Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp closed out the 2022 Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction ceremony with a rollicking tribute to the not too long ago departed Jerry Lee Lewis, performing the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer’s “Excessive Faculty 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 partly 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 resembling Chuck Berry, James Brown, Fat Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. “Someplace on the earth, in a imply little honky-tonk or huge music corridor or church basement rec room, somebody is taking part in a Jerry Lee Lewis tune,” learn a press release from Lewis’ publicist on the time of his loss of life.
Springsteen and Mellencamp appeared earlier within the night to induct file govt Jimmy Iovine and leisure lawyer Allen Grubman, respectively, into the Rock Corridor. Each trade powerhouses obtained the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which acknowledges non-performing music trade professionals who “have had a significant affect on the inventive growth and progress of rock and roll and music that has impacted youth tradition.”
In his speech, Springsteen remembered Iovine convincing him to offer Patti Smith an unfinished demo, which was “Right here Comes the Night time,” her greatest chart hit. “With Jimmy’s steerage, Patti Smith turned ‘Right here Comes the Night time’ into an enormous High 5 file – one thing I may by no means have accomplished, as a result of I did not have the heart to show it right into a love tune 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 “huge and unbending. On this tree are a bunch of apples. A couple of keep firmly connected, however a lot of the apples, I am sorry to say, they shrivel up and drop to the bottom … sadly forgotten.” He thanked his pal for ensuring he stayed connected 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 Finest Pictures
Pictures from the 2022 Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Induction Ceremony.
