"Though it was supposed to be Crow's show, she was happy to be upstaged by her friends. When Stevie Nicks broke into "Leather and Lace," the place went beserk. Nicks also sang "Too Far From Texas" and "It's Only Love" and did a duet with Crow on Tom Petty's "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Keith Richards, Stevie Nicks, Kid Rock join Sheryl Crow for surprise show

"This is not a gig," proclaimed Sheryl Crow by way of introduction. "It's merely a means for me to get my rocks off."

The occasion for Crow's bawdy m.o. was a sold-out, two-hour performance held last night at New York City's Shine. Crow, in town to record her new album, was perhaps using the show to break up the monotony of her studio time. But this night wasn't about testing new material. Instead, it was a chance for her to relax and cut loose.

It was also about camaraderie, a point Crow made clear right away. "How many of you here are friends?" she asked as she took the club's intimate stage. She wasn't just referring to celebrity pals Kevin Bacon and Sandra Bernhard, who lounged in the V.I.P. section. Nor did she mean solely the die-hard fans packing the room. She was also talking about the guests -- namely Kid Rock, Keith Richards and Stevie Nicks -- who would soon be joining her onstage.

Crow's decision to involve other high-profile musicians in her evening echoed her 1999 performance in Central Park, where such stars as the Dixie Chicks, Sarah McLachlan and Eric Clapton took turns playing with Crow and each other. (The night would later be captured on that year's live CD, Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park.) It also mirrored her appearance earlier in April at the Manhattan club the Cutting Room, when she jammed with longtime friend Gwyneth Paltrow as well as Kid Rock. Both the actress-turned-singer (a la her role in last year's film Duets) and the rapper will appear on Crow's forthcoming album, due out in the fall.

"Between all of us [in my band], we know every cover there is," Crow told RollingStone.com following her Cutting Room performance. She wasn't kidding. Crow did grant her guests with a few songs of her own that -- with the exception of "If It Makes You Happy" -- all hailed from 1999's The Globe Sessions: "My Favorite Mistake," "It Don't Hurt," "The Difficult Kind." But fans who came to hear their favorite Sheryl Crow tune most likely left disappointed. For Crow and her musicians, covers were the aim of the night.

Starting with a rowdy rendition of the James Gang's "Walk Away," Crow proceeded to cover everyone from Dobie Gray ("Drift Away") to Ram Jam ("Black Betty"). Perhaps her most inspired cover, however, was that of Madonna's "Don't Tell Me." Crow's genius at translating the song's jerky guitar intro -- so reliant on its production -- into an organic sound-alike was matched only by her decision to segue the melody into Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."

That inspired moment marked the entrance of the evening's first guest, Kid Rock. Dressed in his trademark pimpin' hat and tank top (colored black instead of his usual white), Rock announced, "I'm the intermission entertainment." Crow then temporarily abandoned the stage to Rock, who adlibbed a brief blues song in which he delineated his platform for presidency of the United States: Mothers get vacation in thanks for watching their kids, while churches are converted into strip clubs. "I can't believe they gave me a guitar," he laughed, before Crow rejoined him onstage.

The hearty cheers that welcomed Kid Rock were doubled -- if not tripled -- when, with an unmistakable guitar flourish, Keith Richards took Rock's place. Having guested with Crow at her Central Park show, Richards -- stray braids poking from his wild gray hair -- sat in on a number of early rock hits like Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (also covered by Richards' Rolling Stones) and Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame." Just as the Kid Rock-accompanied covers catered to his southern sensibility, so did Richards' selections play up his blues- and R&B-drenched guitar.

Stevie Nicks -- also a Central Park alumnus -- then took the stage and divided her time between her old songs ("Leather and Lace," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around") and her new songs. The latter came from Trouble in Shangri-La, her first solo album in eight years (released today), and included "It's Only Love," which Crow wrote specifically for Nicks.

Despite her many convincing covers, however, Crow sounded most at home on her own songs. Closing her set with "There Goes the Neighborhood," she was joined halfway through by Kid Rock, who reemerged chanting lyrics from "Rapper's Delight." Rock returned for Crow's one-song encore of Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down," with Crow jutting her guitar neck forward in her best Brian May imitation. If her goal was to get her rocks off, she certainly succeeded.

NINA PEARLMAN

Crow and friends cut loose in N.Y.

(Launch) - Sheryl Crow was joined by Kid Rock, Keith Richards and Stevie Nicks at Shine in New York for the second surprise show in a month on Monday night. Both Richards and Nicks joined Crow for her Central Park concert last year. Kid Rock also appeared at Crow's surprise show last month at the Cutting Room. Kid Rock appeared in his pimp-style outfit and returned later to insert the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" into Crow's "There Goes The Neighborhood." The first time Rock left the stage, he was replaced by Keith Richards, who ran through Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" and Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame." Crow and Nicks performed "It's Only Love," the song Crow wrote for Nicks' album, Shangri-La, which was released on Tuesday. Nicks also performed some other standards, including the duet songs, "Leather and Lace" and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around."