Over the years, the rock 'n' roll legend Patti Smith has taken part in tons of benefits and tribute shows at New York's Carnegie Hall. On Wednesday night, she got one of her own. Last night, Smith and many of her fellow luminaries gathered for an evening that was billed as "People Have The Power: Celebrating The Music Of Patti Smith." The show featured Patti Smith covers from friends and admirers like Michael Stipe, Karen O, Matt Berninger, Jesse Malin, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Kim Gordon, among many others. Patti Smith collaborator Bruce Springsteen was added shortly before the show, and Maggie Rogers served as a last-minute fill-in for Chrissie Hynde, who was stuck in London because of the Heathrow fires. The house band included longtime Smith sidemen Lenny Kaye and Tony Shanahan, as well as Flea and Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench. Jim Jarmusch, Scarlett Johansson, and Sean Penn came out to read poems. A big night!
Bruce Springsteen stepped onstage near the end of the show, and he covered Patti Smith's biggest hit, 1977's "Because The Night." Smith and Springsteen wrote that one together. In his introduction, Springsteen said, "Patti gave me this big hit right here I'm about to sing. If I had sung this song, it would've not been a hit. It needed her voice and her incredible lyrics. So Patti, I have to thank you so dearly for our one big hit together." Watch it below.
Michael Stipe, maybe Patti Smith's single most vocal celebrity fan, sang a hypnotic version of "My Blakean Year." At the rehearsal show at City Winery, he also covered one of the songs that inspired Smith, the Doors' "People Are Strange." For both, he had help from Saddle Creek OG Andy LeMaster and Smith's son Jesse Paris Smith.
The ferociously charismatic Karen O belted out "Gloria," which is technically a cover of Van Morrison's old garage rock Them but which has truly belonged to Patti Smith ever since Horses.
Patti Smith herself ended the show, singing "Peaceable Kingdom" before leading an all-star "People Have The Power" singalong.
