Stephen Stills Ready to Rock at Hall of Fame Anniversary Shows

Posted on Oct 27th 2009 12:15PM by Steve Baltin
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When Crosby, Stills and Nash perform on night one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary shows this week, the legendary trio will be joined by some very familiar friends. "Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Jackson Browne are our visitors," Stephen Stills, who performed and sat down for an interview on Howard Stern's show Tuesday morning, tells Spinner.

As a renowned guitarist in his own right, Stills is anxious to show off his chops on night two when Jeff Beck takes the stage (Beck was originally scheduled to guest with Eric Clapton, but the latter guitarist pulled out for medical reasons). "Jeff Beck I admire immensely. One of my favorite, favorite guitar players of all time," Stills says. "I'd love a chance to be able to do something with [him] because I didn't really get good until I was 50. I think I'm good enough to keep up now."

Stills would also love to work with another legend who's performing that night. "I love Paul Simon," he says. "I've always wanted to play 'You Can Call Me Al' with him. As a fan, I'm loving all of it, but as a musician there's part of me going, 'Let's get a little piece of that one. Just give me eight bars.'"

Night two unquestionably offers more rocking with Metallica and U2 leading the guitar-heavy charge, and Stills is excited to see it. "U2, I've never seen live and I really want to see [Bono] play. There are some songs I love of theirs, some of the early stuff," he says. "I love the guys in Metallica, but when I heard them before, my dental work hurt," he adds, laughing.

The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts take place Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30, at New York's Madison Square Garden.