Saturday, 31 October 2009

• The Set List

  I started working on this months ago, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts were first announced.  Hell, I even accepted a credit card I didn't want or need, because American Express cardholders were offered advance ticket purchases.  I worked the internet like a crazy person, grabbing three really good seats without having to take out a second mortgage on the house. 
  
  Thursday afternoon, he who I do not blog about took a train up from Washington DC.  Mrs. Doah and I boarded the same train in Jersey, the three of us arriving in Penn Station in plenty of time for the 7:30 concert.  (If you're not familiar with NYC, Madison Square Garden sits directly atop Penn Station.  More about that later). 
  
  The concert was divided into four sets, each set featuring a superstar act -
            Crosby, Stills and Nash
            Simon & Garfunkel
            Stevie Wonder
            Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
  
  Each of the headline acts invited a variety of guests, some announced, and some unannounced, to join them in performance.  It was an extraordinary evening of music, a time machine that took me back thirty-five years, to the first time I saw C,S &N in concert, but also carrying me forward in time, watching my son singing along to everything, knowing that in thirty-five years, he'll be telling his middle-aged friends about that night back in 2009 when he heard musical history being made.
  
  It is impossible to pick a favorite.  Simon & Garfunkel singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters.  David Crosby singing Almost Cut My Hair.  Steven Stills on guitar, doing Love the One Your With.  Jeff Beck performing Superstition with Stevie Wonder.  Tom Morello playing with Springsteen on The Ghost of Tom Joad.  There were amazing moments, extraordinary people, powerful performances.  Sam Moore (of Sam And Dave).  BB King.  James Taylor.  Sting performing with Stevie Wonder.  John Fogerty performing with Bruce Springsteen.  An unannounced Billy Joel closing the show with Springsteen.
  
  The concert was scheduled to end at 11:30.  I figured that probably meant more like midnite, maybe later.  Time enough to catch the 12:42 am train back to New Jersey.  Hell, if it ran really late, still, plenty of time to catch the 1:41, the last train of the night. 
  
  At 1:30 in the morning, Springsteen calling performers out on stage, breaking into (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, we made our way to the exits, sprinting down into Penn station, seeking the elusive track 12 and the final train to NJ.
  
  The Set List -     
  

  Jerry Lee Lewis :
  “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”

  Crosby, Stills and Nash:
  “Woodstock”
  “Marrakech Express”
  “Almost Cut My Hair”

  Bonnie Raitt with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
  “Love Has No Pride”

  Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash:
  “Midnight Rider”

  Jackson Browne with Crosby, Stills and Nash:
  “The Pretender”

  James Taylor with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
  “Mexico”

  Crosby, Stills and Nash with James Taylor:
  “Love the One You’re With”

  Crosby, Stills and Nash:
  “Rock and Roll Woman”

  Crosby, Stills and Nash with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor:
  “Teach Your Children”

  Paul Simon:
  “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
  “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”
  “You Can Call Me Al”

  Dion DiMucci with Paul Simon:
  “The Wanderer”

  Paul Simon with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
  “Here Comes the Sun”

  Paul Simon:
  “Late in the Evening”

  Little Anthony and the Imperials:
  “Two People in the World”

  Simon and Garfunkel:
  “The Sounds of Silence”
  “Mrs. Robinson”/”Not Fade Away”
  “The Boxer”
  “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
  “Cecilia”

  Stevie Wonder:
  “Blowin’ in the Wind”
  “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”
  “I Was Made To Love You”
  “For Once in My Life”
  “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”
  “Boogie On Reggae Woman”

  Smokey Robinson with Stevie Wonder:
  “The Tracks of My Tears”

  John Legend with Stevie Wonder:
  “Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)”

  Stevie Wonder with John Legend:
  “The Way You Make Me Feel”

  B.B. King with Stevie Wonder:
  “The Thrill Is Gone”

  Stevie Wonder:
  “Living for the City”

  Stevie Wonder and Sting:
  “Higher Ground”/”Roxanne”

  Stevie Wonder with Jeff Beck:
  “Superstition”

  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “10th Avenue Freeze-Out”

  Sam Moore with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “Hold On I’m Comin’”
  “Soul Man”

  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
  “The Ghost of Tom Joad”

  John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “Fortunate Son”
  “Proud Mary”
  “Oh. Pretty Woman”

  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “Jungleland”

  Darlene Love with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “A Fine, Fine Boy”
  “Da Doo Ron Ron”

  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
  “London Calling”
  “Badlands”

  Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “You May Be Right”
  “Only the Good Die Young”
  “New York State of Mind”
  “Born To Run”

  Darlene Love, John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
  “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”

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