Elvis Costello, the Roots, Chris Rock Lead Carnegie Hall Prince Tribute

Elvis Costello performs with Maya Rudolph of Princess during the rehearsals for 'The Music of Prince' tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

If Thursday night's all-star tribute to Prince – including appearances by D'Angelo, Elvis Costello, the Blind Boys of Alabama and ex-SNL star Maya Rudolph – had a theme, it was that the Minneapolis pop genius' best work could withstand just about any kind of treatment and stand up tall. The latest of Carnegie Hall's annual music-education benefits for underprivileged youth – this one, a sellout, raised over $100,000 – featured a few heavy hitters but also a lot of curveballs, befitting an artist who has played hard to get as often as he has played the accessible hit-maker.

At least some of those curves had to have come from Questlove, the Roots' drummer and musical director for the show. The Roots provided unwavering support for most of the acts, accompanied on guitar by Wendy Melvoin of the Revolution, the band that backed Prince on Purple Rain. In many cases the performers took chances on well-known songs. Or not-so-well-known, as was the case with Costello, who near the end sang an unreleased Prince song called "Moonbeam Levels" (known to many bootleg collectors as "A Better Place to Die"). Which of these two ultra-music-geeks onstage decided on that one – Costello, the man who once wrote a listener's guide to a 24-hour cycle, or Questlove, with his complete collection of Soul Train episodes? Either way, the song scored big, as did much of the night.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince (written by Questlove)

There were low spots – sometimes a tribute show is just a tribute show, especially when it involves Citizen Cope, who did a desultory busker's version of "Pop Life" with Alice Smith. Bhi Bhiman's "When Doves Cry" was similarly monochromatic – gutsy, if boring. It was a nice idea to have a kids' choir do "Raspberry Beret," accompanying Booker T. Jones on organ, but it was too scattered to catch heat. Devotchka's "Mountains" (a minor hit from 1986's Parade, and Prince at his psychedelic-poppiest) had a faultless arrangement – the violin, tuba and trumpet were apt touches – but Nick Urata's strained vocals were a distraction.

Most of the time, though, the show cooked. The Waterboys' Mike Scott and Steve Wickham opened with "Purple Rain," which seemed strange given that song's showstopper status, but Scott sang it straight and true, and violinist Wickham took the iconic solo, a rousing switch-up that prompted the first of the evening's many standing ovations.

Melvoin was hardly the only old Prince hand onstage at Carnegie. Eric Leeds, the saxophonist from Prince's Sign 'o' the Times and Lovesexy bands, soloed on "Ten" (by Madhouse, his old Prince-sponsored jazz-funk unit), and sat in for much of the rest. St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin of the Family, a mid-Eighties Prince act, joined for "High Fashion/Mutiny," off 1985's The Family – another cult favorite that the knowledgeable crowd ate up. Susannah (Wendy's twin sister, who dated Prince for many years) strutted around the stage in a white pantsuit, looking like she was having the time of her life.

Some of the song-artist pairings were obvious: Of course the Blind Boys of Alabama were going to do "The Cross," from Sign 'o' the Times. (And of course Fred Armisen was going to sit in on drums for that one – he used to play indie rock, and "The Cross" is Prince's most Velvet Underground-like song.) Of course D'Angelo would close the show with the celebratory  "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (also from Sign), because he's a great showman and it's a great show song.

And of course Talib Kweli, a politically minded rapper, would do "Annie Christian" (from 1981's Controversy), because it's near-spoken-word about social issues. He got good mileage from extending the bit about "She killed John Lennon" by throwing in other, more recent senseless gun-violence victims ("She shot Gabrielle Giffords"), building to a shout: "Everybody say gun control!"

But much of the music took risks. Bettye Lavette did "Kiss" as a sly, skeletal blues. Sandra Bernhard made "Little Red Corvette" into a semi-monologue, throwing off the crowd's attempts to sing along by following her own rhythms: in true Bernhard style, you didn't know whether it was supposed to be funny or not, but all of it worked, and it brought down the house. (She dedicated it to many Prince women: Sheila E, Vanity, Apollonia, and of course Wendy, who took a small bow, and Lisa Coleman.) Kat Edmondson, a cabaret-jazz singer from Austin, rendered "The Beautiful Ones" as a very slow piano ballad, and nailed it – the last verse was pin-drop quiet, and wrenching.

R&B crooner Bilal, though, went the furthest out, on what may still be the furthest-out song Prince has written: "Sister," a 93-second ode to brotherly-sisterly love from 1980's Dirty Mind. Bilal ran through the song through an iPod playlist's worth of styles, from dramatic art-rock to slow blues and then, finally, back to the frenetic original new wave arrangement. It was a tour de force that many in the audience were talking about after the lights went up.

There was a lot of comedy on stage at Carnegie, but it wasn't simple relief. Chris Rock did the spoken outro from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" as a comic monologue, embellishing it: "Would you laugh and laugh?" – that's from the original song. "Like you heard some shit from Chris Rock?" – that wasn't. And when PrinceSS – Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum's Prince tribute act – came out for "Darling Nikki," dressed a la the man himself (the heavily pregnant Rudolph in trench coat and kerchief, Gretchen looking like Jill Jones in the "1999" video), they even climaxed it with the backward vocals that end side one of Purple Rain. When they finished, Wendy whispered something to them. "Good job" would have been appropriate – for them, and for most of the night.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Elvis Costello, the Roots, Chris Rock Lead Carnegie Hall Prince Tribute

Elvis Costello performs with Maya Rudolph of Princess during the rehearsals for 'The Music of Prince' tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

If Thursday night's all-star tribute to Prince – including appearances by D'Angelo, Elvis Costello, the Blind Boys of Alabama and ex-SNL star Maya Rudolph – had a theme, it was that the Minneapolis pop genius' best work could withstand just about any kind of treatment and stand up tall. The latest of Carnegie Hall's annual music-education benefits for underprivileged youth – this one, a sellout, raised over $100,000 – featured a few heavy hitters but also a lot of curveballs, befitting an artist who has played hard to get as often as he has played the accessible hit-maker.

