Last night (April 29), one of the most celebrated artists of all time, Willie Nelson, celebrated his 90th birthday with a packed performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. The performance was billed to have a slew of A-list guests but no one was ready for the collection of characters that accompanied Nelson on his historic birthday. Last night saw the first of the “Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90” two-day performance go down and everyone from Snoop Dogg, Sturgill Simpson, Neil Young to Chris Stapleton showed face for the legendary night.
Things kicked off with Billy Strings covering Johnny Bush’s “Whisky River” and Bob Wills’ “Stay A Little Longer”. Later on in the night, there was a duet with Kris Kristofferson and Rosanne Cash performing “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)”. Tom Jones was brought on stage for a rendition of “Opportunity To Cry” before Bob Weir made an appearance to perform “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”. Weir was followed by a rambunctious performance of “Bloody Mary Morning” by The Chicks who were followed by Miranda Lambert who settled things down with a stirring performance of “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys”.
The aforementioned Stapleton broke out two songs, “The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” and “Always On My Mind” before Jack Johnson appeared to perform “Willie Got Me Stoned”. Neil Young performed with longtime collaborator and bandmate Stephen Stills for “Long May You Run,” from the Stills-Young Band; “For What It’s Worth,” from their band Buffalo Springfield and “Are There Any More Real Cowboys” from Young’s country album Old Ways.
His guests weren’t the only ones performing duets. Nelson had some help from George Strait as the two dueted classics like “Sing One With Willie” and “Poncho and Lefty”. The next guest star came on stage in a puff of smoke as Snoop Dogg then strolled on stage to help Nelson roll up. The two then performed “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die”, which seemed to put Nelson in a great mood for the finale. The show ended with Nelson sitting solo on stage as he sang himself “Happy Birthday” before putting a bow on the whole night with a cover of “Hard To Be Humble” by Mac Davis.
Some of the other performers from Saturday’s show include Beck, Booker T. Jones, Charley Crockett, Margo Price, Gary Clark Jr., Leon Bridges, Norah Jones, Stephen Stills, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers, Tyler Childers and Ziggy Marley. Night two of “Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90” goes down tonight and who kn
