Bob Dylan was honored last night at a tribute concert to benefit MusiCares. The lineup featured Jack White, Beck, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Willie Nelson, and others. It also had a lengthy speech from Dylan who thanked his early supporters and jibed at critics of his vocals and other famous detractors according to Rolling Stone.
Young covered “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Beck covered “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” White did “One More Cup of Coffee,” Springsteen did “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and Crosby Stills and Nash performed “Girl From the North Country.”
Dylan thanked icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Joan Baez, the Staple Singers, the Byrds, the Turtles, Peter Paul & Mary, Sonny & Cher, and others for supporting his music in his speech. When talking about Hendrix, Dlyan said, “He took some small songs of mine that nobody paid any attention to and brought them up into the outer limits of the stratosphere, turned them all into classics.”
He also talked about some famous artists who wrote him off early on, including the iconic songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and country legend Merle Haggard. “I didn’t really care what Leiber & Stoller thought of my songs,” he said, “’cause I didn’t like their songs, either.”
Dylan also said, “critics say I can’t sing, I sound like a frog. Why don’t critics say that about Tom Waits? Critics say my voice is shot. Why don’t they say that about Leonard Cohen? What have I done to get this special attention?”
Setlist:
Beck: “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”
Aaron Neville: “Shooting Star”
Alanis Morissette: “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
Los Lobos: “On A Night Like This”
Willie Nelson: “Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)”
Jackson Browne: “Blind Willie McTell”
John Mellencamp: “Highway 61 Revisited”
Jack White: “One More Cup Of Coffee”
Tom Jones: “What Good Am I?”
Norah Jones: “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”
Derek Trucks And Susan Tedeschi: “Million Miles”
John Doe: “Pressing On”
Crosby, Stills & Nash: “Girl From The North County”
Bonnie Raitt: “Standing In The Doorway”
Sheryl Crow: “Boots Of Spanish Leather”
Bruce Springsteen: “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”
Neil Young: “Blowin’ In The Wind”
