{"id":844529,"date":"2025-04-29T20:12:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/patti-smith-has-the-power-see-bruce-springsteen-michael-stipe-karen-o-salute-icon-at-tribute-show\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:12:24","slug":"patti-smith-has-the-power-see-bruce-springsteen-michael-stipe-karen-o-salute-icon-at-tribute-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/patti-smith-has-the-power-see-bruce-springsteen-michael-stipe-karen-o-salute-icon-at-tribute-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Patti Smith Has the Power: See Bruce Springsteen, Michael Stipe, Karen O Salute Icon at Tribute Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stars of alt-rock, classic rock and stage and screen assemble in New York to salute Smith\u2019s songs and poetry<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rollingstoneindia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/patti-smith-tribute-carnegie-hall-960x640.jpg\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rollingstoneindia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/patti-smith-tribute-carnegie-hall-960x640.jpg\" alt><br \/>\n        <span><\/p>\n<p>        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maggie Rogers, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Depp, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and Music Will students perform during \u201cPeople Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,\u201d presented by Michael Dorf at Carnegie Hall in New York on March 26.<br \/>\nTaylor Hill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>If anyone doubted the ongoing relevance of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/patti-smith\/\">Patti Smith<\/a>\u2019s work, that answer arrived at the next-to-last moment at \u201cPeople Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,\u201d a boldface-name-heavy tribute concert Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, a caravan of singers, musician and actors \u2014 some associated with her, some not necessarily \u2014 sang and read Smith\u2019s words, an ongoing testament to the still hypnotic grip of her songs and poems.<\/p>\n<p>The odds that Smith herself would participate were pretty high; after all, she was involved in the planning of the show. But when she finally did, at the very end of the night, Smith didn\u2019t opt for easy nostalgia. She sang-read \u201cPeaceable Kingdom,\u201d a largely overlooked deep cut from 2004\u2019s\u00a0<em>Trampin<\/em>.\u2019 At first it felt like an unusual choice, but then Smith arrived at the refrain: \u201cMaybe one day we\u2019ll be strong enough\/To build it back again\/Build the peaceable kingdom back again.\u201d Her voice exhibiting both resolve and mournfulness, those words hit even harder now, in the era of Trump 2.0, than they did in the aftermath of Sept. 11.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Peaceable Kingdom by Patti Smith @ Patti Smith Tribute Carnegie Hall March 26, 2025\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AUUF_eDxhoc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cPeople Have the Power\u201d had plenty of such charged moments. Pegged to the 50th anniversary of\u00a0<em>Horses<\/em>, the concert was the latest in a now ongoing tradition of all-star tributes at the venue dating back 20 years. As City Winery founder (and concert producer) Michael Dorf announced at the start, the show would include songs from that album but would also focus attention on her overall body of work \u2014 which proved to be some of the most surprising and emotional parts of the night.<\/p>\n<p>Each of these tribute shows has featured a house band that pretty much backs everyone on stage. But what immediately set \u201cPeople Have the Power\u201d apart was last night\u2019s head-turning assemblage. Led by Smith\u2019s longtime bass player and keyboardist Tony Shanahan, the support crew included Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/flea\/\">Flea<\/a>, former Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer and sometime Rolling Stone Steve Jordan, and guitarist Charlie Sexton. The fact that the band included such a range of musicians was itself a message: that Smith\u2019s music wasn\u2019t just \u201cpunk\u201d but has become deeply embedded in the history of American music overall.<\/p>\n<p>With those musicians providing an anchor, some performers channeled Smith in various ways. Sharon Van Etten \u2014 a Jersey native, like Smith \u2014 channeled her inner Smith in phrasing and incantatory delivery on a riveting \u201cPissing in the River\u201d from\u00a0<em>Radio Ethiopia<\/em>. Filling in for Chrissie Hynde, unable to make the show due to the fires at Heathrow Airport, Maggie Rogers started \u201cFrederick\u201d respectfully before launching into overdrive and melding her own stage moves with Smith\u2019s.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/karen-o\/\">Karen O<\/a>\u00a0brought punk cabaret zest to \u201cGloria: In Excelsis Deo.