Everything that happened at the FireAid benefit: From Stevie Nicks’ thank you to Lady Gaga’s hopeful closer
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Less than three weeks after a series of historic wildfires killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures in the Los Angeles area, more than two dozen of music’s biggest names gathered for the FireAid benefit concert — “an evening of music and solidarity,” as organizers described it, meant to raise money for affected Angelenos and to “prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California.”
In fact, FireAid encompassed two concerts — one held at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome and the other about a mile north at the Kia Forum. Billie Eilish, Green Day, Joni Mitchell, John Fogerty, Gracie Abrams, No Doubt, Jelly Roll and Stevie Nicks were among the acts who’ve taken the stage. Katy Perry took the stage backed by the Pasadena Chorale, which lost its home base when the Altadena Community Church burned down. Some of its singers and its founding artistic director, Jeffrey Bernstein, lost homes in the fire.
The bill also included Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Peso Pluma and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others. Produced by a team of music-industry veterans led by Irving Azoff and his family, FireAid was live-streamed on an array of platforms including Netflix, Hulu, Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video and Twitch. Connie and Steve Ballmer, who own the Clippers as well as Intuit Dome and the Forum, have pledged to match all donations made during the show.
The Times’ Mikael Wood and August Brown were on site, delivering live updates as they happened.
The havoc caused by the blazes — more than 28,000 acres have been scorched — necessitates immediate and long-term relief.
5:45 p.m. Hello from the floor at the Forum for the early shift of FireAid, which may not quite be Music’s Biggest Night (that’s the Grammys on Sunday), but it certainly feels like it given the sheer star caliber of lineups here and at Intuit Dome a little later. Dave Matthews dropped off the bill for a family emergency, but still in store here are Alanis Morissette, Anderson .Paak, John Mayer, Dawes, Graham Nash, No Doubt, P!nk, Stephen Stills and the Black Crowes. Interested to see how Dawes performs given two members lost homes or studios in Altadena. (August Brown)
6:11 p.m. And greetings from a very empty Intuit Dome, where the music is supposed to get underway at 7:30 — a message that appears to have reached the people of L.A. loud and clear. FireAid organizers have said the Forum bill leans rock while the lineup at Intuit is more pop. Wonder what Rod Stewart (who’s on the bill here) thinks about that. (Mikael Wood)
7:02 p.m. Green Day kicking this off with an elegant version of “Last Night on Earth” only to bring out another Billie from the second show down the road: Eilish, who came out to sing the second verse. (AB)
7:04 p.m. Intuit Dome is showing the Forum performances on the arena’s so-called Halo Board, and the two Billies drew a huge cheer from the crowd here. (MW)
7:17 p.m “Here at the Forum,” comedian Billy Crystal said, “the goal is to raise more money than the Dodgers spent on free agents.” They’re off to a good start–Crystal announced U2 just called in a million dollar donation. He also acknowledged losing his own home in the Palisades Fire. “These are the clothes I fled in,” he said, explaining that he looks like an evacuee or “somebody who robbed a 7/11.” He said that this gig had echoes of a similar fundraising host gig he took on after 9/11. “Now I’m one of the hurting thousands asking ‘have you seen my church, have you seen my town?” (AB)
7:18 p.m. Nice monologue from Crystal, who’s been doing this kind of thing — threading the needle between humor and pathos — for … what? Half a century? “One city, one heart,” he concludes. (MW)
7:24 p.m. Hopeful vibes from Alanis Morrissette, whose “Hand in My Pocket” and “Thank U” carried an air of gratitude and resilience as she wore an “I Heart LA” shirt: a “colorful, Wild place,” as she called it. (AB)
7:27 p.m. Alanis Morissette singing “Thank U” is a great opportunity to ponder one of the wildest opening lyrics in pop history: “How ‘bout getting off of these antibiotics?” (MW)
7:30 p.m. If you hold an all-star concert in L.A. and you don’t have Sheila E show up to whale on the timbales — as Ms. E just did with Anderson .Paak — did the concert really happen? (MW)
7:32 p.m. Glad they’re making ample time for individual horror stories about surviving the fires. “I wish it was just a terrible dream or a nightmare,” one Altadena resident said in a video. “Everything I’m wearing was provided by someone else. But I’m a carpenter, I want to rebuild Altadena. There are brighter days ahead.” (AB)
7:39 p.m. Crowd goes absolutely ham to Dr. Dre popping out for “Still D.R.E.” And “California Love” With Anderson .Paak. The Azoff Rolodex goes deep. (AB)
7:41 p.m. Crowd in here includes very soused Gen Xers who got a babysitter so they could happily justify dropping a grand on a big night out for fire relief. (AB)
7:42 p.m. Crowd at Intuit (which is nearing a full house) is older than I would’ve expected — but, as August suggests, FireAid tickets weren’t cheap. (MW)
As firefighters continue to battle multiple major wildfires, The Times has compiled a list of resources to help.
