Metallica, Dead & Company Band Together To Raise $17 Million

San Francisco’s Band Together Bay Area benefit, spearheaded by Metallica, Dead & Company and others, raised some $17 million to aid those affected by the devastating firestorms that swept Northern California last month.

AP Photo / Marco Ugarte – James Hetfield of Metallica
James Hetfield and Metallica perform at Foro Sol in Mexico City March 5.

The sold-out show at AT&T Park drew more than 40,000 – including 6,500 tickets donated to first responders and residents – and was also livestreamed via Twitter and YouTube Nov. 9, enabling viewers around the world to donate to Tipping Point Emergency Relief Fund. Merch sales are expected to keep that figure rising.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, G-Eazy, Raphael Saadiq, and Rancid joined the headliners in the effort. Another Planet Entertainment and Live Nation joined forces to produce the concert. They got a leg up as well from Dreamforce, which staged its own benefit concert at AT&T Park two days earlier, featuring Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz.

The San Francisco Chronicle estimates Band Together organizers saved at least $500,000 in setup costs thanks to Dreamforce, which left lights, soundboards and ground cover in place for use by Metallica and company.

Band Together also benefited from extensive sponsorship and support from major Bay Area organizations including the San Francisco Giants baseball club that calls AT&T Park home.

Tipping Point Community, which administers the funds raised by the concert, is a grant-making organization supporting anti-poverty efforts in the Bay Area. Executive Director Daniel Lurie told the Chronicle funds raised by Band Together would help provide relief for low-income families, immigrants and other victims of the fires that killed 42 and displaced thousands of residents from Santa Rosa to Napa, Calif., and many small towns in between.

“We’re going to put (the money) to good use,” Lurie told Aidin Vaziri of the Chronicle. “We know how to raise funds, but our emphasis is getting it to those who need it most.”