Sure, I went to hear the music. But as Eddie Vedder put it, “We’ve already got your money.”
According to Vedder’s comments in between Pearl Jam songs, proceeds from ticket sales over the weekend should find Milarepa for another year or two. The money will further non-violent actions to improve human rights.
The awesome musical variety present at RFK—modern experimental, funk, pop, reggae, rock, rap, and just pure energy—was incredible. It was also the main draw for the 130,000+ fans. I attended both days and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Besides certain problems—namely Saturday’s weather—the show was a testament to the organizational efforts and passion of the Tibetan Freedom Campaign.
Saturday’s—and perhaps the whole weekend’s—best performance by far was the Dave Matthews Band. They stoked to crowd and provided enough energy for everyone. The band sounded great and did not disappoint. Violinist Boyd Tinsley and Dave jammed against each other to a frenzied pitch on “Tripping Billies,” dragging the audience along with them. Their cover of “All Along the Watchtower” sounded as fine-tuned and moving as ever. In fact, all their songs had energy and infused the crowd with life.
Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters’ 25th anniversary reunion was also beautiful to see. Through their style and funk prowess they demonstrated why they are pioneers in the funk world. Their show brought a whole different groove to the stadium.
Also noteworthy from Saturday was Mutabaruka, a reggae-dub artist-poet from Kingston who preached freedom and justice through his songs. He read one kicking poem called “Dis Poem” about the struggle for social consciousness. His cover of “Get Up, Stand Up” was another highlight of his act. Powerful and driving, it seemed to signify the mood of the whole event.
Sunday was a better day all around though, with solid performances from Luscious Jackson and Sonic Youth. Wyclef Jean had the whole crowd on its feet and jumping around. As a matter of fact, he had an audience member on stage and did some jumping around himself—three backflips to be exact. The Wallflowers sounded good and played hits from Bringing Down the Horse. Jakob then announced they were going to take a crack at a song they didn’t play much. Could have fooled me. Their cover of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was perfect.
However, the headliners on Sunday were the acts to see. Radiohead came on midway through and treated everyone to “Karma Police,” “Fake Plastic Trees,” “Paranoid Android,” and “Lucky,” with guest-singer Michael Stipe. They also played “Creep” to the ear-shattering appreciation of ticket holders. Radiohead was wonderful live, and Thom Yorke’s head was moving around furiously the whole show, giving expression to every note he sang.
R.E.M. opened with “Losing My Religion” and closed with “Man on the Moon” in their first live performance since their drummer Bill Berry left last year. However, apart from Thom Yorke giving his all on the Patti Smith cover “E-Bow,” most of their other songs—all cuts from the new album—were too mellow for the crowd to really become involved in.
A Tribe Called Quest got everyone moving again and flowed from one song to another, touching upon “Phony Rappers,” “Bonita Applebum,” and showing off some new cuts. They encouraged—and received—audience participation the whole time. Q-Tip stopped the music at one point to get the top tiers on their feet, which they eventually did.
Of course, when the Beastie Boys showed up the stadium was louder than ever. Obvious crowd favorites, they mixed new tracks with some funky instrumentals. They sounded good—maybe a little older—but good nonetheless, and they had the whole crowd grooving. They closed with “Sabatoge,” which made the crowd erupt into joyous exultation and chaos.
Pearl Jam was the last scheduled act of the day and played tracks from Yield as well as older favorites like “Corduroy” and “Evenflow.” Vedder was, of course, as outspoken as ever between songs, railing against the U.S. government, even dedicating “Betterman” to President Clinton. Their whole act was driving, pure rock. Their set ended early—they hadn’t used their allotted time—so people figured the concert was over and began moving toward the exits. That is, until Anthony Kiedas and Flea flew onto stage and went right into “Give It Away.” The stadium went electric. The floor became a seething mass of anarchy as the crowds re-descended to hear the band rip through three songs. Their set was surprise, and happened because Pearl Jam gave up some of its time to let them have at it.
All told, the Tibetan Freedom Concert was a major success. Even with the overwhelming amount of music played, human rights and freedom were the focus of the concert. Various artists led the crowd in chants of “Free Tibet!” and spoke about the importance of what we take for granted here in America.
When the elderly monk Palden Gyatso took the stage and described his 33 years of imprisonment in China for advocating for a free Tibet, many people stopped and listened. Hung from the ceiling, boiling water thrown across his body, beatings received, electric shocks applied—all were tortures he received from guards for all those years and months and days. The fact that he remained steadfast in his beliefs and in control of himself by not advocating violence was moving.
Volunteers walked around with postcards to be signed and sent to Clinton urging him to apply pressure on China to begin negotiations with the Dali Lama. Even postcards to Levi Strauss were brought around urging Levi’s to stop using forced Chinese labor to make their jeans. As I watched the rally on the Capitol steps Monday afternoon, I caught Richard Gere’s wonderfully written and well-delivered speech.
Gere did not ask for China to be isolated from the world—that would only set back conditions in the country. He did request Clinton to put pressure on China to begin talks with the Dali Lama, pointing out that China has a $500 billion trade surplus with the U.S. That means $500 billion of our money is going to China with none of it coming back. They don’t want to lost that, he said. I have to agree. I also heard someone at the concert over the weekend point out that if Tibet had oil, we would have already been there. Probably so.
Perhaps the most important words I heard were yet again from Gere: “Nonviolence means patience,” he said. How true. After 50 years of oppression, Tibet still struggles to maintain its customs and way of life. Some houses in the country even have TV cameras installed to make sure they don’t practice their religion. Think about that. Really think about that.
I hope the world has the patience to see an end to this unbelievable violation of basic human rights, and the patience to see it end everywhere else in the world too.
I also hope we won’t need to be patient that long.