Last night in Cleveland, OH, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed its 2015 class which included Ringo Starr, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Green Day, Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Bill Withers, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The “5” Royales.
According to Rolling Stone, the night kicked off with Joan Jett performing her hit “Bad Reputation” before Dave Grohl joined in for “Cherry Bomb.” Jett also collaborated with Miley Cyrus and Tommy James for “Crimson and Clover.”
Additional performances on the night included Tom Morello and Zac Brown paying tribute to Paul Butterfield Blues Band with “Born in Chicago.” Peter Wolf inducted the Chicago blues group and sited several acts that they influenced including the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers. “Witnessing the chemistry between them was spellbinding,” he said. “They brought fury and volume to the electric blues and pioneered a new genre followed by the likes of the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Santana, Steve Miller, the Allman Brothers and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the Geils Band.”
The surviving members then took to the stage to perform Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Working,” which appeared on their debut LP.
Inducting the late Stevie Ray Vaughan was John Mayer, who called him the “ultimate guitarist.” For the performance, Mayer, Doyle Bramhall II and Gary Clark Jr. all joined Jimmie Vaughan and Double Trouble for “Pride and Joy” and “Texas Flood.” Vaughan closed the set with “Six Strings Down,” a tune written for his brother.
After Green Day took the stage to churn through a trio of their hits, Leon Bridges sang The “5” Royales tune “Dedicated to the One I Love” during the In Memoriam segment. The tribute soon turned into “When a Man Loves a Woman,” the late Percy Sledge’s hit.
A slew of musicians paid homage to the late Lou Reed, who was inducted by friend Patti Smith. Karen O and Nick Zinner started it off with “Vicious” before Beck came out for an acoustic rendition of “Satellite of Love” backed by the house band that included Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra.
One of the biggest mysteries of the evening was whether or not Bill Withers would perform, since he hadn’t done so publicly in almost 25 years. After Stevie Wonder inducted him, Withers gave one of the more entertaining, humorous speeches of the night, saying that “Stevie Wonder inducting me into the Hall of Fame is like a lion opening the door for a kitty cat.”
While Withers wouldn’t technically perform, he did take the stage while Stevie Wonder performed his hit “Ain’t No Sunshine.” John Legend then came out for “Use Me” before collaborating with Wonder on “Lean On Me.”
The finale of the night found Paul McCartney inducting the last Beatle to enter the Hall in drummer Ringo Starr. “Ringo is just something so special,” McCartney said. Once the musicians took to the stage, Green Day backed Starr on “Boys” before nearly every performer including McCartney, Grohl, Tom Morello, Stevie Wonder and more joined in on “With a Little Help From My Friends” and a closing “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
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