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Neil Young became the 20th recipient of the MusiCares Person of the Year award on Friday night.

The Grammy Week event was held at Los Angeles Convention Center on 29 January, with more than 2,000 people in attendance. The host Jack Black was reportedly in hilarious form as he introduced a lineup of nearly 30 artists performing 20 Neil Young songs. The image (left) shows Neil Young receiving the award from Neil Portnow, President/CEO of the MusiCares Foundation and The Recording Academy.

Highlights of the event included:

• Stephen Stills and Sheryl Crow duetting on “Long May You Run”
• Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams’ performing “Comes A Time”
• John Fogerty, Keith Urban and Booker T.’s tearing up the place with their rendition of “Rockin’ In The Free World.”

Stephen Stills and Sheryl Crow pay tribute to Neil Young

Proceeds from the event go to MusiCares’ Emergency Financial Assistance and Addiction Recovery programs.

Two fantastic concerts took place last week at Madison Square Garden to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The first concert on Thursday 29 October  ran four and a half hours and featured  brilliant performances from Simon and  Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen and the E  Street Band, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel,  Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills & Nash, John  Fogerty, Sting, Smokey  Robinson, Jerry Lee  Lewis, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor,  Dion, Little Anthony & the  Imperials, Tom  Morello and John Legend.  Before being joined by Art Garfunkel, Paul  Simon did a solo set of his 70s and 80s hits.

Many of the highlights of the first night featured Bruce Springsteen, including duets with Sam Moore on “Hold On, I’m Coming” and “Soul Man”, John Fogerty on “Fortunate Son,” U2 on “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, Billy Joel on “New York State of Mind” and Darlene Love on “Da Doo Ron Ron.” He also led a great group finale on Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher.”

Friday nights star-studded line-up included U2, Metallica, Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, the Jeff Beck Band, Ray Davies, Ozzy Osbourne, Annie Lennox, Buddy Guy and Lenny Kravitz.

Some of the first night highlights are below.

Group performance - “Higher and Higher”

Bruce Springsteen & John Fogerty - “Fortunate Son”

Bruce Springsteen & Darlene Love - “Da Doo Ron Ron”

Bruce Springsteen & Billy Joel - “New York State of Mind”

Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder - “Tracks of My Tears”

An edited version of the two shows will air on 29 November on HBO. Let’s hope for a more extensive DVD release.