You know you've hit legendary status when this parade of stars come out to sing your songs and read your poetry in your honor: Paul Banks, Courtney Barnett, Matt Berninger, Johnny Depp, Sharon Van Etten, Kim Gordon, Ben Harper, Glen Hansard, Susanna Hoffs, Jim Jarmusch, Scarlett Johansson, Kronos Quartet, Jesse Malin, Alison Mosshart, Angel Olsen, Karen O, Sean Penn, Maggie Rogers, Michael Shannon, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, and the Boss himself Bruce Springsteen.

And if that was not enough, imagine the honor of having a house band that included Flea on bass (and trumpet), Charlie Sexton on guitar, and Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench to fill up the sound.

Such was the scene at People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith on Wednesday (3/26) at Carnegie Hall.

The star-studded concert was the latest curated by Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf, who has now produced 20 of them since 2006’s inaugural Joni Mitchell tribute.

Before the program began Dorf told the capacity crowd they've raised nearly $2 million dollars for music education in schools a vital part of public education.

Around the country many chances for kids to learn how to affordably learn how to play an instrument are quietly disappearing as budgets are being cut and politics are seeping into classrooms.

Here are some of the musical highlights from the two-hour celebration.

Karen O - "Gloria"

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer brought powerful energy to "Gloria," the first song from Smith's debut classic Horses. Technically it's a cover of the Van Morrison-penned tune. But it only faintly sounds like the original or any of the covers by groups like The Doors, The Grateful Dead, or Hendrix.

It's a fluid punk reworking until it surges to that familiar chorus.

Is there any woman who could have pulled this off as perfectly to cover the quasi-cover than Karen O? Nope. And last week she nailed it.

Catch the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on tour starting in June.

Michael Stipe - "My Blakean Year"

The former R.E.M. singer performed a deep track from Smith's 2004 album Trampin’ continuing the friendship the pair have for each other.

“I had written "Everybody Hurts" as a duet, with the idea of approaching Patti Smith to sing it as a duet with me,” he revealed two years ago about the band's biggest hit. Sadly the timing was wrong but four years later she was available to sing on "E-Bow The Letter" with the group.

When Stipe and the other members of R.E.M. sang "Pretty Persuasion" in their hometown of Athens, GA in February, many begged for a proper reunion. But Stipe firmly dashed everyone's hopes, stating it would never happen. Thus having him sing last week for Patti was a lovely consolation.

Johnny Depp - "Dancing Barefoot"

"Dancing Barefoot" from Smith's 1979Wave LP has been covered by U2, Pearl Jam, Simple Minds and many others. Most recently it has served as the as the opening theme on the Amazon Prime miniseries, Daisy Jones & the Six.

The last time Depp performed publicly was at a different tribute. In 2023 he played alongside ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and The Stones' Ronnie Wood for the Jeff Beck celebration at the Royal Albert Hall held a few months after the guitar hero passed away.

The handsome actor sang quietly and strummed the haunting tune with help from Alison Mosshart of The Kills.

Bruce Springsteen - "Because The Night"

"If I had sung this song, it would not have been a hit," Bruce told the audience before breaking into the tune both he and Smith co-wrote, separately, but she put out, to great success in 1978.

Fresh off the heels of Born to Run, Springsteen had an embarrassment of riches in regard to tunes he was writing for its followup, Darkness on the Edge of Town. When his engineer, Jimmy Iovine, noticed the Boss was struggling with the creation of "Because The Night," he asked Bruce if he minded if he passed the demo to Patti to see if she could turn it into something.

“Now Jimmy had, has always had, and still has some very sly ears," Bruce told the Asbury Park Press in 2021 about the tune that ended up going to #13 on the charts once she released it.

"I had a nice hook and a melody on a song that I could not finish the lyrics for. So Patti took it and turned it into the hit it became, writing a beautiful love song for her husband, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith," he said.

"Now it wouldn’t have been a hit if I had finished it and released it. It needed a woman’s voice, it needed Patti’s voice and her vision. She turned it into something that I alone could never have created. And for that, I forever thank my lovely, lovely friend.”

"Because The Night" is the 24th most-played tune in Springsteen's catalogue. He's performed it more than "The Ghost of Tom Joad," "My Hometown," or "No Surrender." And yet Patti has done it twice as much.

Patti Smith - "People Have The Power"

What a scene: Springsteen and Depp playing similar looking Telecasters, a chorus of talented superstars (including Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan, Jay Dee Daugherty, and Jackson Smith) and Flea blasting away beautifully on trumpet.

The finale of the show featured Patti on a trio of songs concluding with her 1988 anthem, "People Have The Power- a hit that was inspired by her late husband.

"I was peeling potatoes, and I remember I was in a bad mood because I was making dinner and washing the clothes and peeling potatoes," she told NME in 1990.

"And in the middle of it, Fred came in and said, ‘Tricia, people have the power, write it.’ And I was standing there with a potato peeler thinking I’d like to have the power to make him peel these potatoes, that’s what I’d like.”

The tune went to #15 on the Modern Rock chart.

Patti will be spending most of July traveling with her quartet around Europe. The in October and November she will be performing with her band the Horses album to celebrate its 50th anniversary. They'll be in venues like The London Palladium, Seattle's Paramount Theater, and The Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. Tickets available on her website.