James Taylor, John Mayer and More at Love Rocks NYC: Photos

The seventh annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert took place Thursday night at the historic Beacon Theater and featured performances by James Taylor, St. Vincent, the John Mayer Trio, Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Warren Haynes, Gary Clark Jr. and more.

In addition to original music, highlights included St. Vincent covering David Bowie‘s “Young Americans,” Wainwright and Russell performing the Beatles‘ “Across the Universe,” Crow (who also played “You’ve Got a Friend” with Taylor) covering the Rolling Stones‘ “Live With Me,” and Benatar and Giraldo covering Johnny Cash‘s “Ring of Fire.”

You can see photos from the concert below.

Performers took the stage backed by the Will Lee-led house band comprised of Michael Bearden, Larry Campbell, Steve Gadd, Eric Krasno, Pedrito Martinez and Shawn Pelton, with additional support from Paul Shaffer, Ivan Neville and Jimmy Vivino. Stephen Colbert, Andy Cohen, Chevy Chase (who performed a Bill Evans song on the piano with the house band), Phoebe Robinson, Gina Gershon, David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris made appearances, too.

This year’s show featured a reunion of the John Mayer Trio, which had not performed together in six years. In addition to guitarist and singer Mayer, the group includes bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan, who recently made headlines for serving as Charlie Watts‘ replacement in the Rolling Stones.

There were also musical tributes to several late musicians. Haynes performed a cover of David Crosby‘s “Almost Cut My Hair,” noting that the last time he saw Crosby was on the Beacon Theater stage; Russell performed a cover of Christine McVie‘s “Don’t Stop.” “Every woman on this stage is walking in her footsteps,” she said. At the end of the show, all the performers appeared for a group rendition of Jeff Beck‘s version of “People Get Ready.”

Proceeds from the event, which was also livestreamed, benefitted the nonprofit food delivery charity God’s Love We Deliver, which was founded in 1985 during the AIDS epidemic. This year’s show raised more than $3.5 million.

The organization aims to “improve the health and well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition.” The inaugural Love Rocks concert took place in 2017 and has raised over $20 million to date. Previous performers have included Keith Richards, Joe Walsh, Robert Plant, Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Joe Bonamassa and Billy Gibbons.

Love Rocks NYC 2023

Featuring appearances by James Taylor, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and many more.

Source

Author: showrunner