and shine. When it was just Bruce and the E Street Band, he was awesome as well. I'm a much bigger U2 and Paul Simon fan than I am a Springsteen fan, but you gotta get this DVD just to see Bruce...My copy had some hiccups, and I still haven't watched Disc 3. But so far...AMAZING