At least some of those curves had to have come from Questlove, the Roots' drummer and musical director for the show. The Roots provided unwavering support for most of the acts, accompanied on guitar by Wendy Melvoin of the Revolution, the band that backed Prince on Purple Rain. In many cases the performers took chances on well-known songs. Or not-so-well-known, as was the case with Costello, who near the end sang an unreleased Prince song called "Moonbeam Levels" (known to many bootleg collectors as "A Better Place to Die"). Which of these two ultra-music-geeks onstage decided on that one – Costello, the man who once wrote a listener's guide to a 24-hour cycle, or Questlove, with his complete collection of Soul Train episodes? Either way, the song scored big, as did much of the night.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince (written by Questlove)

There were low spots – sometimes a tribute show is just a tribute show, especially when it involves Citizen Cope, who did a desultory busker's version of "Pop Life" with Alice Smith. Bhi Bhiman's "When Doves Cry" was similarly monochromatic – gutsy, if boring. It was a nice idea to have a kids' choir do "Raspberry Beret," accompanying Booker T. Jones on organ, but it was too scattered to catch heat. Devotchka's "Mountains" (a minor hit from 1986's Parade, and Prince at his psychedelic-poppiest) had a faultless arrangement – the violin, tuba and trumpet were apt touches – but Nick Urata's strained vocals were a distraction.

Most of the time, though, the show cooked. The Waterboys' Mike Scott and Steve Wickham opened with "Purple Rain," which seemed strange given that song's showstopper status, but Scott sang it straight and true, and violinist Wickham took the iconic solo, a rousing switch-up that prompted the first of the evening's many standing ovations.

Melvoin was hardly the only old Prince hand onstage at Carnegie. Eric Leeds, the saxophonist from Prince's Sign 'o' the Times and Lovesexy bands, soloed on "Ten" (by Madhouse, his old Prince-sponsored jazz-funk unit), and sat in for much of the rest. St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin of the Family, a mid-Eighties Prince act, joined for "High Fashion/Mutiny," off 1985's The Family – another cult favorite that the knowledgeable crowd ate up. Susannah (Wendy's twin sister, who dated Prince for many years) strutted around the stage in a white pantsuit, looking like she was having the time of her life.

Some of the song-artist pairings were obvious: Of course the Blind Boys of Alabama were going to do "The Cross," from Sign 'o' the Times. (And of course Fred Armisen was going to sit in on drums for that one – he used to play indie rock, and "The Cross" is Prince's most Velvet Underground-like song.) Of course D'Angelo would close the show with the celebratory  "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (also from Sign), because he's a great showman and it's a great show song.

And of course Talib Kweli, a politically minded rapper, would do "Annie Christian" (from 1981's Controversy), because it's near-spoken-word about social issues. He got good mileage from extending the bit about "She killed John Lennon" by throwing in other, more recent senseless gun-violence victims ("She shot Gabrielle Giffords"), building to a shout: "Everybody say gun control!"

But much of the music took risks. Bettye Lavette did "Kiss" as a sly, skeletal blues. Sandra Bernhard made "Little Red Corvette" into a semi-monologue, throwing off the crowd's attempts to sing along by following her own rhythms: in true Bernhard style, you didn't know whether it was supposed to be funny or not, but all of it worked, and it brought down the house. (She dedicated it to many Prince women: Sheila E, Vanity, Apollonia, and of course Wendy, who took a small bow, and Lisa Coleman.) Kat Edmondson, a cabaret-jazz singer from Austin, rendered "The Beautiful Ones" as a very slow piano ballad, and nailed it – the last verse was pin-drop quiet, and wrenching.

R&B crooner Bilal, though, went the furthest out, on what may still be the furthest-out song Prince has written: "Sister," a 93-second ode to brotherly-sisterly love from 1980's Dirty Mind. Bilal ran through the song through an iPod playlist's worth of styles, from dramatic art-rock to slow blues and then, finally, back to the frenetic original new wave arrangement. It was a tour de force that many in the audience were talking about after the lights went up.

There was a lot of comedy on stage at Carnegie, but it wasn't simple relief. Chris Rock did the spoken outro from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" as a comic monologue, embellishing it: "Would you laugh and laugh?" – that's from the original song. "Like you heard some shit from Chris Rock?" – that wasn't. And when PrinceSS – Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum's Prince tribute act – came out for "Darling Nikki," dressed a la the man himself (the heavily pregnant Rudolph in trench coat and kerchief, Gretchen looking like Jill Jones in the "1999" video), they even climaxed it with the backward vocals that end side one of Purple Rain. When they finished, Wendy whispered something to them. "Good job" would have been appropriate – for them, and for most of the night.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Elvis Costello, the Roots, Chris Rock Lead Carnegie Hall Prince Tribute

Elvis Costello performs with Maya Rudolph of Princess during the rehearsals for 'The Music of Prince' tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

If Thursday night's all-star tribute to Prince – including appearances by D'Angelo, Elvis Costello, the Blind Boys of Alabama and ex-SNL star Maya Rudolph – had a theme, it was that the Minneapolis pop genius' best work could withstand just about any kind of treatment and stand up tall. The latest of Carnegie Hall's annual music-education benefits for underprivileged youth – this one, a sellout, raised over $100,000 – featured a few heavy hitters but also a lot of curveballs, befitting an artist who has played hard to get as often as he has played the accessible hit-maker.

