Ringo Starr, Joan Jett, and the late-Stevie Ray Vaughan are among the performers who will be honored at the April 18th event, being staged at Public Hall in downtown Cleveland. The city is on a three-year rotation to get the ceremony, which it shares with New York and Los Angeles. The Rock Hall's Todd Mesek says the museum will be producing celebratory concerts and mounting a special exhibit with background on each of the artists
TODD MESEK: It'll be the first thing that people see when they enter the galleries, and we'll use a lot of original, exclusive videos, more interpretive content to explain their impact, and sometimes how they've influenced our culture.
So far, it appears this year’s ceremony will be free of the backstage drama that occurred in Cleveland in 2012 when Guns N Roses singer Axl Rose decided at the last moment he wouldn’t attend his band’s induction. Instead, there’s speculation over whether inductee and soul legend Bill Withers will make his first live performance in years.
Tickets to the Induction sold out in less than an hour, but there are plans for HBO to televise the event in May.
