On Thursday night, the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony opened its doors to the public.
Those who packed the Barclays Center had to sit through some painfully dull speeches, but were rewarded with some one-off moments of musical magic that made it all worthwhile.
The pre-show buzz revolved around who would replace Kurt Cobain for Nirvana’s performance.
In the end, surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic chose a cast of women including Joan Jett on “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; New Yorker Annie Clark (aka Saint Vincent) on “Lithium”; teen star Lorde, who sang “All Apologies” gorgeously; and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, who sang a wonderfully twisted and discordant version of “Aneurysm.”
The Nirvana purists will no doubt complain, but as a fervent supporter of female equality in the male-dominated world of rock, Kurt would have absolutely loved it. And he would have loved annoying Nirvana purists even more.
Past and present members of the E Street Band united with Bruce Springsteen to run through “The E Street Shuffle,” “The River” and an epic version of “Kitty’s Back.” Even so, their set still ran shorter than all of the band’s acceptance speeches.
Hall and Oates, meanwhile, collected their award with much less fuss and turned the arena into a white soul dance party with effortlessly cool classics such as “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do).”
It took five people to replace Linda Ronstadt, whose struggle with Parkinson’s prevented her from attending the ceremony.
Instead, Carrie Underwood, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Nicks stepped in to perform “It’s So Easy.” Even with all that class, Ronstadt’s singular voice was still sorely missed.
The unofficial “Why the hell weren’t they inducted already?” award went to Cat Stevens, who was first eligible for induction in 1992.
The Brit brought the crowd to their feet with the tear-jerking “Father And Son,” while a gospel choir-aided “Peace Train” was good enough to inspire former Nirvana member Pat Smear and Courtney Love to break into a jig on the floor.
Considering the previous animosity between the band and Kurt Cobain’s widow, the peace train is clearly working pretty well.
Kicking off the night was Peter Gabriel, who sang with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on an earnest version of “Washing Of The Water” before bringing out Senegalese singer Yossou N’Dour to reprise their 1986 duet “In Your Eyes” to create a vibrant and colorful early highlight.
The notable absentees from the performance roll were KISS, though they accepted the plaudits nonetheless. Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello inducted them by saying they were a “people’s band,” while KISS’ Paul Stanley pointed out that it was the fans’ support that got them where they were.
If that was really the case, you’d think they would be able to resolve their internal arguments to actually play for the KISS army in the crowd. Instead, they chose to bitch and whine all night.
Shame.