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Karen O. - \u201cGloria\u201d Patti Smith tribute at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY 3\/26\/2025\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uuaJlc-ZdBY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Others reimagined Smith\u2019s work. Playing an acoustic lapslide guitar, Ben Harper turned \u201cGhost Dance\u201d into a dustbowl hymn. \u201cMy Blakean Year,\u201d also from\u00a0<em>Trampin<\/em>\u2019, always sounded a bit like an R.E.M. song, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/michael-stipe\/\">Michael Stipe<\/a>\u00a0made that even more explicit with a hypnotic version that did indeed sound like an outtake from one of those mid-Nineties R.E.M. albums.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Michael Stipe - \u201cMy Blakean Year\u201d Patti Smith tribute 3\/26\/2025 Carnegie Hall, New York, NY\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gGGOYl8ypVA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Some of the covers didn\u2019t quite hit: A version of \u201cRedondo Beach\u201d by Courtney Barnett flattened out the boardwalk-carnival romp of the original, and a take on \u201cDancing Barefoot\u201d by Johnny Depp and the Kills\u2019 Alison Mosshart would have benefitted from a frontman with a more commanding voice.<\/p>\n<p>Yet those moments were overshadowed by far more touching ones. Brought onstage in his wheelchair after his stroke, Jesse Malin stood up and, standing perfectly still, conjured vintage Lower East Side street scuzz on \u201cFree Money,\u201d with Flea switching over to trumpet. Of the handful of actors who tackled Smith\u2019s poems \u2013 a list that included Sean Penn and Jim Jarmusch \u2013 it was Scarlett Johansson\u2019s reading of \u201cDear Robert,\u201d Smith\u2019s farewell to her friend Robert Mapplethorpe, that hit hardest. Music Will, a group of high school and grade-school students whose organization is among those who will benefit from the concert\u2019s ticket sales, pulled out a sweet and charming version of \u201cPaths That Cross\u201d (from 1988\u2019s\u00a0<em>Dream of Life<\/em>) that hints at the song\u2019s future as a high-school graduation theme song.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Because the Night - Bruce Springsteen @ The Music of Patti Smith Carnegie Hall 3\/26\/25\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-atK7jHEnGQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When word leaked out that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/bruce-springsteen\/\">Bruce Springsteen<\/a>\u00a0would be participating, no one doubted that he\u2019d play \u201cBecause the Night.\u201d And sure enough, he did, introducing it with, \u201cIf I had sung this song, it wouldn\u2019t have been a hit\u201d and thanking Smith for doing so. But what no one would he fully anticipated was the extended guitar-freakout Springsteen pulled out at the end of the song.<\/p>\n<p>After she\u2019d resurrected \u201cPeaceable Kingdom,\u201d Smith ended the evening with another song everyone knew was coming, \u201cPeople Have the Power.\u201d At various points since she released more than 35 years ago, the song has connected with a moment in history. Last night, with longtime members of her own band (guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty) behind her, Smith unleashed it again. But in light of the growing number of enraged citizens flocking to town halls or Bernie Sanders and AOC rallies, the song never felt more like a rallying cry. \u201cDon\u2019t forget it \u2014 use your fucking voice!\u201d Smith beseeched at the end. People may have the power after all.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"People Have The Power by Patti Smith @ Patti Smith Tribute Carnegie Hall March 26, 2025\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q42pyOY7A5M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>From <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-live-reviews\/patti-smith-tribute-concert-springsteen-stipe-karen-o-1235302899\/\">Rolling Stone US.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rollingstoneindia.com\/patti-smith-has-the-power-see-bruce-springsteen-michael-stipe-karen-o-salute-icon-at-tribute-show\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stars of alt-rock, classic rock and stage and screen assemble in New York to salute Smith\u2019s songs and poetry Maggie Rogers, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Depp, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and Music Will students perform during \u201cPeople Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,\u201d presented by Michael Dorf at Carnegie Hall in New York on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":844530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27418,952],"tags":[128906,6990],"class_list":{"0":"post-844529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-patti","8":"category-smith","9":"tag-patti","10":"tag-smith"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}