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