At least some of those curves had to have come from Questlove, the Roots' drummer and musical director for the show. The Roots provided unwavering support for most of the acts, accompanied on guitar by Wendy Melvoin of the Revolution, the band that backed Prince on Purple Rain. In many cases the performers took chances on well-known songs. Or not-so-well-known, as was the case with Costello, who near the end sang an unreleased Prince song called "Moonbeam Levels" (known to many bootleg collectors as "A Better Place to Die"). Which of these two ultra-music-geeks onstage decided on that one – Costello, the man who once wrote a listener's guide to a 24-hour cycle, or Questlove, with his complete collection of Soul Train episodes? Either way, the song scored big, as did much of the night.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince (written by Questlove)

There were low spots – sometimes a tribute show is just a tribute show, especially when it involves Citizen Cope, who did a desultory busker's version of "Pop Life" with Alice Smith. Bhi Bhiman's "When Doves Cry" was similarly monochromatic – gutsy, if boring. It was a nice idea to have a kids' choir do "Raspberry Beret," accompanying Booker T. Jones on organ, but it was too scattered to catch heat. Devotchka's "Mountains" (a minor hit from 1986's Parade, and Prince at his psychedelic-poppiest) had a faultless arrangement – the violin, tuba and trumpet were apt touches – but Nick Urata's strained vocals were a distraction.

Most of the time, though, the show cooked. The Waterboys' Mike Scott and Steve Wickham opened with "Purple Rain," which seemed strange given that song's showstopper status, but Scott sang it straight and true, and violinist Wickham took the iconic solo, a rousing switch-up that prompted the first of the evening's many standing ovations.

Melvoin was hardly the only old Prince hand onstage at Carnegie. Eric Leeds, the saxophonist from Prince's Sign 'o' the Times and Lovesexy bands, soloed on "Ten" (by Madhouse, his old Prince-sponsored jazz-funk unit), and sat in for much of the rest. St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin of the Family, a mid-Eighties Prince act, joined for "High Fashion/Mutiny," off 1985's The Family – another cult favorite that the knowledgeable crowd ate up. Susannah (Wendy's twin sister, who dated Prince for many years) strutted around the stage in a white pantsuit, looking like she was having the time of her life.

Some of the song-artist pairings were obvious: Of course the Blind Boys of Alabama were going to do "The Cross," from Sign 'o' the Times. (And of course Fred Armisen was going to sit in on drums for that one – he used to play indie rock, and "The Cross" is Prince's most Velvet Underground-like song.) Of course D'Angelo would close the show with the celebratory  "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (also from Sign), because he's a great showman and it's a great show song.

And of course Talib Kweli, a politically minded rapper, would do "Annie Christian" (from 1981's Controversy), because it's near-spoken-word about social issues. He got good mileage from extending the bit about "She killed John Lennon" by throwing in other, more recent senseless gun-violence victims ("She shot Gabrielle Giffords"), building to a shout: "Everybody say gun control!"

But much of the music took risks. Bettye Lavette did "Kiss" as a sly, skeletal blues. Sandra Bernhard made "Little Red Corvette" into a semi-monologue, throwing off the crowd's attempts to sing along by following her own rhythms: in true Bernhard style, you didn't know whether it was supposed to be funny or not, but all of it worked, and it brought down the house. (She dedicated it to many Prince women: Sheila E, Vanity, Apollonia, and of course Wendy, who took a small bow, and Lisa Coleman.) Kat Edmondson, a cabaret-jazz singer from Austin, rendered "The Beautiful Ones" as a very slow piano ballad, and nailed it – the last verse was pin-drop quiet, and wrenching.

R&B crooner Bilal, though, went the furthest out, on what may still be the furthest-out song Prince has written: "Sister," a 93-second ode to brotherly-sisterly love from 1980's Dirty Mind. Bilal ran through the song through an iPod playlist's worth of styles, from dramatic art-rock to slow blues and then, finally, back to the frenetic original new wave arrangement. It was a tour de force that many in the audience were talking about after the lights went up.

There was a lot of comedy on stage at Carnegie, but it wasn't simple relief. Chris Rock did the spoken outro from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" as a comic monologue, embellishing it: "Would you laugh and laugh?" – that's from the original song. "Like you heard some shit from Chris Rock?" – that wasn't. And when PrinceSS – Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum's Prince tribute act – came out for "Darling Nikki," dressed a la the man himself (the heavily pregnant Rudolph in trench coat and kerchief, Gretchen looking like Jill Jones in the "1999" video), they even climaxed it with the backward vocals that end side one of Purple Rain. When they finished, Wendy whispered something to them. "Good job" would have been appropriate – for them, and for most of the night.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Elvis Costello, the Roots, Chris Rock Lead Carnegie Hall Prince Tribute

Elvis Costello performs with Maya Rudolph of Princess during the rehearsals for 'The Music of Prince' tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

If Thursday night's all-star tribute to Prince – including appearances by D'Angelo, Elvis Costello, the Blind Boys of Alabama and ex-SNL star Maya Rudolph – had a theme, it was that the Minneapolis pop genius' best work could withstand just about any kind of treatment and stand up tall. The latest of Carnegie Hall's annual music-education benefits for underprivileged youth – this one, a sellout, raised over $100,000 – featured a few heavy hitters but also a lot of curveballs, befitting an artist who has played hard to get as often as he has played the accessible hit-maker.

At least some of those curves had to have come from Questlove, the Roots' drummer and musical director for the show. The Roots provided unwavering support for most of the acts, accompanied on guitar by Wendy Melvoin of the Revolution, the band that backed Prince on Purple Rain. In many cases the performers took chances on well-known songs. Or not-so-well-known, as was the case with Costello, who near the end sang an unreleased Prince song called "Moonbeam Levels" (known to many bootleg collectors as "A Better Place to Die"). Which of these two ultra-music-geeks onstage decided on that one – Costello, the man who once wrote a listener's guide to a 24-hour cycle, or Questlove, with his complete collection of Soul Train episodes? Either way, the song scored big, as did much of the night.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince (written by Questlove)

There were low spots – sometimes a tribute show is just a tribute show, especially when it involves Citizen Cope, who did a desultory busker's version of "Pop Life" with Alice Smith. Bhi Bhiman's "When Doves Cry" was similarly monochromatic – gutsy, if boring. It was a nice idea to have a kids' choir do "Raspberry Beret," accompanying Booker T. Jones on organ, but it was too scattered to catch heat. Devotchka's "Mountains" (a minor hit from 1986's Parade, and Prince at his psychedelic-poppiest) had a faultless arrangement – the violin, tuba and trumpet were apt touches – but Nick Urata's strained vocals were a distraction.

Most of the time, though, the show cooked. The Waterboys' Mike Scott and Steve Wickham opened with "Purple Rain," which seemed strange given that song's showstopper status, but Scott sang it straight and true, and violinist Wickham took the iconic solo, a rousing switch-up that prompted the first of the evening's many standing ovations.

Melvoin was hardly the only old Prince hand onstage at Carnegie. Eric Leeds, the saxophonist from Prince's Sign 'o' the Times and Lovesexy bands, soloed on "Ten" (by Madhouse, his old Prince-sponsored jazz-funk unit), and sat in for much of the rest. St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin of the Family, a mid-Eighties Prince act, joined for "High Fashion/Mutiny," off 1985's The Family – another cult favorite that the knowledgeable crowd ate up. Susannah (Wendy's twin sister, who dated Prince for many years) strutted around the stage in a white pantsuit, looking like she was having the time of her life.

Some of the song-artist pairings were obvious: Of course the Blind Boys of Alabama were going to do "The Cross," from Sign 'o' the Times. (And of course Fred Armisen was going to sit in on drums for that one – he used to play indie rock, and "The Cross" is Prince's most Velvet Underground-like song.) Of course D'Angelo would close the show with the celebratory  "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (also from Sign), because he's a great showman and it's a great show song.

And of course Talib Kweli, a politically minded rapper, would do "Annie Christian" (from 1981's Controversy), because it's near-spoken-word about social issues. He got good mileage from extending the bit about "She killed John Lennon" by throwing in other, more recent senseless gun-violence victims ("She shot Gabrielle Giffords"), building to a shout: "Everybody say gun control!"

But much of the music took risks. Bettye Lavette did "Kiss" as a sly, skeletal blues. Sandra Bernhard made "Little Red Corvette" into a semi-monologue, throwing off the crowd's attempts to sing along by following her own rhythms: in true Bernhard style, you didn't know whether it was supposed to be funny or not, but all of it worked, and it brought down the house. (She dedicated it to many Prince women: Sheila E, Vanity, Apollonia, and of course Wendy, who took a small bow, and Lisa Coleman.) Kat Edmondson, a cabaret-jazz singer from Austin, rendered "The Beautiful Ones" as a very slow piano ballad, and nailed it – the last verse was pin-drop quiet, and wrenching.

R&B crooner Bilal, though, went the furthest out, on what may still be the furthest-out song Prince has written: "Sister," a 93-second ode to brotherly-sisterly love from 1980's Dirty Mind. Bilal ran through the song through an iPod playlist's worth of styles, from dramatic art-rock to slow blues and then, finally, back to the frenetic original new wave arrangement. It was a tour de force that many in the audience were talking about after the lights went up.

There was a lot of comedy on stage at Carnegie, but it wasn't simple relief. Chris Rock did the spoken outro from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" as a comic monologue, embellishing it: "Would you laugh and laugh?" – that's from the original song. "Like you heard some shit from Chris Rock?" – that wasn't. And when PrinceSS – Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum's Prince tribute act – came out for "Darling Nikki," dressed a la the man himself (the heavily pregnant Rudolph in trench coat and kerchief, Gretchen looking like Jill Jones in the "1999" video), they even climaxed it with the backward vocals that end side one of Purple Rain. When they finished, Wendy whispered something to them. "Good job" would have been appropriate – for them, and for most of the night.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Roots to Headline Game Day Tailgate

Questlove and Black Thought of the Roots

Before Super Bowl XLVII kicks off on February 3rd, Rolling Stone will celebrate the big game by hosting the Jeep Heroes Tailgate, with hip-hop crew the Roots headlining. In addition to a performance from the Roots, who double as the house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, drummer Questlove will play a DJ set at the party, which kicks of at noon at New Orleans' Generation Hall. Tickets are available here.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Roots to Headline Game Day Tailgate

Questlove and Black Thought of the Roots

Before Super Bowl XLVII kicks off on February 3rd, Rolling Stone will celebrate the big game by hosting the Jeep Heroes Tailgate, with hip-hop crew the Roots headlining. In addition to a performance from the Roots, who double as the house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, drummer Questlove will play a DJ set at the party, which kicks of at noon at New Orleans' Generation Hall. Tickets are available here.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Roots, Talib Kweli Added to Prince Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall

BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

The Roots, Talib Kweli, the Blind Boys of Alabama and more will pay tribute to the songs of Prince at a March 7th benefit show at Carnegie Hall in New York. The concert marks the ninth year that Michael Dorf, owner of City Winery, has pulled the benefit together to raise money for arts education programs. This year, they include the Church Street School of Music, Young Audiences New York, Music Unites, the Pinwheel Project, American Symphony Orchestra's Music Notes, Little Kids Rock and the Center for Arts Education.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince

Past benefit concerts byDorf have honored the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Who, R.E.M. and more, but Prince is notorious for his tight control over his music. Booker T., Living Colour, DeVotchKa and Madeleine Peyroux are also set to perform, and the Roots will run point as the house band for the night. Tickets are available online.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

The Roots, Talib Kweli Added to Prince Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall

BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

The Roots, Talib Kweli, the Blind Boys of Alabama and more will pay tribute to the songs of Prince at a March 7th benefit show at Carnegie Hall in New York. The concert marks the ninth year that Michael Dorf, owner of City Winery, has pulled the benefit together to raise money for arts education programs. This year, they include the Church Street School of Music, Young Audiences New York, Music Unites, the Pinwheel Project, American Symphony Orchestra's Music Notes, Little Kids Rock and the Center for Arts Education.

