Watch All-Star Tributes To The Eagles, Mavis Staples, & James Taylor At The Kennedy Center Honors
The 39th annual Kennedy Center Honors took place earlier this month in Washington, DC and aired last night on CBS, hosted by Stephen Colbert. Among the honorees were Al Pacino, pianist Martha Argerich, and three pop music greats — the Eagles, Mavis Staples, and James Taylor — all seated with Barack and Michelle Obama in the balcony at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Throughout the night, famous folks gave speeches in tribute to the honorees, and a number of musical tributes occurred.
Honoring the Eagles, Kings Of Leon covered “Take It Easy,” Juanes did “Hotel California” with Steve Vai and Steuart Smith, and a group including Kings Of Leon, Juanes, Bob Seger, Vince Gill, and Colbert himself tackled “Life In The Fast Lane.” Tributes to Staples included Andra Day and Bonnie Raitt singing “We Shall Not Be Moved” and Elle King doing “Respect Yourself.” Celebrations of James Taylor involved Sheryl Crow performing “Fire & Rain,” Darius Rucker doing “Sweet Baby James” and “Carolina In My Mind,” and Garth Brooks singing “Shower The People.” Watch all those performances below along with Bill Clinton’s speech about Taylor and some words from Raitt about Staples. Ringo Starr also spoke about the Eagles.