Photo Credit: Marc Millman
Last night, Sept. 18, Chad Smith and Andrew Watt set up shop at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Brooklyn Bowl for the second staging of Smith & Watt Steakhouse, the duo’s pop-up cover project that made headlines in August for bringing a surprise guest appearance from Paul McCartney to the 250-capacity Stephen Talkhouse venue in Amagansett, N.Y. For their hotly-anticipated return, the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer and Grammy-winning producer/artist served up a five-star, 25-course feast, featuring an all-star cast of special guests that went beyond high expectations. In a two-hour program, the hosts welcomed sit-ins from Jimmy Fallon, Black Thought, Chris Robinson, Robert Randolph and more.
Beyond Smith’s seat behind the drums and Watt leading with guitar and vocals, the duo had backing from Saturday Night Live guitarist and bandleader G.E. Smith, keyboardist Ben Stivers, bassist Ivan Bradley and a horn quartet. Before its celebrity roll-call, the ensemble stormed the stage with an epic opener of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” then ripped through Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” the Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat” and David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.”
When the band heralded their first guest with Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Coming,” they stopped short for the roaring reaction to Jimmy Fallon, who sauntered onstage to celebrate his 50th birthday. The iconic comedian and The Tonight Show host jumped, shouted and commanded the microphone as he belted out The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues.” When he wrapped the blues-rock beatdown, storied promoter and Brooklyn Bowl creator Peter Shapiro launched the band into “Happy Birthday” as Fallon was presented a cake.
The Roots emcee and The Tonight Show regular Black Thought followed, bringing the house down with “The Seed (2.0)” from his landmark 2002 album Phrenology. The artist kept kicking it for Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s New York classic “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” adding a freestyle to both. Next came singer-songwriter Charlotte Lawrence, who provided vocals for Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” The Police’s “Roxanne” and The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.”
As the show moved towards its final act, pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph joined the band, remaining on from ripping runs of Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Chile” and “Purple Haze” through the end of the encore. This stacked ensemble had one more surprise in store, welcoming The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson for an explosive cover of the Faces’ “Stay With Me;” watch a fan-recorded video of the treatment below.
The Southern-rock star followed up with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” launching the rest of the band into a segued five-track jam of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and three more Zeppelin tracks to wrap the set. Once the lights went down and up again, the band and Randolph issued an encore of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” The Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post” and a show-closer of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which featured Lawrence again for a grand finale.
Get an inside look at the all-star celebration in the gallery below, courtesy of photographer Marc Millman. Read on for a snap of the setlist and videos from the stage.
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