Tibet House Benefit: Patti Smith, Vampire Weekend, The National And More

Very likely there was no show last night with a more eclectic lineup than the Tibet House benefit at Carnegie Hall in New York. The annual show is curated by composer Philip Glass, who ably gathers musicians across genres to raise awareness for Tibetan issues.

The show began with an invocation from the Drepung Gomang Monastery Monks, whose chants and clangs of percussion gave the evening a dreamlike start. The reverie was quickly, though not unpleasantly, shattered, by Antibalas, the New York, spectrum-spanning soul review. Both on their own, as well as backing Angelique Kidjo, Antibalas had the nicely-attired benefit-goers enthusiastically returning call and response vocals and clapping.

The stage was soon yielded to two of the bigger names in the indie world: Vampire Weekend and The National. Vampire Weekend, backed by a string quartet, performed a new song that showcased continued instrumental, and melodic sophistication delivered via now-standard Vampire Weekend-ism's such as vocal yelps and shimmering guitar notes. Juxtaposed with first album's "M79," also performed, the new song certainly bodes well for future releases.

The National came soon after, performing two brand new songs that will be found, in one form or another, on their next studio album. The first was a five minute-plus, mid-tempo ballad that featured major chord prettiness and stately, restrained guitar work. The second new one was a bit more upbeat, and in the chorus addressed a character named Jenny, adding to the National's lyrical canon of female muses and counterpoints. Two excellent songs were rewarded with some of the loudest applause of the evening.

The show saved its heavyweights for last. Steve Earle performed a song written last year for Joan Baez ("I have a cool job," noted Earle), a lovely roots-based tune that seemed to call for a respectful awareness of the divide between God and man. Later, Patti Smith's band (without Patti) took the stage to perform a medley of hits from The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"), Buddy Holly ("Words Of Love") and Ritchie Valens ("Come On, Let's Go"). Following these three songs, saluting the musicians who were killed in a plane crash fifty years before, the band began the unmistakable groove of Holly's Not Fade Away as Patti Smith herself bopped and skipped her way onto the stage, performing the classic with smiling verve before leading the band, and the crowd, in a version of the Four Tops' "Reach Out (I'll Be There)."

The evening closed with all of the evening's musicians onstage for a ramshackle run through Smith's "People Have The Power." Seeing the stage filled with performers from both the U.S. and, in the case of Tibetan superstar Techung, far beyond made clear not only the evening's musical success but also the success of Philip Glass and the Tibet House to foster a musical and spiritual community where orange-robed, plume-hatted monks can share a stage with a South Jersey punk, four Ivy League grads and an American roots legend, to say nothing of Philip Glass. And now, we look forward to next year's show.