100 Greatest Artists: Prince

Past benefit concerts byDorf have honored the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Who, R.E.M. and more, but Prince is notorious for his tight control over his music. Booker T., Living Colour, DeVotchKa and Madeleine Peyroux are also set to perform, and the Roots will run point as the house band for the night. Tickets are available online.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Curtis Mayfield Tribute Will Feature the Roots, Sinead O'Connor, TV on the Radio

After the freak accident that paralyzed him in 1990, the great Curtis Mayfield recorded his last album, 1997's New World Order, with heroic effort: by singing one line at a time while lying on his back.

"You think of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel," TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe tell Rolling Stone of the endeavor. "That person is an evolved human being."

Adebimpe will take part the all-star "Here But I'm Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Curtis Mayfield" on Friday alongside the Roots, Aloe Blacc, Sinead O'Connor, Mavis Staples and Mayfield's former band the Impressions at New York's Lincoln Center. The evening marks what would have been the soul king's 70th birthday this June, though Mayfield died in 1999. The event will cover Mayfield's prolific catalog: best known for the classic Super Fly soundtrack (though he wasn't thrilled about working on a "blaxploitation" project), he was an equal master of social awareness ("People Get Ready," "Choice of Colors") and one-on-one sensitivity ("The Makings of You," "Gypsy Woman").

Curtis Mayfield "was an inspiration to me," says TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone, who with his bandmate Adebimpe will perform Mayfield's "Kung Fu" and back O'Connor on her version of "Jesus." He continues, "It's a complicated world, and I don't always want to write about shit that bums me out, but when I do, I don't want to sacrifice musicality." It was Mayfield's gift, he says, to write beautiful songs about hard truths that sometimes aren't pretty.

At Lincoln Center, Aloe Blacc will sing "The Makings of You" and "Back to the World," a message song about the disillusionment of Vietnam-era soldiers coming back to a cold reception in America. "I feel like he was a voice of inspiration to people who didn't feel valued in society with songs like ‘Move On Up,' and he also gave a voice to romance," says the singer.

The house band for the show will be directed by Binky Griptite, who leads Sharon Jones' backing band, the Dap-Kings. After starting out as a funk band, the Dap-Kings became collectively obsessed with Mayfield's lushly orchestrated brand of soul music, which he developed for his first group, the Impressions.

"We'd listen to the Impressions 24 hours a day, the entire catalog," says Griptite, who plays in Mayfield's unorthodox, open F-sharp tuning, which Mayfield taught himself as a boy by tuning to the black keys of a piano. "Those records are just solid tens across the board – incredible songwriting, incredible vocal and band performances. The arrangements are incredible, the recordings are incredible. There's no weakness."

Griptite recently began recording with the surviving Impressions – including longtime members Sam Gooden and Fred Cash, both in their seventies. At a show he arranged for them at the now-defunct Brooklyn club Southpaw, he met a producer for the proposed Lincoln Center tribute, who mentioned that they had a few "missing pieces." "The Impressions and myself turned out to be the missing pieces," he says.

Proceeds from "Here But I'm Gone" will benefit the Curtis Mayfield Foundation, which plans to establish scholarships in the singer's name for Tri-Cities High School, an arts-oriented institution in Atlanta, where the Chicago native and his family made their home in the last years of his life. It is a fitting organization to be connected to the late singer, as his widow, Altheida, tells Rolling Stone. "Curtis never really had that opportunity," she says. "He was literally on his own, kicked out of school in seventh grade and on the road about 11. He always tried to reach back into the inner cities. He went way out of his way to give help."

Mrs. Mayfield says she often meets contemporary artists who tell her how much they admire her husband's music. Kanye West, who has used several of Mayfield's songs as samples, stopped her on the street. She met Andre 3000 in an airport, "and he almost literally got on his knees."

As she reflects, "Curtis was a very humble person. I kind of gathered the impact he was making on the world, but I don't think it ever really hit him that he was touching hearts."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Curtis Mayfield Tribute Will Feature the Roots, Sinead O'Connor, TV on the Radio

After the freak accident that paralyzed him in 1990, the great Curtis Mayfield recorded his last album, 1997's New World Order, with heroic effort: by singing one line at a time while lying on his back.

"You think of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel," TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe tell Rolling Stone of the endeavor. "That person is an evolved human being."

Adebimpe will take part the all-star "Here But I'm Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Curtis Mayfield" on Friday alongside the Roots, Aloe Blacc, Sinead O'Connor, Mavis Staples and Mayfield's former band the Impressions at New York's Lincoln Center. The evening marks what would have been the soul king's 70th birthday this June, though Mayfield died in 1999. The event will cover Mayfield's prolific catalog: best known for the classic Super Fly soundtrack (though he wasn't thrilled about working on a "blaxploitation" project), he was an equal master of social awareness ("People Get Ready," "Choice of Colors") and one-on-one sensitivity ("The Makings of You," "Gypsy Woman").

Curtis Mayfield "was an inspiration to me," says TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone, who with his bandmate Adebimpe will perform Mayfield's "Kung Fu" and back O'Connor on her version of "Jesus." He continues, "It's a complicated world, and I don't always want to write about shit that bums me out, but when I do, I don't want to sacrifice musicality." It was Mayfield's gift, he says, to write beautiful songs about hard truths that sometimes aren't pretty.

