Long Live Rock (Media Platforms)! Why The Rock Hall’s Induction Ceremony Is A Music Nerd Paradise

At least you know I’m not lip-synching,” said Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran after an audio glitch forced his band to halt its performance to a packed-out Microsoft Theater (now the Peacock Theater) in Los Angeles for the cold opening of the 2022’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Thankfully, it was an anomaly, an exceedingly rare misstep during what is one of the most complex live events to produce and ultimately one of the most fulfilling live experiences a music nerd can ever have.

These days, with its expansive definition of “rock,” there’s something for almost everyone at the induction ceremony, which this year will be held at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse where inductees from a wide swath of music genres will be honored. In addition to rock (Peter Frampton, Foreigner), there’s hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest), pop (Cher), funk (Kool & The Gang), metal (Ozzy Osbourne), rock-jazz-jamband fusion (Dave Matthews) and R&B/hip-hop (Mary J. Blige). There’s much more when you include the disparate groupings of the Musical Influence Award’s Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall; and Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield representing the Musical Excellence category in addition to trailblazing executive Suzanne de Passe, 2024’s Ahmet Ertegun Award recipient.

All of which is great, except maybe if you’re charged with creating and overseeing an exquisite four-plus hour show live-streamed on Disney+ and Hulu for the second year, without any commercial interruptions.

“There’s 11 (honorees) who all have stage moments and five are films honoring deceased inductees,” says the show’s executive producer Joe Gallen, who 13 days out says he is “underwater.”  Facing inordinate amounts of pressure, however, is something Gallen knows well with his illustrious career producing live events that have done far more than honor musicians; but have helped bring together millions of people and raise funds in times of severe crises. This includes his Emmy-winning “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” produced 10 days after 9/11; “Shelter From the Storm,” a benefit for Katrina in 2005; “Hope for Haiti” followed the Haitian Earthquake in 2010; the “iHeart Living Room Concert for America” during the pandemic in March of 2020; and the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in 2022.

Gallen’s mind-boggling production career personifies the oft-repeated trope that music brings people together like nothing else and the events he’s helmed repeatedly prove this.

“When you think about Neil Young’s performance of ‘Imagine’ on the ‘9/11’ show, you couldn’t have picked a better moment,” Gallen says. “Springsteen opening ‘My City of Ruins,’ an obscure song a lot of Springsteen fans, including myself, had never heard until that show, giving it a whole new meaning. Absolutely music is very healing and very powerful. And on our ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,’ shows, we’re always looking for those moments that won’t necessarily be healing, but certainly impactful and powerful and emotional. … What we’re putting on the screen is not formulaic, my motto’s always been it’s a music show first and a television show second.”

Each inductee’s induction package includes four powerful multimedia elements, which when taken together form a robust multi-dimensional narrative. This includes: a high-quality short doc with the inductee’s tent poles, performances, testimonials and context that sets the stage (literally, that’s when production change-overs happen); a presenter (or collaborator) whose life is deeply enriched by the inductee (this year’s includes a murderer’s row in Dr. Dre, Dua Lipa, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Julia Roberts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Demi Lovato, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Dr. Dre and Ella Mai); the honoree’s speech, which Gallen says the artists primarily write themselves; and finally, the inductee’s performance (some with this year’s phenomenal house band, The Roots), which more often than not gives the greatest insight into an artist’s genius.

“The films have always been our secret sauce,” says Gallen who’s put together “22 or 23” Rock Hall ceremonies. “You have to have 25 years of sustained work or more to get into the Hall of Fame. So let’s remind people of why, let’s feature interviews with artists that have been impacted and inspired and influenced by these inductees.”

Gallen credits his brain trust which includes Rock Hall Foundation Chairman John Sykes along with Judy McGrath and Rick Krim (all alums of MTV, who Gallen has also worked for), Joel Peresman and someone from the live business: CAA Music head Rob Light. “He’s very helpful,” Gallen says. “He gives a lot of great input on a lot of different elements.”

Gallen’s larger team is hands-on with each performance. “We create every performance from scratch,” he says. “Obviously, we use a lot of the screens and have a great team of people and producers who sit down and listen to the music and create these environments that we put on the screens. We try to stay away from scenic and set pieces like other shows, it’s more of an environment. Last year was the first time we had big choreography because we had Missy Elliott and that’s just part of her thing. We’ll have a little bit again this year, but for the most part, it’s really about who’s our band, what the screens will look like and who’s going be the guests to join our inductees and make the moment that much more special. I’m very hands-on with this, along with a handful of people on my team.”

In the last three years, they’ve gone from L.A.’s Microsoft Theatre to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. During the show Gallon is perched in a production truck backstage and notes each venue presents opportunities and challenges “Every year it’s a new challenge and all every year there’s new surprises,” he says. “I’m always trying to top what we’ve done before, but a lot depends on the artist. So if they bring it, then the show brings it.”