Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

¥“IT’S YOUR SHOW,”LCD Soundsystem

frontman James Murphy shouted to

asold-outMadisonSquareGarden.

TheragingfarewellbyMurphy’sbe-

loved group was aLast Waltzfor New

York’s early-’00s dance-rock scene.

“I thought it would be really sad,”

recalls keyboardist-vocalist Nancy

Whang. “But it was just fun. The en-

ergy in the room was really charged.”

Fans danced to near-exhaustion as

LCD played songs from their entire

catalogue. With barely two months

to prepare the nearly four-hour spec-

tacle, featuring a choir, a horn sec-

tionandaricketyspaceship,theband

tackled a production scale beyond its

experience. “It was held together with

gumandstring,”Whangadmits.

The night (captured in the 2012 film

Shut Up and Play the Hits)endedin

a snowstorm of balloons, culminat-

ing the band’s dream of throwing “the

best funeral ever”. WILL HERMES

¥“I’M SORRY IFthis is your first con-

cert,”KanyeWestsaidtoaLosAn-

geles crowd on the Watch the Throne

tour. “It’s all downhill from here.”

Supporting their

triumphal 2011

LP, Watch the

Throne, Jay Z

and Kanye con-

vened the great-

est super star

summit in hip-

hop history. The

pair performed

on giant, rising

cubes that pro-

jected video, and,

when the tour hit Paris, encored

with their hit “Niggas in Paris” 12

times in a row. “People just want-

ed more,” says the tour’s lighting de-

signer Nick Whitehouse. “It made

people crazy.”CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN

¥THEIDEAWASto celebrate the 25th

anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall

of Fame with no less than the most

important multi-artist concert in

history. “I knew the anniversary had

potency,”saidHallofFameFounda-

tion chairman (andRolling Stone

founder) Jann Wenner. “I thought

thatwehadearnedtherightandre-

sponsibilitytodothisthing.Itwasan

opportunity not to be missed.”

Theorganisersweredetermined

toputonashowthatwasfarmore

ambitious than any of the previous

megashows, while capturing the in-

timate, collaborative spirit of the

annual induction ceremonies and

tellingthestoryofrock&roll.“[I

kept saying], ‘If this is just minicon-

certsofgreatesthits,I’mbored’,”re-

called co-producer Robbie Robert-

son. “ ‘What do we have to offer that

youcan’tgetanywhereelse?’”

Theshows,heldovertwonights

atNewYork’sMadisonSquareGar-

den,werearockfan’sdream,with

all the artists delivering blister-

ing, unforgettable sets, no doubt in-

spiredbythepresenceofsomanyof

theirpeersandtheevent’sgrandeur.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street

Band, who closed the first night, per-

formed at their absolute peak, turn-

ing themselves into a soul revue as

they backed Billy Joel, John Foger-

ty, Tom Morello and Darlene Love.

U2 brought Springsteen back the

next night, but the biggest moment

cameneartheendoftheirset,when

they kicked into “Gimme Shelter”,

and–outofnowhere–anunbilled

Mick Jagger appeared onstage to the

stunneddelightofthecrowd.

Thefirstnightbeganwithanod

to rock’s origins: Jerry Lee Lewis

pounding out “Whole Lotta Shakin’

Goin’On”.NextwereCrosby,Stills

and Nash (joined by Bonnie Raitt,

Jackson Browne and James Taylor),

Stevie Wonder (with guests Smokey

Robinson, John Legend, B.B. King,

StingandJeffBeck)andanote-

perfectSimonandGarfunkel.On

the closing night, Aretha Franklin

sang with Annie Lennox and Lenny

Kravitz;JeffBeckjammedwith

BuddyGuy,BillyGibbonsandSting;

and Metallica backed Ray Davies,

Ozzy Osbourne and Lou Reed.

“Foralotofushere,rock&roll

means just one word: liberation. Po-

litical, sexual, spiritual liberation,”

Bono said onstage, before Spring-

steen interrupted him with the

other side of the equation: “Let’s

havesomefunwithit!” ANDY GREENE

JAY Z &

KANYE WEST

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

ROCK AND ROLL

HALL OF FAME

2011-12

APRIL 2, 2011

‘WATCH THE

THRONE’ TOUR

MADISON

SQUARE

GARDEN

OCTOBER29-30,2009 25TH-ANNIVERSARYCONCERT

July, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 77

GREATEST

50 CONCERTS

FROM TOP: KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE; GETTY IMAGES

GREAT

HALL OF

FAME

MOMENTS

1995

Neil Young

and Led

Zeppelin rip

through

“When the

Levee

Breaks”.

2002

Talking Heads

put aside

years of

bitterness for

one final set.

2004

Prince

honours

George

Harrison with

a smoking

“While My

Guitar Gently

Weeps” solo.

Bono and

Jagger in

New York,

2009

Kanye

and Jay Z