The concert of the century

Well, at least for me.  4½ hours of songs, stories and shared warmth.  It was amazing, incredible... wonderful.

You can read some of the press coverage here.

The concert was FANTASTIC!! John Mellencamp, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie... so many more!  Thousands of people standing and cheering for Roger McGuinn, for Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco (why don't I have any of her CDs???). Song after song - Tim Robbins encouraging us to "make Pete happy and sing if we know the words". And so we did - we sang "Union Maid", "Little Boxes", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", "Worried Man", "Freedom", "Amazing Grace",  "We Shall Overcome" which closed the first half of the concert and of course "This Land is Your Land" as the big finale with Pete and EVERYONE on stage.

Tom Chapin did a song called "Garbage" that I haven't thought of in years. And he did it with a special guest star - Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. During the intermission the stage hands set up some stuff that looked like a pile of garbage bags with a garbage can - I thought at first it might have something to do with Pete's crusade for picking up garbage by the side of the road. But just before things got started again, I said to David "It looks like Oscar the Grouch might be in there" and I was right. Very strange.

Norman Lear did a heartfelt tribute to Pete and read a wonderful letter from President Obama congratulating Pete and thanking him for all his years of dedication to this country.

A very sweet and moving photo essay narrated by Pete about his wife Yoshi and their (incredible!) 66 year marriage. Joan Baez had a great quote in it: "You know what it takes to live with a saint? A martyr!"

Dave Matthews did a great version of "Rye Whiskey". Wish he had been on stage longer.

Bruce Springsteen coming on at the end and speaking about how much Pete has meant to him and other song writers and describing Pete as "Looking like your grandfather, if your grandfather can kick your ass!" He did "The Ballad of Tom Joad" and damn near brought down the house. Very un-"I AM A STAR" performance.

After we sang many choruses of "This Land is Your Land" Joan Baez led us in a short but heartfelt singing of "Happy Birthday to You" for Pete.

What a night.

And for those who could not be there, I am happy to tell  you that the entire thing was filmed by a huge crew from PBS which will release it as part of their "American Masters" series, sometime in late August.

The concert of the century

Well, at least for me.  4½ hours of songs, stories and shared warmth.  It was amazing, incredible... wonderful.

You can read some of the press coverage here.

The concert was FANTASTIC!! John Mellencamp, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie... so many more!  Thousands of people standing and cheering for Roger McGuinn, for Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco (why don't I have any of her CDs???). Song after song - Tim Robbins encouraging us to "make Pete happy and sing if we know the words". And so we did - we sang "Union Maid", "Little Boxes", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", "Worried Man", "Freedom", "Amazing Grace",  "We Shall Overcome" which closed the first half of the concert and of course "This Land is Your Land" as the big finale with Pete and EVERYONE on stage.

Tom Chapin did a song called "Garbage" that I haven't thought of in years. And he did it with a special guest star - Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. During the intermission the stage hands set up some stuff that looked like a pile of garbage bags with a garbage can - I thought at first it might have something to do with Pete's crusade for picking up garbage by the side of the road. But just before things got started again, I said to David "It looks like Oscar the Grouch might be in there" and I was right. Very strange.

Norman Lear did a heartfelt tribute to Pete and read a wonderful letter from President Obama congratulating Pete and thanking him for all his years of dedication to this country.

A very sweet and moving photo essay narrated by Pete about his wife Yoshi and their (incredible!) 66 year marriage. Joan Baez had a great quote in it: "You know what it takes to live with a saint? A martyr!"

Dave Matthews did a great version of "Rye Whiskey". Wish he had been on stage longer.

Bruce Springsteen coming on at the end and speaking about how much Pete has meant to him and other song writers and describing Pete as "Looking like your grandfather, if your grandfather can kick your ass!" He did "The Ballad of Tom Joad" and damn near brought down the house. Very un-"I AM A STAR" performance.

After we sang many choruses of "This Land is Your Land" Joan Baez led us in a short but heartfelt singing of "Happy Birthday to You" for Pete.

What a night.

And for those who could not be there, I am happy to tell  you that the entire thing was filmed by a huge crew from PBS which will release it as part of their "American Masters" series, sometime in late August.