By Gregg Buczkowski, Staff Writer

Friday marked the twentieth annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall. This year’s event featured such diverse talent as gypsy punk rockers Gogol Bordello, singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, legendary composer Philip Glass, and punk icon Iggy Pop, who will be celebrating his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame later this month. The evening began with a traditional chant by a group of monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery.

The first act of the night were Sierra Leone natives Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew whose unique brand of political hip hop entranced the crowd despite the fact that they will not have released any music in this country until June. Up next, the night’s musical director Philip Glass performed two short pieces with just a piano and some light percussion. Irish composer Pierce Turner used his native charm to tell stories of surly cab drivers and serenade the audience with his classical ballets. Rounding out the world artists was Tibetan refugee Tenzin Kunsel who performed a native aria. At only fifteen, Kunsel fearlessly performed as if shed been on stage all her life. It’s not every day that a New York City high school student gets to sing at Carnegie Hall.

The thunderous applause that greeted the Russian-born Regina Spektor showed who the biggest draw of the night was. In the spirit of the evening, Spektor chose to withhold her more popular songs in favor of showcasing the depths of her catalogue. Like most of the night’s acts, her three-song set was over much too quickly. The audience seemed to quickly get over this fact as Eugene Hutz and his band of gypsies approached the stage for a rare acoustic Gogol Bordello performance. The energy they brought into the concert hall was enough to finally force the audience from their seats. In fact, the crowd on the floor got so excited that security felt the need to turn on the house lights and guard the front of the stage as the younger patrons rushed up to dance.

The night reached its final stage as punk pioneer Patti Smith and her band (who up until this point had been serving as the house band all night) took the stage. Smith bizarrely began her set with the O’Jay’s funk classic “Love Train.” The message of tolerance was admirable and suited the night even if the performance came off as rather cheesy. Smith concluded with her definitive version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” which will forever hold up as one of the all-time great live songs. The hyper energetic Iggy Pop was the final act to take the stage. Pop managed to sing a whole verse before transforming to his signature topless performing style. I can’t confirm if he is the first singer to grace this stage without a shirt but it is a safe assumption. At 62, Pop shows no signs of slowing down, packing his three-song set with stage dives and the trashing of microphone stands. To conclude the wonderful night of music everyone came out to sing Patti Smith’s “People Have The Power.”

Iggy Pop performs shirtless at the Tibet House Benefit Show. (Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone)