_Lee Butterworth_
Last night, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center hosted a ceremony welcoming the new 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The night, which saw Pearl Jam, Yes, Journey, Joan Baez, Tupac Shakur and Electric Light Orchestra inducted into the Rock Hall, plus the bestowing of the Award for Musical Excellence to Chic’s Nile Rogers, featured several performances from the inductees and more, along with many speeches from the new Rock Hall members and those who welcomed them in.
As Rolling Stone reports, the night kicked off with a remembrance for the late rock and roll legend Chuck Berry, followed by a performance of “Roll Over Beethoven” from ELO before a speech from George Harrison’s son Dhani and subsequent acceptance speeches from ELO members Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. Joan Baez was then inducted by Jackson Browne before she performed her three tunes, ending with “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
The evening continued with the induction of Yes, opening with a speech from Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, who expounded on their fandom of the prog-rock legends during their youth. Geddy would then join Yes for a portion of their performance, which included their classics “Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” Snoop Dogg then emerged to induct Shakur, the first solo rapper to be welcomed into the Rock Hall, recalling stories with the late musician before performing some of his songs with guests including Alicia Keys and T.I.
Next up was the induction of Journey, which was preceded by a speech from Train frontman Pat Monahan. There was debate whether or not classic Journey vocalist Steve Perry would perform with the band on the night, and it turned out that he did not in fact sing during their songs, leaving vocal duties to current frontman Arnel Pineda, whom Perry lauded during his heartfelt speech. Pharrell Williams spoke on the Musical Excellence Award of Nile Rogers, whose own speech noted the many collaborators with whom he has worked, including Williams on the Daft Punk hit “Get Lucky.”
Pearl Jam’s induction was the last one of the night, pleasing what was decidedly a Eddie-Vedder-fan-heavy crowd in Brooklyn. David Letterman, who replaced an ill Neil Young as induction speaker and was the only non-musician speaker, provided one of the night’s highlights, delivering some comedic and heartfelt words on the band. The members themselves then each spoke, with Vedder closing out, before they launched into an impassioned performance of “Alive,” “Given to Fly” and “Better Man,” with Ten-era drummer Dave Krusen behind the kit for the first tune.
The ceremony closed out with an all-star superjam on Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” led by Vedder and Pearl Jam and including Lee, Lifeson, Journey’s Neal Schon, Yes’ Trevor Rabin, Dhani Harrison, Jack Irons and more. Below, see a clip of the Pearl Jam superjam, and read full speeches from the whole night over at Rolling Stone.
No Comments comments associated with this post