Rock Hall benefit announces "Saturday night showstopper"

Before I go any further, I just want to say that the majority of this post will be snark- and opinion-free. I'm sticking to the facts, people, and you can do with them what you will.

Rick French was on News14 earlier today (nearly 2 hours after he said he would be on, but that's more likely to blame on News14's poor scheduling) to announce that Jack Bruce will headline Saturday night's portion of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame benefit concert on Sept. 20. (That's right, it's now a two-day event.) Bruce, who was the lead singer of Cream, will close with a set of Cream tunes, French says, before being joined by his to-be-announced buddies onstage.

Highlights from this morning's announcement include when News14 reporter Tracey Early repeatedly referred to the show as taking place in Raleigh until she glanced down at her notes near the end. Oops! The show will be at Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, which French says was chosen for "its proximity to the UK." I am not kidding.

Other fun "facts":

• "The reserved and VIP [seating] sold out in 22 minutes, I believe," French said. Is that why more than a week later we were still able to find seats via Ticketmaster?
• "The original members of Jefferson Airplane are reuniting with Jefferson Starship and several members of the Grateful Dead to play together," French said. I don't know where to start with this. Jefferson Starship, as it probably doesn't need explaining, is an actively touring band that consists of 2 founders of Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin, as well as Tom Constanten of the Grateful Dead. No other members from Jefferson Airplane or The Grateful Dead have been announced.
  

Honestly, they could trot out Eric Clapton at this show and I still wouldn't be impressed based upon the high expectations this event's promoters set from day one. (Unless maybe they brought out Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend AND Roger Waters — and he'd have to bring the pig, too. These are all names floated by people close to the event.)

It is painfully clear at this point that I'm not the target demographic for this event (and neither are the majority of this blog's readers, so we won't be talking about it much more).

This event is clearly geared toward individuals who were in high school or college in the early 70s and identify with the artists chosen. But you know, I think that's a damn shame. It's unfortunate that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an establishment with inductees spanning several genres of rock music, would go for such a niche audience as to alienate many true music fans.

Is that a little idealistic of me? Absolutely. I guess I just expected too much.