St Vincent, Mavis Staples, Jim James, Sheryl Crow & more played 2023 Love Rocks NYC (pics, video)
The 7th annual Love Rocks concert benefiting God's Love We Deliver happened Thursday night at Beacon Theatre and, as usual, was an all-star marathon event. Clocking in just under five hours, the show featured performances by James Taylor, St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr, Jim James, Rufus Wainwright, John Mayer, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Mavis Staples, Allison Russell, The War and Treaty, Bernie Williams, Warren Haynes, and more, plus appearances by Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Chevy Chase, Phoebe Robinson and more.
Some of the stand out moments of the evening included:
- St Vincent covered Bowie's "Young Americans" and joined Sheryl Crow for "Real Gone," her song from the Cars soundtrack.
- Sheryl then joined James Taylor for "You Got a Friend" before the entire cast took the stage for a beautiful finale where Gary Clark, Jim James and John Mayer took turns to solo.
- Jim James resurrected his cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man" from 2004
- Allison Russell paid homage to the late Christine McVie with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow"
- Mavis Staples and Rufus Wainwright teamed for a beautiful rendition of "Friendship." Rufus was then accompanied by Allison Russell on clarinet for the Beatles' "Across the Universe"
- Bill Murray joined Pat Benatar on percussion for "Love is a Battlefield," then told a story about how Pat was a waitress in a local bar that he used to drink at with his comedian friends.
- Surprise guest Warren Haynes covered David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair" with Jimmy Vivino
- The night ended with everyone on stage to perform The Impressions’ 1965 Civil Rights anthem “People Get Ready”
Love Rocks 2023 raised $3.5m for God's Love We Deliver. Check out photos by Toby Tenenbaum, plus video of some of the notable performances, below.