At Lincoln Center, Aloe Blacc will sing "The Makings of You" and "Back to the World," a message song about the disillusionment of Vietnam-era soldiers coming back to a cold reception in America. "I feel like he was a voice of inspiration to people who didn't feel valued in society with songs like ‘Move On Up,' and he also gave a voice to romance," says the singer.

The house band for the show will be directed by Binky Griptite, who leads Sharon Jones' backing band, the Dap-Kings. After starting out as a funk band, the Dap-Kings became collectively obsessed with Mayfield's lushly orchestrated brand of soul music, which he developed for his first group, the Impressions.

"We'd listen to the Impressions 24 hours a day, the entire catalog," says Griptite, who plays in Mayfield's unorthodox, open F-sharp tuning, which Mayfield taught himself as a boy by tuning to the black keys of a piano. "Those records are just solid tens across the board – incredible songwriting, incredible vocal and band performances. The arrangements are incredible, the recordings are incredible. There's no weakness."

Griptite recently began recording with the surviving Impressions – including longtime members Sam Gooden and Fred Cash, both in their seventies. At a show he arranged for them at the now-defunct Brooklyn club Southpaw, he met a producer for the proposed Lincoln Center tribute, who mentioned that they had a few "missing pieces." "The Impressions and myself turned out to be the missing pieces," he says.

Proceeds from "Here But I'm Gone" will benefit the Curtis Mayfield Foundation, which plans to establish scholarships in the singer's name for Tri-Cities High School, an arts-oriented institution in Atlanta, where the Chicago native and his family made their home in the last years of his life. It is a fitting organization to be connected to the late singer, as his widow, Altheida, tells Rolling Stone. "Curtis never really had that opportunity," she says. "He was literally on his own, kicked out of school in seventh grade and on the road about 11. He always tried to reach back into the inner cities. He went way out of his way to give help."

Mrs. Mayfield says she often meets contemporary artists who tell her how much they admire her husband's music. Kanye West, who has used several of Mayfield's songs as samples, stopped her on the street. She met Andre 3000 in an airport, "and he almost literally got on his knees."

As she reflects, "Curtis was a very humble person. I kind of gathered the impact he was making on the world, but I don't think it ever really hit him that he was touching hearts."

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Warped Tour Returns To Its Roots

Kevin Lyman (2nd from left) with members of The Used at the Vans Warped Tour kick off party.

The Warped Tour unveiled its 2012 roster and dates on Thursday night with a press conference and launch party, featuring Falling In Reverse, the Used, Dead Sara, Yellowcard and more at L.A.'s Club Nokia. The 2012 edition of the long-running festival will commence June 16 in Salt Lake City and run through August 5 in Portland, Oregon. In typical Warped fashion, the lineups will often vary city to city, with some acts, like Rise Against, who are doing four shows, only doing select dates.

Also true to Warped tradition, the bill will feature a mix of veteran acts, from the Used, Taking Back Sunday, Newfound Glory and Yellowcard to newbies Cherri Bomb, Dead Sara and Matt Toka.

Warped promoter Kevin Lyman told Rolling Stone that he turned to the tour's illustrious history to book this year's talent. "I looked at the 1995 tour, that was a pretty eclectic lineup – Sublime, No Doubt, L7, those are all different sounds," he said. "This year I put it all in there. I think we’ve entered a new time of music, it’s closer to 1995 than ever. You leave your iPod on shuffle and you can go from Taylor Swift to Mumford & Sons to Kanye West to Falling In Reverse."

Taking the festival back to its roots was important for Lyman, who admits he had grown weary of doing the tour a few years ago, to the point he thought it might be nearing its end. "Three years ago, I was actually getting kind of bored. I was probably listening to too many other people. So two years ago I just went back and listened to music again," he says. "I said, 'I’m gonna book an eclectic show and if kids don’t come, okay, it’s maybe time to end this thing.'”

While Warped is known as a punk tour, a vehicle for acts like Bad Religion, NOFX and Pennywise, as well as alternative bands such as My Chemical Romance, it's also been a launch pad for several pop successes, including Gym Class Heroes, Paramore and Katy Perry. Lyman holds a special place in his heart for Perry.

"When this is all over I’m gonna be really proud of hearing one song of Katy Perry and it wasn’t 'I Kissed A Girl.' It was 'Ur So Gay' on a tape and I went, 'I want her on Warped tour,'" he says. "And she came out there and learned how to be a live performer. I’m gonna be very proud that I was part of that start for her in some small way."

This year’s lineup features several returning acts, including the Used coming back a decade after their debut. Lyman would welcome Perry's return, and it wouldn't have to be as a performer. "’I'd love Katy to come back," he says. "I don’t know if it makes sense for her, but I’d love for her to come to a barbecue one night."

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Warped Tour Returns To Its Roots

Kevin Lyman (2nd from left) with members of The Used at the Vans Warped Tour kick off party.

The Warped Tour unveiled its 2012 roster and dates on Thursday night with a press conference and launch party, featuring Falling In Reverse, the Used, Dead Sara, Yellowcard and more at L.A.'s Club Nokia. The 2012 edition of the long-running festival will commence June 16 in Salt Lake City and run through August 5 in Portland, Oregon. In typical Warped fashion, the lineups will often vary city to city, with some acts, like Rise Against, who are doing four shows, only doing select dates.

Also true to Warped tradition, the bill will feature a mix of veteran acts, from the Used, Taking Back Sunday, Newfound Glory and Yellowcard to newbies Cherri Bomb, Dead Sara and Matt Toka.

