12-12-12 Concert Rocks the Garden

The 121212 Concert rocked Madison Square Garden last night, as well as maybe 2 billion people watching around the world.

- As expected there was the fusion of The Beatles and Nirvana, when Paul McCartney teamed up with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear to perform a rocking new song called "Cut Me Some Slack". The song was written in just one day, and it sounded a bit like a cross between The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", which Paul opened with, and Nirvana's "Breed". It was definitely a great moment to watch. And you could hear Dave Grohl comment after while leaving the stage, "that was fucking awesome!" We all agree! McCartney had the set of the night, and is still trending on twitter as I write this. Definitely some unexpected songs thrown in.

- McCartney brought out a bunch of the heroes of Hurricane Sandy and then Alicia Keys performed "Empire State of Mind" with all of them on stage, which was a perfect way to cap off the excellent show. Keys also provided the "lighter moment" of the night during her earlier set, only with cell phones instead of lighters of course. Loved seeing MSG glowing all around her.

- Chris Martin of Coldplay had the joke of the night, saying "I know you wanted One Direction but its way past their bedtime, so that's why you get one quarter of Coldplay." He also brought out Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

- Kanye West wore a leather skirt. Maybe he borrowed it from Kim Kardashian's closet?

- The Rolling Stones had a quick two song set, though they were added at the last minute, and have another show on their tour tonight. Mick Jagger must have made people watching who are 30 years younger feel bad about themselves for not being able to move as good as he can. He certainly showed what the "moves like Jagger" really are.

-New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen of course, with Bon Jovi a couple sets after. Jon joined Springsteen during his set, and Bruce joined Bon Jovi during theirs much to the delight of the crowd. Billy Joel also got one of the biggest reactions of the night.

-Howard Stern fans rejoice, It wouldn't be a New York show without a "Baba Booey!" shout making it through, which happened during Billy Crystal's speech.

-Roger Waters and Eddie Vedder did a fine job performing some Pink Floyd classics. The Who also performed a long set, and sounded much better than they did at the Super Bowl a few years ago.

You can pre-order the live album on iTunes or wait for it to come out on CD everywhere. All proceeds go to the Robin Hood Foundation.

12-12-12 Concert TONIGHT

People all over the world can watch the 121212 Concert tonight starting at 7:30pm ET. There are already plenty of rumors about some of the surprises in store for the concert, which will help raise money for the Robin Hood Foundation for Hurricane Sandy relief. A ton of channels will be showing it, such as AMC, Fuse, and HBO. Check the website for more.

One such rumor that has been virtually confirmed is that Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic will be reuniting as Nirvana, with Paul McCartney taking over Kurt Cobain's vocals! A fusion of the biggest musical act of the 1960s & all time, The Beatles, with the biggest band of the 1990s, Nirvana. Apparently they will be performing a new song.

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam will also be singing Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" with original Pink Floyd member Roger Waters.

With The Rolling Stones performing, one can also wonder who might join them onstage to take the female vocals if they perform "Gimme Shelter"? Lady Gaga is doing it at their concert on Saturday, so might she show up? Or Mary J Blige, who performed it with them in London?

London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony

Freddie Mercury

All good things must come to an end, and once again the Olympics have come and gone too quickly, with London 2012 ending with a bang, with one of the best Closing Ceremonies ever. Featuring performances from the likes of The Who, Spice Girls, George Michael, Muse, Anne Lennox as well as the members of Queen with Jessie J on vocals. They were introduced by the late, great Freddie Mercury on big video screens. It was old footage of him (from Live Aid 1985) interacting with a crowd, and the crowd in the London Olympic Stadium interacted back with him in a fantastic moment. This was the highlight along with the next one.

Another amazing moment came when a bunch of children came out to perform John Lennon's legendary song "Imagine". Then old footage of John Lennon came on the screens to sing the song, and it sent everyone into a frenzy (myself included). The children performed the song in sign language. The video was remastered from the archives of Yoko Ono especially for the Olympics. Much better than a hologram! Thank you Yoko for helping to bring John into the closing ceremony, where people from hundreds of countries were together singing and dancing, all "living life in peace." A sculpture of John's face was also created on the floor.

There were also tributes to David Bowie, Pink Floyd and The Beatles of course. The Spice Girls had a fairly good entrance, each coming out on a British style Taxi which then drove around the stadium floor with them standing on top. Russell Brand performed The Beatles' classic "I Am The Walrus" in a very psychedelic setting. Though Jessie J got so much screen time (too much) that I was half expecting her to come out and sing the "Olympic Hymn." Annie Lennox was dressed like some giant bird on a pirate ship which was odd, but interesting. Also got to see a great Monty Python performance. Some NBC viewers are mad that they cut out the band Muse and waited until midnight to show The Who after airing a new sitcom in between. Should have watched a BBC stream.

I loved the closing ceremony, and London knows how to stage on Olympics like no one else. This was their record third time hosting (1908, 1948 & 2012). Next its on to Sochi, Russia for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Spice Girls Reunite