Cast of rock & roll A-listers celebrate Mike McCready at the Showbox

 

An all-star cast of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, along with several local music scene mainstays, honored Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and his efforts to help musicians with addiction and recovery issues Thursday night at the Showbox.

The event, called The MusiCares Concert for Recovery, featured performances from Duff McKagan of Guns N Roses, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others.

The concert began with McCready and McKagan reprising their Stooges tribute act along with former Screaming Trees and Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm. They tore through fiery versions of “Search and Destroy” and “TV Eye” setting up an evening of music from an impressive group of rock & roll A-listers.

Shortly after the brief set of Stooges songs, Wilson, Smith and Josh Klinghoffer of Red Hot Chili Peppers joined McCready and McKagan for Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” Kim Virant, who performed with McCready and Martin at 2015’s Mad Season concert with the Seattle Symphony, accompanied Wilson on vocals and delivered a lively rendition of the song.

From there the hits just kept coming, with McCready acting as the centerpiece of different configurations of one-night-only supergroups, almost every one of which featured Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members jamming together.

 

Joel McHale, who served as host for the concert, jokingly called the stacked lineup a “museum.”

He cracked a few jokes about Seattle and McKagan while also getting in a sarcastic jab at one of McCready’s bandmates.

“(Mike’s) been covering for Eddie Vedder’s shoddy vocals and lack of stage presence for years,” he said.

The “museum” pieces weren’t just on the stage, there were also Hall of Famers in the crowd. McCready’s Pearl Jam bandmates, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Matt Cameron were there to celebrate their friend’s achievement but did not perform.

The high-dollar event, with tickets ranging from $250 to $5,000, was presented by Amazon Music and was a benefit for MusiCares, an organization established in 1989 by the Recording Academy to help musicians in times of financial and medical crisis. As part of its mission MusiCares provides addiction recovery and treatment programs and sober living services.

Ticket revenue along with items that were auctioned off during the event, raised approximately $450,000 for MusiCares. The auction items included a guitar autographed by Pearl Jam, which sold for $16,500 and a watch made from Chris Cornell’s guitar straps, which sold for $15,500.

At the concert, McCready, whose struggles with addiction have been documented, was given the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award in recognition of his work to help others with addiction and the recovery process.

He received the award after a brief speech by McKagan, who has known McCready since he was 14. McKagan said the way his friend plays guitar “portrays the madness and beauty of an addict being set free.”

“Watching you overcome (addiction) has become a beacon to all of us,” McKagan said before handing McCready the award. 

McCready, whose “Yellow Ledbetter” is as much a Jimi Hendrix homage as it is a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute, told a story about how he nearly quit playing music in the late 1980s but had his passion for music rekindled after seeing Vaughan live.

“Something obviously changed because of that, and because of music and Stevie, I ended up playing music again.”

He also thanked his bandmates, family and friends during his speech.

“You could’ve easily kicked me out many times and I would have deserved it. Thank you Jeff, Stone, Matt and Ed for sticking with me for all of these years,” he said.

“We’ve lost too many artists to addiction and mental health issues … tonight I’m grateful to be alive and to receive this award.”

 

The concert wasn’t completely covers. McCready performed his Mad Season song “River of Deceit” with McKagan, Martin and Star Anna on vocals. Anna’s voice carried beautifully through the Showbox and the song was one of the strongest vocal performances of the night.

McCready’s friend Mike Ness of Social Distortion also brought some of his originals to the table. He joined Smith, McCready and McKagan for a pair of Social D songs.

Prior to performing Ness handed McCready a bouquet of roses.

“Instead of bringing these to a funeral, I get to give them to a friend for a milestone,” Ness said while commending McCready’s work with MusiCares.

“Most people don’t realize this about this next song, but I wrote it a couple of years after getting sober and I was kind of reflecting on everything. The first few years (of sobriety) were kind of squirrely … I couldn’t lie, cheat or steal anymore,” Ness told the crowd.

“This is a song about asking for help,” Ness said before beginning “Ball and Chain.”

“Don’t Drag Me Down,” another Social Distortion staple, followed and the two songs almost acted as punk rock bookends for the night.  

 

“Mike is like my other brother and I am always so proud of the amazing work he does fundraising, helping local musicians and inspiring people all around the world to pick up the guitar,” said McCready’s lifelong friend Chris Friel, who was part of the evening’s entertainment as well.

Friel played drums as part of a band called Mike McCready and Friends, which could have just as well been the name on the marquee. That group delivered a few Cheap Trick songs, with Smith on a second drum set providing an exciting double percussion blast, before the evening concluded with a cover of Neil Young’s “Helpless.”

During the song almost every musician who graced the stage Thursday night joined in and an animated McCready jumped on top of multiple tables encouraging crowd participation.

 

Musicians aren’t the only ones who have benefited from McCready’s support. Despite being a Seattle scene fixture in the 90s when Pearl Jam was becoming the biggest band in the world, it wasn’t until 2005 that Hall of Fame DJ Marco Collins ended up befriending McCready.

“I had the opportunity to interview him before a show in San Diego, all the while struggling with a wicked cocaine habit,” Collins said. “This struggle was so obvious that after the interview Mike took time to sit me down and conduct an interview of his own. Mike shared stories of how he finally got clean and his journey to recovery as I listened.”

“After our chat he gave me his number and asked me to call him anytime if I was in a bad space. I don’t have the words to express how much that meant to me, most especially at a time that I needed the most support,” Collins continued.

“I’m sure not alone there. Mike has made a habit of going above & beyond your everyday rockstar and recovered addict by making himself available to those in need … He’s demonstrated his willingness to go the extra mile every time.”

 

Along with helping members of the music community with addiction and recovery, McCready also champions several local bands. His boutique record label, HockeyTalkter Records, releases limited 7″ vinyl singles from many of those artists.

One of those artists is Thunderpussy, a local quartet that McCready helped land a record deal with Stardog and Reprise Records. Last year McCready’s label issued Thunderpussy’s first physical release, the “Velvet Noose” single. McCready played on the track and mentored the band in the studio.

“He genuinely lives and breathes music and he’s more than willing to share his experiences and wealth of knowledge,” Thunderpussy vocalist Molly Sides said about McCready. “The best part about working with Mike is that his interests lie in the emotion of the sound rather than the ‘part.’ There is always room to experiment when you’re in the studio with him.”

“When Mike believes in something, he is in 120 percent,” added Thunderpussy guitarist Whitney Petty. “In the studio Mike taught me that even mistakes can be beautiful and that the journey is just as important as the result. It may sound small, but that is life altering for a musician. He is able to kindle a confidence in people that they didn’t know that they had.”

 

The MusiCares concert was the second honor McCready received for his charitable works this month. On May 5 he was presented the Golden Scarf by Seattle Sounders FC for his work with Treehouse and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. The honor is given to fans who make outstanding contributions to the Seattle community.

It has also been a busy month for the members of Pearl Jam. The same night McCready was presented with the Golden Scarf, his bandmates Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard reunited with their former Mother Love Bone bandmates during a benefit concert for SMASH.

Pearl Jam will be quite busy this year as well. The band is expected to release its eleventh studio record this year and will embark on a European tour and a brief U.S. stadium tour this summer. Pearl Jam is also the subject of an upcoming exhibit at MoPOP called “Pearl Jam: Home & Away,” which will coincide with the band’s two sold-out concerts at Safeco Field.