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Backstage Pass

Music, concerts, musicians and more.

U2, Mick Jagger and Black Eyed Peas? Must be Rock Hall's Night 2!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Photo credit: Getty Images

    Though the first night of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concerts was far more exciting, the second night held closer to organizers’ plans to tell rock’s wide-ranging history through these superstar sets.
    U2 was certainly the most diverse, moving from a moody “Because the Night” with Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith to a pop-tastic “Where Is the Love” with the Black Eyed Peas. That was a bit too wide a stretch, though Bono did try to inject the song with some gravitas and tried to lighten “One” to fit with the Peas.
    However, the risk on “Gimme Shelter,” bringing together Mick Jagger and Black Eyed Peas, paid off handsomely, turning it into a powerful hybrid of darkness and light. And Bono and Jagger’s front-man face-off on “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” was truly a sight to behold, as Jagger bent a bit to Bono’s phrasing and Bono took on a bit of Jagger’s physicality.
    Metallica’s set was nearly as expansive, lightening up for “Sweet Jane” with Lou Reed and raging with Ray Davies on “All Day and All of the Night.” They were even deferential to Ozzy Osbourne, who remains an unstoppable concert force, as he roared through “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.”
    “The censor will have fun with that one,” Metallica’s James Hetfield said, after Osbourne left the stage. So will the rest of us.

SETLIST: Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire // Aretha Franklin - Baby, I Love You / Don’t Play That Song / Make Them Hear You // Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox - Chain of Fools // Aretha Franklin - New York, New York // Aretha Franklin and Lenny Kravitz - Think // Aretha Franklin - Respect // Jeff Beck - Drown in My Own Tears // Jeff Beck and Sting - People Get Ready // Jeff Beck - Freeway Boogie / Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers // Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy - Let Me Love You // Jeff Beck - Big Block / Rice Pudding // Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons - Rough Boy / Foxy Lady // Jeff Beck - A Day in the Life // Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls / One / Turn the Page // Metallica and Lou Reed - Sweet Jane / White Light/White Heat // Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne - Iron Man / Paranoid // Metallica and Ray Davies - You Really Got Me / All Day and All of the Night // Metallica - Stone Cold Crazy / Enter Sandman // U2 - Vertigo / Magnificent // U2, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Roy Bittan - Because the Night / U2. Bruce Springsteen and Roy Bittan - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For // U2 - Mysterious Ways // U2 and Black Eyed Peas - Where Is the Love/One // U2, Mick Jagger, Fergie and will.i.am - Gimme Shelter // U2 and Mick Jagger - Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of // U2 - Beautiful Day

PHOTO: Bruce Springsteen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary at Madison Square Garden Thursday night by Getty Images

Tags: U2 , Mick Jagger , Black Eyed Peas , Metallica , Ray Davies , Lou Reed , Ozzy Osbourne