The Sunday Gotham Blog usually has a musical theme, so when your regular Sunday Blogger asked me to fill in, I decided to maintain the beat.  When you go to a major pop or rock concert these days there are usually not many surprises – setlists are usually pretty static and you can look everything up online before the show (which can be very useful to schedule restroom visits).  One of the real thrills at a concert is when the featured act brings another artist onstage for a (seemingly) impromptu collaboration.  I am going to count down the ten best guest appearances I have seen.  When the “guest star” was already performing on the same bill, I factored that into the rankings (noted with an *).

10. Dead & Company w/ Maggie Rogers –   Friend of the Devil  and The Weight.  Madison Square Garden, 2019.  Maggie Rogers added some spunk to both songs, which were sung in rounds.

9.  Trey Anasastaio Band with Dave Matthews Everyday, Three Little Birds, Whatever Gets You Through the Night, I Want to Take You Higher.  Richmond, 2001.  The DMB frontman drove over from Charlottesville to sit in on the last four songs of the night, including his own then-unreleased Everyday

8.  Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band with Bruce Hornsby & Robbin Thompson – Let;s Go, Let's Go, Let's GoLet's Go, Let's Go.  The Boss called up two local legends, including his old Steel Mill bandmate, for an homage to Hank Ballard, who had passed a few days earlier.

7.  Sarah McLachlan with Bonnie Raitt* Angel from Montgomery. Santa Monica, CA  1998.  A very moving rendition of the John Prine classic.  Part of a benefit concert that also included Jackson Browne, Los Lobos and Keb Mo.

6. Grateful Dead with Steve Miller* One More Saturday Night,  Baba O'Riley/Tomorrow Never Knows  Washington DC, 1992.  The Who/Beatles encores with Steve Miller wowed the crowd.

5. Dave Matthews Band w/ Neil Young*  All Along the Watchtower.  Charlottesville, VA 2001.  Neil & Crazy Horse had opened this benefit concert, and the contrast between his electric Matthews’ acoustic made for an interesting cover of this class. (I couldn't find video or audio of this show anywhere).

4. Yusel/Cat Stevens with Eddie Vedder* Father and Son Central Park, 2016  We arrived at Global Citizen Festival just in time for Cat Stevens’ set, and he closed with this duet with the Pearl Jam frontman.

3.  Eddie Vedder with Beyonce*  Redemption Song, Central Park 2015.  Pearl Jam headlined Global Citizen the previous year, and Vedder called up Beyonce (who performed earlier) during PJ’s usual acoustic encore to duet on the Bob Marley classic (sandwiched between full band covers of Imagine and  Rockin in the Free World). 

2.  Pearl Jam with Rick Nielsen & Tom Pettersen of Cheap Trick  Surrender and Sting Driven to Tears MSG 2016.  When any major rock act ends a tour leg in New York, there is always a rumor that Bruce Springsteen will show up.  When the Cheap Trick mainstays came out for Surrender (which was the show’s 6^th song), the crowd was confident a bigger guest was in store.  Watch how Sting walks onstage after the first verse and walks off during the outro.

1. U2 with Bruce Springsteen I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/Stand By Me   MSG 2015.  This time the rumor was true.  It wasn’t exactly a surprise, as U2 had brought on increasingly prominent guest stars each night during their MSG run (Paul Simon came on the night before and the Boss’s daughter posted a photo of her with Bono on social media before the show).  Still, the crowd energy was through the roof near the end of U2’s career-spanning show. 

Who was the favorite "guest star" you have seen?