Warped promoter Kevin Lyman told Rolling Stone that he turned to the tour's illustrious history to book this year's talent. "I looked at the 1995 tour, that was a pretty eclectic lineup – Sublime, No Doubt, L7, those are all different sounds," he said. "This year I put it all in there. I think we’ve entered a new time of music, it’s closer to 1995 than ever. You leave your iPod on shuffle and you can go from Taylor Swift to Mumford & Sons to Kanye West to Falling In Reverse."

Taking the festival back to its roots was important for Lyman, who admits he had grown weary of doing the tour a few years ago, to the point he thought it might be nearing its end. "Three years ago, I was actually getting kind of bored. I was probably listening to too many other people. So two years ago I just went back and listened to music again," he says. "I said, 'I’m gonna book an eclectic show and if kids don’t come, okay, it’s maybe time to end this thing.'”

While Warped is known as a punk tour, a vehicle for acts like Bad Religion, NOFX and Pennywise, as well as alternative bands such as My Chemical Romance, it's also been a launch pad for several pop successes, including Gym Class Heroes, Paramore and Katy Perry. Lyman holds a special place in his heart for Perry.

"When this is all over I’m gonna be really proud of hearing one song of Katy Perry and it wasn’t 'I Kissed A Girl.' It was 'Ur So Gay' on a tape and I went, 'I want her on Warped tour,'" he says. "And she came out there and learned how to be a live performer. I’m gonna be very proud that I was part of that start for her in some small way."

This year’s lineup features several returning acts, including the Used coming back a decade after their debut. Lyman would welcome Perry's return, and it wouldn't have to be as a performer. "’I'd love Katy to come back," he says. "I don’t know if it makes sense for her, but I’d love for her to come to a barbecue one night."

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Soul Asylum Rediscover Their Punk Roots

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum performs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Although they have a brand new studio album, Delayed Reaction (429 Records), ready to go on July 17th, Soul Asylum have also recorded an album of punk covers they expect to release at some point in the near future.

The band's appreciation of vintage punk shouldn't come as a surprise: Soul Asylum began as a punk outfit. "When [Soul Asylum] started, we were Loud Fast Rules," guitarist Dan Murphy tells Rolling Stone. "We practiced at our bass player, Karl's – who sadly passed away – garage. We covered the whole first side of the green Clash record [1977's The Clash], with 'Career Opportunities,' 'What's My Name,' 'Janie Jones.' And we did 'Sonic Reducer,' the Heartbreakers – the good Heartbreakers, with Johnny Thunders, mind you. So that was really a big part of where we were coming from."

The group's singer-guitarist, Dave Pirner, adds that it was drummer Michael Bland who instigated the project. "Michael was kind of egging me into it, actually. We had been sitting around in the studio, and Michael talked to the manager about it, and that was . . . I don't know how long ago. And then over the most recent times of getting together, we went after it.

"I knew the genre well enough to have a back catalog of things I knew off the top of my head. I just started throwing them at Michael, and it was a blast. I think that was probably the most important part of it for me – it really had to be fun, in a punk rock way. It had to be balls-out, and I think we got some results. It certainly sounds better than we used to, when we played a million miles an hour."

While some time-tested punk pioneers were covered (the Stooges with "TV Eye," the MC5 with "Shakin' Street," etc.), there are quite a few lesser known tunes that were tackled as well, including "Your Generation" by Generation X, "Borstal Breakout" by Sham 69, "Attacking the Beat" by the Suicide Commandos and "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys.

"The one that surprised the fuck out of me that I thought we did really well was Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,'" adds Murphy. "It's kind of a shoegazer, mopey song, but you put [on] some guitars and Dave singing, to me, it sounds pretty good."

According to Pirner, at least one non-punk tune was included, featuring a special guest. "I do have [the Meat Puppets'] Curt Kirkwood playing on a song – 'Move Me on Down the Line' by ZZ Top. It was hilarious. They pulled up in their van, he pulled his guitar out, hooked up his guitar, played this awesome solo, packed up his shit, and went down to his gig in New Orleans!"

Murphy admits it's still up in the air as to how these covers will be issued. "To me, it seems like they're completely another thing to release somehow, whether we release it on our website, Myspace or any of that stuff. We definitely want it to get out there, we want people to hear it. It's a total mixed bag."

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Soul Asylum Rediscover Their Punk Roots

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum performs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Although they have a brand new studio album, Delayed Reaction (429 Records), ready to go on July 17th, Soul Asylum have also recorded an album of punk covers they expect to release at some point in the near future.

The band's appreciation of vintage punk shouldn't come as a surprise: Soul Asylum began as a punk outfit. "When [Soul Asylum] started, we were Loud Fast Rules," guitarist Dan Murphy tells Rolling Stone. "We practiced at our bass player, Karl's – who sadly passed away – garage. We covered the whole first side of the green Clash record [1977's The Clash], with 'Career Opportunities,' 'What's My Name,' 'Janie Jones.' And we did 'Sonic Reducer,' the Heartbreakers – the good Heartbreakers, with Johnny Thunders, mind you. So that was really a big part of where we were coming from."

The group's singer-guitarist, Dave Pirner, adds that it was drummer Michael Bland who instigated the project. "Michael was kind of egging me into it, actually. We had been sitting around in the studio, and Michael talked to the manager about it, and that was . . . I don't know how long ago. And then over the most recent times of getting together, we went after it.

"I knew the genre well enough to have a back catalog of things I knew off the top of my head. I just started throwing them at Michael, and it was a blast. I think that was probably the most important part of it for me – it really had to be fun, in a punk rock way. It had to be balls-out, and I think we got some results. It certainly sounds better than we used to, when we played a million miles an hour."

While some time-tested punk pioneers were covered (the Stooges with "TV Eye," the MC5 with "Shakin' Street," etc.), there are quite a few lesser known tunes that were tackled as well, including "Your Generation" by Generation X, "Borstal Breakout" by Sham 69, "Attacking the Beat" by the Suicide Commandos and "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys.

