Swoops Like a Song
All-star concert also featured John Mayer Trio, Mavis Staples, Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Jim James, and many more
St. Vincent delivered a faithful rendition of David Bowie’s “Young Americans” as part of Thursday’s Love Rocks NYC benefit, an all-star concert staged at New York’s Beacon Theater to benefit God’s Love We Deliver.
Backed by a massive band that included backup singers and a horn section, Annie Clark echoed blue-eyed soul-era Bowie, working the crowd and singing with a very Thin White Duke inflection.
St. Vincent’s appearance came one night after she covered Portishead’s “Glory Box” alongside the Roots on The Tonight Show.
The Love Rocks NYC 2023 gig also featured Stephen Colbert, the John Mayer Trio, Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Warren Haynes, Stephen Marley, Gary Clark, Jr., Rufus Wainwright, Jim James, Mavis Staples, and many more.
The show — which was also livestreamed — showcased a house band stacked with legendary session and touring musicians, including drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Larry Campbell, and percussionist Pedrito Martinez.
“Producing this annual benefit concert is a labor of love,” the show’s co-executive producer Greg Williamson previously said in a statement. “We are committed to supporting God’s Love and New York City over the long term. Giving back is what makes us the happiest, and to be able to do so through the power of music is as gratifying as it gets.”
Each year, the Love Rocks NYC show raises money for God’s Love We Deliver, a non-profit founded in the mid-Eighties during the AIDS Crisis that cooks and delivers food to people too sick to shop or cook for themselves.