Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
February 26, 2007

New York’s annual Tibet House Benefit started with a conversation between avant-garde composer Phillip Glass and seminal punk-poet Patti Smith and, for the past two decades, has remained an engaging discussion, if not always an invigorating performance. An all-star benefit known for its mix of art-rock elegance and festival-like eclecticism, Tibet House’s annual summit has blossomed into an Indian summer for concertgoers who are equally drawn by the event’s unique collaborations and its pro-Tibet agenda.

Held, fittingly, on the Chinese New Year, this year’s festivities proved to be no different. After an uber-heady introduction from Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, who discussed the country’s current political crisis, Glass and Smith took the reigns and served as the benefit’s unofficial MCs for the remainder of the evening. Given Smith’s connection to New York’s 1970s downtown art world it also makes sense that the annual event has blossomed into a de facto CBGB family reunion featuring several of the scene’s most prominent players: Lou Reed, fiddler Laurie Anderson and Blondie’s Debbie Harry, whose set featured a quirky acoustic version of her punk-disco hit “Heart of Glass.” Smith also recruited one of her most successful protégées, alt-rock icon Michael Stipe, who took the opportunity to debut his William S. Burroughs-inspired Kurt Cobain tribute “Chorus and the Ring.” The R.E.M. frontman later led the Patti Smith Band through a version of his 1992 hit “Everybody Hurts” which, more than anything, proved the staying power of a pop single. Smith and Glass also teamed up to interpret the work of onetime Tibet House regular Allen Ginsberg, who passed away in 1997.

The evening’s elder statesmen, Lou Reed and the Kinks’ Ray Davies, proved to be a study in contrasts. Reed wore a bright, multi-colored jacket on his back and an utterly scary frown on his face, running through versions of “Who Am I?” and “Ecstasy” before leaving the stage. His set featured both a string section and a wall of feedback, leaving most of the crowd disappointed. Davies, on the other hand, offered a jovial, inviting performance stacked with sing-a-longs. He instructed Carnegie Hall to turn on the lights during his hit “Lola” and encouraged audience participation throughout the evening. In general, he left his audience wanting more.  

Perhaps the only thing more eclectic than the evening’s performers was its crowd: a mix of Tibetan academics, Carnegie Hall patrons, art students, bespectacled indie rockers and wide-eyed jam fans. The latter two groups were likely drawn by the benefit’s current trendsetters, Sigur Ros and Ben Harper. Each year, Tibet House manages to remain hip by booking at least one representative from both the Coachella and Bonnaroo camps (past performers have ranged from Trey Anastasio to Nellie McKay to the Black Keys). Harper offered a lovely solo set, highlighted by a collaboration with Glass on “Amen, Omen.” For their bit, Sigur Ros performed acoustic renditions of “Agaetis Byrjun” and “Heysatan.”

As expected, the Patti Smith Band closed out the evening by anchoring an all-star jam based around the sing-a-long “People Have the Power” (a benefit tradition). Smith also nodded to perhaps the music world’s most famous Tibetan activist, George Harrison, by covering the former Beatles’ “Within You Without You” and offered her own “1959.” Indeed, like a dinner table conversation among friends, Tibet House is often predictable, but also always enlivening. 

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