What special guests have you seen brought out at concerts?

Off the top of my head I can only think of two who weren't already on the bill, and they're both during PJ shows:
Neil Young and Bono

Tom Petty brought out Stevie Nicks did- "insider", "stop dragging my heart around" and Stevie sang lead on "I need to know"

Eric Clapton brought out Robert Cray to Play, "Crossroads" in Feb 2007. Cray was the opening act as well.

Pearl Jam with Perry ferrell at ACL 2009 doing "Mountain song"
Ben Harper came out and played slide guitar on "Red Mosquito"

Alejandro Escovedo came out and sang " Always a friend" with Bruce Springsteen for the "Magic" tour.

Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard doing "falling slowly" was pretty awesome!

uninnocent- wrote:

Off the top of my head I can only think of two who weren't already on the bill, and they're both during PJ shows:
Neil Young and Bono

I just remembered I've also seen the Trailer Park Boys do a song with Guns 'n Roses.

The main one I remember was Neil Young joining REM and then Bruce Springsteen at the Vote for Change thing in '04

Also Gary Louris of the Jayhawks has joined the Black Crowes a few times when they've played Mpls.

ETA- I forgot at the Rock For Karl benefit which had Soul Asylum, Gear Daddies, Paul Westerberg and Golden Smog play, the big deal was Bob Mould was there and had Grant Hart come out and play a couple songs with him.

So many I cannot possibly remember them all, but here's some:

PEARL JAM shows:

Randall's Island 1 in 1996 - John Popper on "Even Flow"
MSG 2 in 1998 - Ben Harper on "Indifference"
MSG 1 in 2003 - Ben Harper on "Daughter" tag ("With My Own Two Hands") and "Indifference"; Buzzcocks on "Sonic Reducer" and "Baba O'Riley"
Lollapalooza 2007 - Ben Harper on "No More"
MSG 1 in 2008 - Ricky Ramone on "I Believe in Miracles"
MSG 2 in 2008 - Ace Frehley on "Black Diamond"; Ricky Ramone on "I Believe in Miracles"
MSG 2 in 2010 - Ben Bridwell on "Hunger Strike"

Other shows:

Ben Harper at Irving Plaza in 2005 - Charlie Musselwhite on "Dressed in Black"
Ben Harper at Lollapalooza in 2007 - Eddie Vedder on "Masters of War"
Dave Matthews Band at Central Park in 2003 - Warren Haynes on "Cortez the Killer" and "Jimi Thing"
Foo Fighters at MSG in 2011 - Bob Mould on "Dear Rosemary"; Joan Jett on "Bad Reputation"
Eddie Vedder at Beacon Theatre in 2011 - Liam Finn and Glen Hansard for numerous songs
The Roots at Central Park in 2005 - Mos Def for at least one song - memory a bit hazy
The Roots at Prospect Park in 2009 or 2010 - Talib Kweli for "Get By" and a few other songs

Can't remember any more off the top of my head.

Anyone who attended all four Metallica 30th anniversary shows could compile quite the list.

Javier Bardem (Pearl Jam - Madrid)
Andrew Stockdale (Pearl Jam - Antwerpen)
Ben Harper (Pearl Jam - London and Venice)
Eddie Vedder (Kings Of Leon - Nijmegen)

curlygirly9 wrote:

NYCPJ wrote:

Off the top of my head:

Bob Dylan and Gary US Bonds with Springsteen at the last show of the 2003 tour at Shea Stadium
Sheryl Crow with the Rolling Stones at MSG
Norah Jones with Wilco (opening for Neil Young) at MSG
Ron Wood with Rod Stewart at MSG
Bob Dylan with the Grateful Dead in 1986 (Dylan w/Tom Petty as his back up band opened for the Dead)
Ben Bridwell with PJ at MSG 2 2010
Ace Frehley with PJ at MSG 2 2008
Eddie Vedder with MMJ at East Rutherford 2 2006 (I guess he did that the whole tour? it was still pretty cool)
David Bowie's 50th birthday at MSG 1997-- Guests: Lou Reed, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Billy Corgan, Frank Black, Robert Smith
Clapton with the Allman Brothers
Bob Weir and Phil Lesh with the Allman Brothers
Levon Helm and Taj Mahal with the Allman Brothers
John Bell and Jimmy Herring from Widespread Panic with the Allman Brothers
Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell and Buddy Guy with the Allman Brothers

(At the Allman Brothers 40th anniversary shows at the Beacon Theater, they had guests nearly every night; i live close to the theater and went to a bunch of shows)

YOU WENT TO DAVID BOWIE'S 50TH BIRTHDAY BASH AT MSG?!!!!! I'VE NEVER BEEN SO JEALOUS OF ANYTHING IN MY LIFE! I TAPED IT AND WATCHED IT A MILLION TIMES!

One of the best shows Ive ever seen for sure. I got lucky - I went up to the MSG ticket office the day of the show and they had just released some promoters tickets right next to the stage!

Not counting openers, but counting some festival collaborations:

1995: Farm Aid, Louisville - Willie Nelson plays guitar with Hootie & the Blowfish/everybody does "On the Road Again" after Neil Young's set
1995: Freedom Hall, Louisville - Bela Fleck joins Hootie & the Blowfish
2000: Jillian's, Louisville - Radney Foster & Bill Lloyd join Hootie & the Blowfish
(What? Hootie concerts were fun.)
2001: Madison Square Garden - Daniel Lanois plays a song with U2
2003: Brown Theater, Louisville - John Cale is an unannounced performer at the public radio appreciation show (announced acts were Paul Westerberg, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, and Polyphonic Spree--all for $15)
2008: Bonnaroo - Money Mark and Eddie Vedder each play with Jack Johnson; Kirk Hammett plays with My Morning Jacket; T-Bone Burnett joins Robert Randolph's Revival; many more, I'm sure, but not while I was watching
2010: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville - Vince Gill plays with Eric Clapton
2011: Louisville Palace - Erykah Badu plays with My Morning Jacket during their "Unstaged" show on album release day
2011: PJ20 (Day 2) - All the great collaborations all day long; no real surprises, since Cornell had already played on Day 1, when I wasn't there

Coolest I've seen: 2011, Nashville - Bono pulls a blind guy out of the front row after the show, lets him play his guitar (and take it home afterward) on "All I Want is You." The show is completely over, the rest of the band is halfway off the stage, and it was all Bono to do this cool thing for the guy.

Weirdest I've seen: 2005, Louisville - John Mellencamp puts on a fantastic arena concert less than an hour from his hometown, and during "Pink Houses," he brings out support act Donovan (with whom Mellencamp had already played) and surprise guest Stephen King (YES, THE MASTER OF HORROR) on acoustic guitar. It was surreal. And awesome.