"The one that surprised the fuck out of me that I thought we did really well was Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,'" adds Murphy. "It's kind of a shoegazer, mopey song, but you put [on] some guitars and Dave singing, to me, it sounds pretty good."

According to Pirner, at least one non-punk tune was included, featuring a special guest. "I do have [the Meat Puppets'] Curt Kirkwood playing on a song – 'Move Me on Down the Line' by ZZ Top. It was hilarious. They pulled up in their van, he pulled his guitar out, hooked up his guitar, played this awesome solo, packed up his shit, and went down to his gig in New Orleans!"

Murphy admits it's still up in the air as to how these covers will be issued. "To me, it seems like they're completely another thing to release somehow, whether we release it on our website, Myspace or any of that stuff. We definitely want it to get out there, we want people to hear it. It's a total mixed bag."

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ATP 2012 Lineup Features Afghan Whigs, The Roots, Louis C.K.

The lineup has been announced for I'll Be Your Mirror, the festival curated by Greg Dulli and All Tomorrow's Parties, to be held September 21st-23rd in Asbury Park, NJ. In addition to the first scheduled U.S. show since 1999 for the Afghan Whigs – the trio of Dulli, John Curley and Rick McCollum – the roster will feature an eclectic mix of artists, including the Roots, comedian Louis C.K., José Gonzalez, Charles Bradley, Auotlux and many more.

Before heading Stateside, the Whigs will make their highly anticipated return to the stage this May when the band headlines London's I'll Be Your Mirror fest. Dulli stepped in to curate the U.S. festival when fellow Ohioans Guided By Voices dropped out last December.

A press release unveiling the New Jersey bill breaks the fest down to two days, the Dulli-curated Saturday show and the ATP-chosen Sunday roster. The Saturday roster will feature some acts familiar to those who've followed Dulli, among them his Gutter Twins partner Mark Lanegan leading his own Mark Lanegan Band and Scrawl, the Ohio group whose lead singer, Marcy Mays, sang lead on "My Curse" from the Whigs' Gentleman.

Tickets go on sale this Monday, February 27th. For more information, visit www.ATPfestival.com.

Saturday, 9/22:
Afghan Whigs
Louis C.K.
The Roots
José Gonzalez
Mark Lanegan Band
Dirty Three
The Antlers
The Dirtbombs performing Ultraglide In Black
Scrawl
Sharon Van Etten
Emeralds
Vetiver
Quintron And Miss Pussycat
Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires
DJ Questlove
Reigning Sound 

Sunday, 9/23:
The Make-Up
Hot Snakes
The Magic Band
Autolux
Thee Oh Sees
Factory Floor
Death Grips
I Break Horses
Ty Segall

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ATP 2012 Lineup Features Afghan Whigs, The Roots, Louis C.K.

The lineup has been announced for I'll Be Your Mirror, the festival curated by Greg Dulli and All Tomorrow's Parties, to be held September 21st-23rd in Asbury Park, NJ. In addition to the first scheduled U.S. show since 1999 for the Afghan Whigs – the trio of Dulli, John Curley and Rick McCollum – the roster will feature an eclectic mix of artists, including the Roots, comedian Louis C.K., José Gonzalez, Charles Bradley, Auotlux and many more.

Before heading Stateside, the Whigs will make their highly anticipated return to the stage this May when the band headlines London's I'll Be Your Mirror fest. Dulli stepped in to curate the U.S. festival when fellow Ohioans Guided By Voices dropped out last December.

A press release unveiling the New Jersey bill breaks the fest down to two days, the Dulli-curated Saturday show and the ATP-chosen Sunday roster. The Saturday roster will feature some acts familiar to those who've followed Dulli, among them his Gutter Twins partner Mark Lanegan leading his own Mark Lanegan Band and Scrawl, the Ohio group whose lead singer, Marcy Mays, sang lead on "My Curse" from the Whigs' Gentleman.

Tickets go on sale this Monday, February 27th. For more information, visit www.ATPfestival.com.

Saturday, 9/22:
Afghan Whigs
Louis C.K.
The Roots
José Gonzalez
Mark Lanegan Band
Dirty Three
The Antlers
The Dirtbombs performing Ultraglide In Black
Scrawl
Sharon Van Etten
Emeralds
Vetiver
Quintron And Miss Pussycat
Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires
DJ Questlove
Reigning Sound 

Sunday, 9/23:
The Make-Up
Hot Snakes
The Magic Band
Autolux
Thee Oh Sees
Factory Floor
Death Grips
I Break Horses
Ty Segall

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Jane's Addiction, the Roots Playing Rolling Stone Super Bowl Tailgate Party

Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction perform during KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas in Universal City, California.

Rolling Stone has put together an all-star talent roster for the Volkswagen Rock & Roll Fan Tailgate Party just before the Super Bowl on February 5th in Indianapolis, with performances by Jane's Addiction and the Roots. Joining them on the bill as guest DJ will be ex-Fall Out Boy and current Black Cards member Pete Wentz.

The Tailgate Party follows the previous night's Rolling Stone concert with LMFAO, Gym Class Heroes, Lupe Fiasco and Cobra Starship.

Beloved for their parties – frontman Perry farrell founded Lollapalooza – their artistic sense and their showmanship, Jane's Addiction have turned their live show into performance art. At the core, though, is a band of exceptional musicianship, as seen on their critically acclaimed release of last year, The Great Escape Artist.

Just as Jane's are hailed in the alternative field, the Roots have been widely regarded for years as arguably the greatest live hip-hop band on the planet. Together, the two bands promise to dazzle Indy.

For further information and tickets go to www.rollingstonerockweekend.com.

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