7:50 p.m. “I can’t think of anyone better to console us than Joni Mitchell,” Morrissette said, introducing the doyenne of the California canyons to perform the regal and resonant “Both Sides Now,” with a stripped back version of her Joni Jam band. “I really don’t know life at all,” she sang to close on a plaintive note. A reminder to Cherish your L.A. treasures while we’ve still got them. (AB)
7:52 p.m. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Mitchell perform several times in the past couple of years — that may have been the strongest she’s sounded yet. (MW)
7:56 p.m. Members of the Williams family from Altadena recalled onstage, “At 3:30 in morning, the warning hit our phones. We grabbed what we could — our grandmothers special clock, our father’s ashes, our 47-year-old parrot Hank. Among the five of us standing here, we lost four homes and we’re struggling to find places to live. We love our community — we’re all grieving immense loss.”
“At our mother’s home, everything was destroyed except her front door,” they said. “It stands. It’s a sign, because that door was always open.” (AB)
8:08 p.m. Poignant lyrics from the band Dawes, whose singer and drummer both lost homes and studios in Altadena. “You’ve got that special kind of sadness, a tragic set of charms / That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles / Makes me want to wrap you in my arms.” This city can feel like it’s got disaster in its bones right now and surviving is a mark of making a life here.
Then they brought out Stephen Stills and Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers for Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” A reminder of all the music history that went up in this blaze, too. (AB)
8:13 p.m. Graham Nash joins his old bandmate, Stephen Stills, to dispense a bit of local mythology — “Whenever Los Angeles gets into trouble, the musicians are right there,” he says — and a comforting rendition of “Teach Your Children.” (MW)
8:22 p.m. “If you’re hurting, I’m hurting with you,” said Pink in an all-black funereal outfit. “I’m gonna keep my feet on the ground tonight,” she promised, alluding to her usual aerial routines, but sang a knockout take of “Me and Bobby McGee,” a song she said brought her comfort in bad times. (AB)
8:28 p.m. Pink digs deep into her classic-rock bag for a scorching version of (Led Zeppelin’s version of) “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” (MW)
8:35 p.m. Samuel L. Jackson is starting the show here at Intuit Dome by shouting out the first responders in the house: “We love our firefighters and we need to help them,” Jackson says. Then he introduces Rod Stewart as a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — and his former neighbor. L.A.! (MW)
8:36 p.m. Can you imagine the Samuel L Jackson / Rod Stewart dinner parties we’ve been missing out on? Rod doing the Ezekiel 25:17 speech? Sam covering “Maggie May?” (AB)
8:39 p.m. “Here’s a new song,” Stewart says. “Not.” It’s “Maggie May,” of course, a song nobody in history has ever been sad to hear. Invite Rod to everything, is what I say. (MW)
8:48 p.m. Pink’s way of addressing the crowd to John Mayer: “Ladies and gentlemen and every other gender that absolutely exists.” (MW)
8:49 p.m. Despite the conflicts about climate and class inherent in the fires, the hosts have been avoiding politics until Pink tossed in that allusion to the current administration. Wonder if Billie Eilish or anyone with a passion for climate activism will make a more fervent point about it later. (AB)
8:57 p.m. Mayer, understanding the assignment as usual, describes Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” as “our first insight into the dream of living in California.” (MW)
9:04 p.m. I love that Earth, Wind and Fire tapped straight in with “That’s the Way of the World” — a song about “hearts of fire” — without a second thought. That’s how strong their vibes are and how welcome this tune is. (AB)
9:05 p.m. And now Earth, Wind and Fire is bringing the house down with the immortal “September,” a song with real-deal healing powers. Somebody give Verdine White a seat on the county Board of Supervisors. (MW)
