By Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Billie Eilish sang with Green Day and Stevie Nicks thanked the firefighters who saved her home at two star-studded concerts on Thursday to raise money for wildfire relief in Los Angeles.
The FireAid benefit featured surprise pairings and generation-spanning acts, many with connections to the devastated communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Artists at two venues in Inglewood near Los Angeles offered thanks to first responders in between soft ballads, poignant moments and rousing rock and pop performances.
Nicks, the Fleetwood Mac singer and solo artist, dedicated “Landslide” to the firefighters who kept the fast-moving Palisades blaze in early January away from her longtime home.
“They never gave up,” she said. “Until you actually see it, you can’t believe the bravery of these men.”
In one of several surprises, Eilish joined Green Day to open the FireAid shows with a duet of the band’s song “Last Night on Earth.”
“It’s one of the most important gigs we’ve ever played,” Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day’s lead singer, said in an interview before the show. The Bay Area punk-rock group has recorded several albums in Hollywood, he said, and regarded Los Angeles as a second home.
“It’s just really important for us to sort of do our part in a small way,” Armstrong said.
Eilish, a Los Angeles native, later teamed with her brother Finneas for a “quiet and chill” acoustic set featuring “The Greatest” and “Birds of a Feather.”
Lady Gaga, the night’s closing performer, sat at a piano and sang a “hopeful” song she said she wrote with her fiance, businessman Michael Polansky, specifically for the FireAid show.
“All I need is time,” she sang in an upbeat chorus, “to heal my broken wings, and then I’ll soar.”
Country singer Jelly Roll kicked off his set with his recent hit “I Am Not OK.”
“It’s not OK, but we’re all gonna be alright,” he sang, before picking up the tempo with a cover of Bob Seger classic “Hollywood Nights,” joined by Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
In the crowd, men and women in “First Responder” T-shirts danced as Sting joined Stevie Wonder to sing Wonder’s hit “Superstition.”
Among other performances, drummer Dave Grohl was joined by his daughter, Violet Grohl, who sang the Nirvana hit “All Apologies.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers blasted out “Californication,” with bassist Flea nearly naked in just a hat, shoes, socks and his underwear. Katy Perry waved a state flag as she danced across the stage to “California Gurls.”
Comedian Billy Crystal appeared in the navy hoodie, jeans and knit cap he had worn when he evacuated his home of 46 years in the Palisades. Crystal said he wept when he saw the burned-out remains but was moved by the community’s support.
“A young girl said she understood my pain because she had lost TikTok for a day,” Crystal quipped.
Videos of fire survivors were interspersed between musical performances. On television screens, viewers were given instructions on how to donate via text or a website.
“It’s all about the love for me tonight,” West Coast hip hop pioneer Dr. Dre said, before leading the crowd in a sing-along of “California Love.”
Another Los Angeles icon, folk singer Joni Mitchell, delivered her ballad “Both Sides Now,” moving some audience members to tears.
Gracie Abrams, who grew up in the Palisades, sang an acoustic version of what she called “a love letter to LA”, the Counting Crows song “A Long December.”
Money raised through FireAid will go to short-term and long-term recovery efforts, organizers said. Funds will be distributed with advice from the Annenberg Foundation.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Kate Mayberry and Mark Heinrich)
