At FireAid Benefit, Stars Sing a Love Song to Los Angeles
The New York Times
Katy Perry belted out “California Gurls,” and Joni Mitchell offered a rare performance as Angelenos spoke movingly about loss — and resilience.
Billie Eilish and Green Day kicked off the show with a duet. Joni Mitchell made a rare public appearance. Katy Perry pranced around the stage waving a state flag as she belted the 2010 banger, “California Gurls.”
Over almost six hours, on two arena stages in South Los Angeles, more than two dozen of the biggest names in pop music gathered for FireAid, a star-studded benefit to raise money for relief efforts after the devastating wildfires across the region.
“As far as I’m concerned,” Anderson .Paak told the crowd, “This is one of the greatest nights in Los Angeles history.”
It was a night filled with serious, somber moments. Billy Crystal, who lost his Pacific Palisades home in the fire, stepped onstage in the same sweatshirt and beanie that he was wearing when he fled the house. Miles Teller, who introduced Olivia Rodrigo, said his home was gone, too. And Teller was joined onstage by a young man who told of carrying his mother down five flights of stairs as he took flight.
“Tell me something good,” Lady Gaga sang as the evening wound down.
And there was that, too. At one of the arenas, the Intuit Dome, the lights turned purple and the crowd erupted as Olivia Rodrigo began her the alt-pop anthem, “Deja Vu,” with its opening line about “car rides to Malibu.” The audience there gave a standing ovation to a teacher — introduced by the “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson — who choked up while speaking of saving money to buy a home, only to lose it. Flea, the underwear-clad bass player of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, echoed others when he shouted: “Los Angeles is our home,” and, using an expletive, added: “We love you.”