9:16 p.m. John Fogerty is hitting us where we live right now with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s immortal “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” If only this parched city had seen a lot more of it earlier in winter. (AB)
9:18 p.m. Second Zeppelin cover of the night: Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes doing “Going to California” with Slash, whom Chris accurately notes needed no introduction. (The top hat helps.) (MW)
9:21 p.m. Not the point of the evening, necessarily, but consider Gracie Abrams’ stardom secured. The crowd at Intuit just roared louder for the 25-year-old singer — a proud Palisades native, for what it’s worth — than they roared for anyone else all night. Accompanied by Aaron Dessner on acoustic guitar, she’s doing a stone-cold L.A. classic: Counting Crows’ “A Long December.” (MW)
9:33 p.m. Truly, who else are you going to call for this gig than No Doubt, the SoCal-est of SoCal bands, launches with “Just a Girl.” The band reunited for Coachella last year and might well have to keep it going if the Forum crowd has any say in it. (AB)
9:36 p.m. “Don’t Speak.” That’s it — that’s the tweet. (MW)
9:49 p.m. Stray thought during Tate McRae’s set: the long tail of OneRepublic’s “Apologize.” (MW)
9:56 p.m. I remember talking to McRae about moving to L.A. from Canada and what a culture shock it was for her. Wonder how the imagery of the fires will affect people around the world who had considered moving here for the usual reasons – and now see how quickly that fantasy can turn devastating. (AB)
9:54 p.m. “I am honored to play some country music” Jelly Roll says before muscling through “I Am Not OK,” a song about knowing that he can’t be the only one holding on for dear life. And then: a rollicking cover of the great Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights,” for which he’s joined by Travis Barker. What a song! More Seger (just in general), please. (MW)
10:02 p.m. I tell you, anytime I think of leaving this town, there is nothing like some “Hollywood Nights” to pull me right back in. (AB)
10:13 p.m. “Gonna go a little rogue here,” Stevie Nicks says as she recounts the night that the fires raced toward her Palisades home, a 1938 wood house that miraculously survived thanks to firefighters from Santa Rosa. “I cannot believe the bravery of these men,” she says. From the stage she gives them a special dedication of “Landslide,” which has got to be an all-timer of a thank you. (AB)
10:15 p.m. Stevie sometimes hits the autopilot in concert these days — hey, she’s been at it a while — but this “Landslide” is stunning: a full-body immersion into the certainty that life is gonna throw you for a loop now and then. (MW)
10:39 p.m. St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett each fronting a full-on Nirvana reunion — what a way to wind down the night! Good on Dave Grohl for turning out for this, given everything. Really hope Kim Gordon wins a Grammy this weekend. “The Collective” absolutely rules. (AB)
10:39 p.m. Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic have almost-reunited Nirvana a few times over the last decade or so, often without warning and often for a good cause. Joan Jett just popped out to do “Territorial Pissings,” and now Grohl’s 18-year-old daughter, Violet, is here to sing “All Apologies” (with Novoselic on accordion). The band sounds great — bludgeoning but tuneful, heavy yet light on its feet. (MW)
10:51 p.m. Good on the producers for including a segment acknowledging all the animals lost or affected. To me that’s one of the undercovered parts of this tragedy. (AB)
10:53 p.m. For all its stars, FireAid is extremely short on hip-hop — and now, sitting inside Intuit Dome as Lil Baby plays to a dead room, I can see what organizers were trying to avoid. Definitely not a rap crowd. (MW)
11:05 p.m. And now, of course, we have arrived at the end, ready for the undisputed Los Angeles poet laureates of songs about California, the voices born ready at a moment of lament and longing for the Golden State, the only fair choice to wrap this thing up…who else could it possibly be but the Red Hot Chili Peppers with Flea in a Speedo? (AB)
