Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2014: a report

The big night of the Rock And roll Hall Of Fame is over... so let's see what happened.

First of all there was the Kiss issue; the band finally was inducted, but we all know the wave of heated arguments which have plagued this celebration. And Kiss indeed - as announced - didn't perform a single note; they took their statues and Paul Stanley told: "This is vindication. People want and deserve more. They want to be part of the nominations and the inductions. They don't want to be spoon-fed the choices. The people buy albums. The people buy tickets. The people who nominate do not".
They left the stage in a hurry and next up was Cat Stevens.

Other highlights of the ceremony included Peter Gabriel (inducted for the second time - he was welcomed in 2010 as a member of Genesis), introduced by Coldplay's Chris Martin; and a fiery performance of the E Street Band, introduced by Springsteen, who joined them in a striking take on "The River" and a long "Kitty's Back".
Then it was the turn of Daryl Hall & John Oates, plagued by sound problems.

Then the attending crowd was treated to a spectacular selection of inductee Linda Ronstadt's hits (she did not attend) by Carrie Underwood, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks, who blended voices on "When Will I Be Loved" and "It's So Easy".

The final section saw R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe inducing Nirvana. Bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic accepted their statuettes, while Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, accepted on his behalf. "I just want to give this to Frances, our daughter, who's not here tonight because she's ill", she said.
Then it was time for some Nirvana music, with Grohl, Novoselic and Smear joined by a parade of edgy female vocalists: they played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with Joan Jett, "Aneurysm" with Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, "Lithium" with St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) and "All Apologies" with Lorde.

The show will be broadcast on May 31 on HBO.