Saving the Music Business With The House-Band Approach

Monday, 30 November 2009 , 0 Comments

Last night I watched the broadcast premier of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert. While the event mainly featured a bunch of plastic surgery-preserved rock stars whose music would be better served with a viewing of archival, live footage and a listen to the original recordings, the format was well conceived. The event took a house-band approach to showcasing the music of several of the industry’s brightest stars who in turn backed the performances of other guest artists. Crosby, Stills & Nash performed Woodstock, Marrakesh Express and Almost Cut My Hair before being joined by Bonnie Raitt for Love Has No Pride and Midnight Rider. Jackson Browne stepped up to play The Pretender with the trio. James Taylor joined them to perform Mexico and Love The One Your With. CSN then did Rock & Roll Woman on their own before bringing all of their guests back for Teach Your Children.

After playing Vertigo and Magnificent U2 shared the stage with Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith for the Boss’s penned Because The Night. Smith exited the stage as The E Street Band’s Roy Bittan stepped in for I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Next up for U2 was The Black Eyed Peas performing a melody of Mysterious Ways, Where Is The Love and One. Finally, Fergie and Wil.i.am hung around for Gimme Shelter. As the song began Mick Jagger sauntered on stage to do the honors. He and Bono then performed a duet of Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of. U2 finished up the set with Beautiful Day.

As well, Aretha Franklin hosted Annie Lennox and Lenny Kravitz; Jeff Beck held down the fort with Sting, Buddy Guy and Billy Gibbons; Metallica put the pedal to the metal with Lou Reed, Ozzy Osbourne and Ray Davies; Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band were joined by Sam Moore, John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Billy Joel, Tom Morello, Peter Wolf and Jackson Browne; to name just some of the pairings.

The format provided a great way for the artists to highlight their own music, the music of their guests and cover the music of artists not present at the event. To my knowledge this style of concert has never been done before on this scale, but let’s not forget the master at this approach, Bob Dylan. Dylan is such an icon and so revered that some of the biggest names in the business have backed him on whole tours. The Band, Grateful Dead and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers have all hit the road with Bobby D. to have an opportunity to perform his songs.

This approach holds a much greater allure than the super-group take of mixing a few well known names together to create a new entity. The house-band combo possibilities are endless. The fact that you’re talking about a once in a lifetime experience adds to the legend. If Steven Tyler is in fact off to focus on his own brand, how about the remaining members of Aerosmith getting together with Ray Davies, John Fogerty or Patty Smith to perform their music. That would be far more interesting than finding some dude who can replace the big lipped one.

Right here right now, add the list of ideal house-band combos. Participate in putting the spark into the music biz.