Michael Stipe Sings David Bowie, Laurie Anderson Channels Lou Reed, and More at 38th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert

Jackson Browne, Patti Smith, Tibetan artist and composer Tenzin Choegyal, Michael Stipe, Allison Russell, Tibet House co-artistic director Laurie Anderson, and more were among the guest performers at the 38th annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert at the Stern Auditorium, Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall on Monday, March 3. The 2025.

With a large mural of the Potala Palace in Tibet by Vicki Khuzami as the backdrop, the concert opened with the annual Invocation prayer and sacred chanting with three verses of the Mandala offering prayer, by monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India. Next, the Philip Glass Ensemble shared an extended rendition of Glass’ 1982 composition “Koyaanisqatsi” and waved to the 88-year-old maestro, co-founder of the Tibet House US and co-artistic director, sitting in the balcony above.

Glass’ fellow Tibet House US co-founder Bob Thurman shared some opening remarks, citing the Khuzami mural on the stage and the Buddhist ethos of universal compassion. “This is keeping the flame of that culture that has been badly oppressed by communist dictators of China,” said Thurman, holding a copy of the Dalai Lama’s forthcoming book Voice for the Voiceless. This year also marks the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama on July 6.

The 1950 annexation of Tibet by China, resulted in the loss of Tibetan independence, including freedom of religion, and the exile of the Dalai Lama, along with other human rights issues and conflicts, which the Tibet House US has centered on for nearly four decades.

Keeping schedule within the finely tuned run of performances, Pakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab, along with flutist Domenica Fossati, Zwelakhe-Dume Bell le Pere on stand-up bass, and harpist Maeve Gilchrist, shared the meditative vignettes “Raat Ki Rani,” and “Mohabbat,” before Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal came out, surrounded by the YindaTin Children of Tibet choir, who were making their Carnegie Hall debut and singing in Tibetan. Backed by the Scorchio Quartet, who would reappear throughout the evening, and with the help of some audience participation. Choegyal shared “GangeRi Rawe” from his forthcoming album Be the Sky.

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Smith’s band served as the backing band throughout the evening, and she also shared a spoken word and musical performance, opening with the first of two tributes to her late friend Beat poet and writer Allen Ginsberg, who was also Buddhist, during the evening.

“I actually was brought here, I don’t know how long ago, maybe a couple of decades ago, by Allen Ginsberg,” recalled Smith. “And Allen thought it would be very good for me to work on behalf of the Tibetan people and I was very, very happy to do it. And I still always think about Allen when I’m here. I think of Philip [Glass], and I think of Allen and his Holiness [the Dalai Lama] and the monks and the children.” She added, ‘Before we do our song, I’d like to read the words of Allen Ginsberg,” then led an impassioned reading his 1956 poem “Howl.”

Joined by daughter Jesse Paris Smith on piano, her bassist Tony Shanahan, and cellist Rebecca Good, Smith then shared a song she wrote with Shanahan in 2003 for the late American activist Rachel Corrie, her 2004 Trampin’ track “Peaceable Kingdom,” finishing off with a spoken word “People Have the Power,” closing on it’s decreed the people rule.

Dressed in their own combinations of yellow/gold and blue, mirroring the colors of the Ukrainian flag, tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner performed “How Big is the Rainbow?” Garbus said because it was her birthday, they would be backed by her ‘self-dubbed” backing vocalist the “yArD Birdies,” featuring Anderson, Russell, and Gina Gershon, for “Limelight.”

“It’s an honor to be here,” said Orville Peck, before moving into his 2019 debut single “Dead of the Night” and a cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “Chelsea Hotel #2,” his nostalgic 1974 song about a tryst with Janis Joplin. “I’ve always wanted to cover it,” said Peck, “and this seemed like a nice night to do it.” Peck shared a third performancem, a duet with Russell on “Chemical Sunset,” a song they co-wrote for his 2024 album Stampede and only performed once before.

[RELATED: Interview With Laurie Anderson on the 2025 Tibet House US Benefit Concert]

Russell remained, sharing her “Superlover,” adding in call-outs to D.C., Tibet, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine from her original lyrics referencing Inglewood and Nairobi, and was left visibly moved, her voice trembling by its end. She closed with her 2023 song “Rag Child,” before actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach revisited Ginsberg, reading his 1968 poem “Wales Visitation,” backed by tender movements from the Scorchio Quartet.

When it was Anderson’s turn, she delivered a transformative version of “Junior Dad,” a song her late husband Lou Reed—who also performed at the annual concerts in 2003, 2005, and 2012—originally recorded on his collaborative album with Metallica in 2011, Lulu. As Anderson played her violin, it was interspersed with Reed’s vocals, delivering one of the more moving pieces from the night.

Still with her violin, Anderson accompanied Michael Stipe’s reading of Max Ehrmann’s 1927 poem “Desiderata.” Just four nights after reuniting with his R.E.M. bandmates in Athens, GA for “Pretty Persuasion,” Stipe continued with a stirring version of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” and then shared an even more affecting “No Time for Love Like Now,” his 2020 song with Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon Big Red Machine. Joined by Choegyal on vocals, Stipe dedicated the song to late producer Hal Willner, who he last saw at the Tibet House years earlier.

Manned only by his guitar, Jackson Browne performed his 2002 song “Do You Want to Be There” and Time the Conqueror track “Far From the Arms of Hunger” before Beninese-French singer Angélique Kidjo brought the crowd to its feet (literally) serving the audience with their sing-along roles in her song “Afrika.”

Before the close of the night, Anderson returned to the stage and led the entire house of Carnegie Hall along several Chen-style 21-form Tai Chi movements she learned from Reed. Anderson also shared three rules she and Reed lived by when “there wasn’t enough time to think”—“Don’t be afraid of anyone; get a really good bullsh–t detector and learn how to use it; be really tender.” Anderson also added on a fourth inspired by Mingyur Rinpoche, who has been her Buddhist teacher for many years: “Try to practice how to feel sad without actually being sad.” She added, “And that’s a really great distinction. There are so many sad things …. but do not become sad yourself.”

In 1977, Anderson’s first became connectted to Tibet and the practice of Buddhism and meditation when she went on a retreat with the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and has continued praticing it since then.

Leaving off the gentler reminders of the essence of the Tibetan culture and its ethos, and that of Buddhism, Anderson before introducing New York City punk rockers Gogol Bordello, who closed the show.

Bursting around the Carnegie stage, Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hütz said “The struggle of Ukraine, one in the same with the struggle of Tibet House,” before jumping into an explosive “Solidarity,” joined by Gershon on the jaw harp, and “We Mean It, Man” before the entire group of performers, except Smith, joined on her powerful 1988 anthem “People Have the Power.”

Uma Thurman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Arden Wohl, and Jonah Freeman served as the honorary chairs for the event. Annually, the concert has become a major source of funding for schools, hospitals, and additional needs in Tibet.

The first Tibet House concert was held in 1992 with guests Philip Glass, Henrich Harrer, Robert A.F. Thurman, and the Gyuto Monks and continued to expand each year with past performers David Bowie, Carly Simon, Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Iggy Pop, R.E.M., the Flaming Lips, Eddie Vedder, Alabama Shakes, boygenius, Stephen Colbert, Sharon Jones, The Roots, Trey Anastasio, Jim James, Vampire Weekend, Sigur Rós, Jon Batiste, Nathaniel Rateliff, Keanu Reeves, Brittany Howard, and Cage The Elephant, among many others.

See a photo gallery of the 2025 Tibet House US Benefit Concert below.

Main Photo: The finale performance onstage during the 38th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall on March 03, 2025, in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images Tibet House US)