Watch: Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Karen O and More Honor Patti Smith at All-Star Carnegie Hall Benefit Concert
Last night, Patti Smith’s legacy received a fittingly monumental tribute with People Have The Power: Celebrating The Music Of Patti Smith. Onstage at Carnegie Hall’s hallowed Stern Auditorium, the expansive benefit show honored the storied singer-songwriter and New York icon with an all-star cast of performers, who testified to Smith’s influence with words of praise and powerful covers.
In the course of the three-hour program, 25 featured artists performed a total of 27 unforgettable classics and deep cuts from the prolific honoree’s discography and poetry. Among the show’s early highlights were The National frontman Matt Berninger’s opening with “Piss Factory,” Courtney Barnett’s “Redondo Beach,” and Michael Shannon’s smoldering treatment of “Cowboy Truths.” Smith’s longtime friends and collaborators gave particularly striking performances, such at Michael Stipe’s rendition of “My Blakean Year” alongside her tried and true backing band of Tony Shanahan, Jesse Paris Smith, and Andy LeMaster and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s covers of “The Hour of Noon,” “The Songwriter’s Song” and “Departure.”
Other tremendous musical talents from throughout the bill included Ben Harper, Alison Mosshart, Angel Olsen, Glen Hansard, Maggie Rogers and Kim Gordon, who performed alongside Bill Nace as the experimental duo Body/Head. Several stars of the screen paid tribute as well, with Scarlett Johansson, Sean Penn and Johnny Depp (with Mosshart) staging “Reflecting Robert,” “The Golden Cockerel” and “Dancing Barefoot.”
The evening’s final act rolled in with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O offering an electrifying sprint through “Gloria.” Next came none other than Bruce Springsteen, who took the crowd’s energy to a head with a gritty, anthemic take on “Because the Night.” At long last, Smith herself emerged and brought the hall packed with devotees to roar. After a stirring reading, she closed out the show with a pertinent solo revival of “Peaceable Kingdom,” then called out the full cast of the evening’s performers for a grand finale of “People Have the Power.”
The jaw-dropping lineup for People Have The Power: Celebrating The Music Of Patti Smith was complimented by an equally outstanding house band, featuring Flea, Benmont Tench, Steve Jordan and Charlie Sexton and led by Shanahan. The show at once marked the 50th anniversary of Smith’s groundbreaking 1975 opus Horses and raised money for music education for underserved youth, in keeping with the custom of the past 19 annual “Music Of” benefit concerts presented by Michael Dorf.
Check out the highlights for Wednesday’s performance in the fan-recorded videos below, and read on for the full setlist. For more information on the “Music Of” benefits, which have raised over $1.8 million for music education to date, visit musicof.org.
