Tibetan Concert Goes Global With Beasties, Blondie, And Buffalo Daughter

04/16/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Mac Randall

(4/16/99, 1 p.m. PDT) - On June 13, the Tibetan Freedom Concert will go global with concerts in Chicago, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Tokyo, featuring such acts as the Beastie Boys, Blondie, Live, OutKast, the Roots, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Rage Against The Machine, ex-Clash frontman Joe Strummer, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, former Crowded House member Neil Finn, Buffalo Daughter, and others.

The lineup was announced today at a New York press conference held the event's organizers, the Milarepa Fund--a group co-founded by the Beastie Boys in 1994 to raise awareness of China's occupation of Tibet.

The shows are planned to overlap, resulting in 24 hours of continuous music. Deyden Tethong of the Fund said that the event should "demonstrate the magnitude of the Tibetan movement on a global scale."

Also present at the announcement, held at N.Y.'s Public Theater, were Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and Sean Lennon, a longtime supporter of the cause. "People don't think playing music and freeing Tibet go together," Lennon said, "but I think they do. We can raise the awareness of the world and its governments by doing this." A surprise guest was The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who will host a two-hour syndicated radio program live from the Chicago site of the concert featuring highlights of the performances. Stewart cracked that he signed on to the project because "I really wanted to meet the Beastie Boys."

On a more serious note, Tethong said that this year's concert was especially significant since 1999 marks the 50th anniversary of China's military takeover of Tibet, the 40th anniversary of the Dalai Lama (the rightful leader of Tibet)'s exile from his home country, and the 10th anniversary of the massacre of Chinese pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. "Time is running out for Tibet," she said, "and if we don't do something, who will?"

The list of performers for the Fourth Tibetan Freedom Concert (or Concerts, if you will) is not finalized, but eight acts are confirmed as of today for the Chicago show, which will actually take place between Chicago and Milwaukee at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin: the Beasties, Blondie, Otis Rush, Live, OutKast, the Roots, Biz Markie, and Vedder.

Confirmed acts for the Amsterdam show include Ben Harper, Rage Against The Machine, Strummer, and Yorke.

The Sydney show will feature Finn and the Living End, while the Tokyo show will feature an array of Japanese bands, including most notably Buffalo Daughter.

In an effort to further link the separate concerts, all four will feature the same program magazine (which will be translated into Dutch and Japanese). The current plan is to have JumboTron screens at each venue showing performances from the other concert sites via the Internet, although it's unlikely that the performances will be broadcast live exactly as they are occurring.

Last year's Tibetan Freedom Concert, held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., drew over 120,000 people to see acts such as R.E.M., A Tribe Called Quest, Dave Matthews, Wyclef Jean, Radiohead, the Wallflowers, Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (LAUNCH, 6/15/98), was marred by bad weather, but still raised more than $1.2 million for the fund, a sum that Tethong confessed was "more money than we ever expected."

When the 1998 concert was announced, Yauch had hinted that it might be the last. A questioner at today's press conference politely took him to task for the hint. Yauch admitted that he'd believed at the time that the situation in Tibet would improve more in the last year than it actually has. "We'll continue to do whatever is helpful to the movement," he said, including the organizing of possible future concerts.

Features on Live, the Roots, Radiohead, Neil Finn, Ben Harper, R.E.M., A Tribe Called Quest, and Wyclef Jean are available on LAUNCH.com. Look for a Blondie feature soon.

-- Mac Randall, New York

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