11:26 p.m. Cute moment at the end where Green Day’s Tré Cool snuck up and handed off a replacement pair of drum sticks a fan from the Palisades lost in the fire. (AB)
11:29 p.m. We’re entering the homestretch at Intuit with Olivia Rodrigo, who says that she finds L.A. “so beautiful and so inspiring” and that she’s written many songs about the place, including the one she’s gonna play now: “Deja Vu,” in which she recounts a drive to Malibu for strawberry ice cream. (MW)
11:40 p.m. I stand corrected that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were gonna close this thing. Five hours in, we’ve still ostensibly got Lady Gaga and Peso Pluma and Sting and Billie Eilish and Stevie Wonder to come! The Grammys are amateurs compared to this monster runtime. (AB)
11:42 p.m. Wearing a turtleneck, tight trousers and a motivational speaker’s headset microphone — call him Sting Jobs? — Sting is power-trio-ing his way through the Police’s “Message in a Bottle.” (MW)
The musician and former Police frontman talks about his life and career ahead of a five-night stand at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
11:52 p.m. All respect to Peso Pluma for coming out to this, but this also would have been a great moment to showcase some local Latin music on a big stage in some capacity, especially given how deeply the fires affected local livelihoods and working class families. (AB)
11:57 p.m. Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, are going the acoustic-on-stools route for delicate versions of “Wildflower” and “The Greatest” — all the better to admire the siblings’ intricately intertwined vocal harmonies. (MW)
12:09 a.m. “L.A. is like my favorite place in the world and my only home,” Eilish says as she introduces an especially airy “Birds of a Feather.” (MW)
12:24 a.m. Lovely to still have Stevie Wonder as a fixed point in a turning world for fraught moments like this. “Love’s in Need of Love Today” is the top of the canon for healing and optimism, and this probably hits home for the intergenerational Black families in attendance that lost so much in Altadena. (AB)
12:30 a.m. “Let’s hit it,” Stevie tells his band — his cue to rev up “Superstition,” for which Sting joins him. Now Flea is up there too (in a Lakers-gold beret) for a thrumming “Higher Ground.” Who’d ever turn down an offer to jam with Stevie? (MW)
12:35 a.m. Finally, Jimmy Kimmel offered a specific thank you towards the incarcerated firefighters who play a fundamental role on the front lines of protecting urban and wildlands in SoCal. Let’s take the occasion to give them a raise and better path to a career in firefighting down the road. (AB)
12:37 a.m. FireAid’s closer is Lady Gaga, who’s starting her set behind a piano with a pair of tunes from “A Star Is Born”: a solo take on her and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” and a muscular rendition of “Always Remember Us This Way.” Her vocals are on point. (MW)
The pop superstar talks about her smash duet with Bruno Mars that’s nominated for two prizes at February’s Grammy Awards.
12:42 a.m. Gaga says she “wanted to do something hopeful” for the show but couldn’t find the right song — so she wrote a new one with her fiancé, Michael Polansky. “It’s just for tonight — just for you,” she says, and it’s a bouncy musical-theater-ish number about the healing power of time. (MW)
12:46 a.m. Well, a new single-use, one-night-only Lady Gaga single seems like a fitting and hopeful way to sign off. The recovery effort in SoCal will take years, but this was a heartfelt and hopefully lucrative step on the way to whatever healing comes next. Thanks for coming along on the ride with us, see you all Sunday at the Grammys. (AB)
Updates
10:49 p.m. Jan. 30, 2025: This article was updated to include the Nirvana reunion and other details.
10:22 p.m. Jan. 30, 2025: This article has been updated to wrap in more performance notes and photos.
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