12.12.12

I unfortunately watched the first 2 hours of last night's 12.12.12 Concert for Sandy Relief on mute, as I was at the Newburgh Brewery for trivia night (we came in 2nd and it's still sore so let's move on) and then I was driving home, but I've seen Bruce live so I know he's great; I've never been a huge Bon Jovi fan, but I'm sure they were good; I heard Roger Waters was awesome; and I heard that Clapton is indeed still God. So, let's pick up from there, but instead of going through every act I'll just hit the ones that I have significant thoughts on.

The Who's performance of "Love Reign O'er Me" was just epic. Like stop you in your tracks good.

What the hell was up with Kayne West? I mean, I applaud anyone doing their part to be involved and helping out, but when the bill was first announced I absolutely felt like he was the odd man out of the line-up. And then the performance was like a bad one-man show at an off-off-off-Broadway theatre. He was sure giving it his all, but every time he was onstage doing nothing while some pre-recorded music played I was like, "Seriously, dude?" And what the hell was up with that leather skirt? Was that supposed to be a biker's kilt or something?

I've been a Billy Joel fan for well-over a decade, and I've seen him 4 times. But Billy and his band haven't played a show in 2 years, 9 months, and even though he's had to drop some of his songs to lower keys ("New York State of Mind" and "Only the Good Die Young" were down a whole step; "River of Dreams" was down a half step), he and his band played like they're still doing 52 dates a year. I mean, they were tight! And his voice sounded great. That, too me, felt like the most impressive performance because it was almost as if Billy was coming out of a semi-retirement just to perform at this show, and he killed it. And it's always great to see Tommy Burns, Mark Rivera, and Chrystal Taliefero at his side.

And as for that Paul McCartney/Nirvana performance? I think the fact that the song and performance was completely in-your-face and badass should totally overshadow the whole reunion aspect of it. Because it rocked and it sounded awesome.