Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp closed out the 2022 Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction ceremony with a rollicking tribute to the lately departed Jerry Lee Lewis, performing the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer’s “Excessive College Confidential” and “Nice Balls of Hearth.”
The rockers had been backed by Zac Brown Band throughout their barnstorming efficiency. E Avenue Band keyboardist Roy Bittan additionally sat in on the jam — a becoming addition, as Lewis was well-known partially for his livid piano taking part in.
“One final one for the Killer,” Springsteen stated earlier than starting the efficiency. “Anyone know the lyrics? Are you able to get ’em up there?”
Lewis, who died on Oct. 28 on the age of 87, was the final surviving member of the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame’s inaugural class of 1986, which additionally included early rock and R&B luminaries similar to Chuck Berry, James Brown, Fat Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. “Someplace on the planet, in a imply little honky-tonk or huge music corridor or church basement rec room, somebody is taking part in a Jerry Lee Lewis music,” learn a press release from Lewis’ publicist on the time of his dying.
Springsteen and Mellencamp appeared earlier within the night to induct report government Jimmy Iovine and leisure lawyer Allen Grubman, respectively, into the Rock Corridor. Each trade powerhouses acquired the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which acknowledges non-performing music trade professionals who “have had a serious affect on the inventive improvement and development of rock and roll and music that has impacted youth tradition.”
In his speech, Springsteen remembered Iovine convincing him to present Patti Smith an unfinished demo, which was “Right here Comes the Evening,” her largest chart hit. “With Jimmy’s steering, Patti Smith turned ‘Right here Comes the Evening’ into an enormous Prime 5 report – one thing I may by no means have completed, as a result of I did not have the center to show it right into a love music like Jimmy did,” the Boss stated.
Mellencamp, in the meantime, shared a reminiscence of Grubman evaluating the music trade to a “nice huge motherfucking tree” that continues to be “large and unbending. On this tree are a bunch of apples. Just a few keep firmly hooked up, however a lot of the apples, I am sorry to say, they shrivel up and drop to the bottom … sadly forgotten.” He thanked his good friend for ensuring he stayed hooked up to the proverbial tree.
Watch Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp’s Rock Corridor 2022 Jerry Lee Lewis Tribute
Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame 2022 Induction Ceremony’s Greatest Photographs
Photographs from the 2022 Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Induction Ceremony.
