Two Venues, 40 Sponsors, 28 Artists, No Egos & No Sleep: The Sprint To Put On FireAid

At 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 the Palisades fire began in the Santa Monica Mountains north of Pacific Palisades. About eight hours later, 25 miles to the northeast in Altadena, the Eaton fire began its spread.

Whipped by relentless Santa Ana winds blowing over a region that hadn’t seen measurable rainfall in more than eight months, the blazes were devastating.

But less than 48 hours after those fires sparked, planning for a massive benefit concert was already underway – and already gaining irrepressible momentum of its own.

“Shelli Azoff reached out the morning of Jan. 9. She and Irving were watching in shock what was happening to L.A. Realizing the enormity of the people these fires would impact, they felt a responsibility to do something to help and wanted to draw on what they do best.  They had already reached out to a few music artists in their circle about the idea of a benefit concert and based on that positive response, wanted to know if Intuit Dome might be available,” Gillian Zucker, president of business operations for the L.A. Clippers, said.

But it didn’t take long before it would become apparent that even Southern California’s glittering new $2 billion 18,000-seat arena couldn’t contain all the love the music community wanted to show the City of Angels. It would need a little help from its venerable big brother a mile north on Manchester Boulevard.

“Twenty-four hours later, it became clear we might need Kia Forum for rehearsal space and by the weekend, it appeared by the robust desire to help, the number of acts interested in participating would exceed the capabilities of a single building,” Zucker said.

Starting with a kitchen table conversation between Shelli and Irving Azoff, FireAid bloomed into a two-building, 40-act, televised and streamed to kingdom come benefit concert that saw personal, business and artistic rivalries quieted, everybody involved  — for once, for this cause — pulling in the same direction to stage a magnificent money-raising megashow with little more than three weeks of prep. “FireAid came together with one goal—helping communities rebuild,” Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino told Pollstar. “No egos, just hard work. It’s amazing to see how many artists have come on board to support and how much we can accomplish when we all pull in the same direction.”

At the genesis, there was the Azoffs, for four decades a venerable and formidable power couple with connections in music, Hollywood, venues and sports (Irving Azoff is a co-founder of the Oak View Group, Pollstar’s parent company) and all things L.A. (think Nate & Al’s and Apple Pan). Their connections in every boardroom and corner office in California brought power players into the FireAid orbit, including Live Nation and chief competitor AEG, the rapprochement a testament to the unifying virtue of the event.

And that orbit included the go-to producer for glittering high-profile live concert events. Joel Gallen not only produces the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony every year — the annual show is perpetually a who’s who of music royalty with only-in-your-wildest-dreams collaborations — but he’s also the man who produced some of the best known fundraising shows of all time: “America: A Tribute To Heroes” after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; “Shelter From The Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast” after Hurricane Katrina; and “Hope For Haiti Now” following the 2012 earthquake that rocked the Caribbean nation.

“The second I heard something, and there was a tiny bit of a rumor [about FireAid] and I’ve known Irving for years, I just called him. Everyone was asking ‘How do we help and how do we do something?’,” Gallen said. “He welcomed my offer to help produce this and it’s come together at a lightning pace.”

The pace can only be met with commitment and passion from those involved.

“Hard work and not sleeping are two of the top 10 things you can do to put on a show like this,” Gallen continued. “Determination, diligence, passion – you want to put together an incredible team of people and you gotta drop everything. You can’t do part time. You have to be full in. When you get enough talented people and creative people and logistical people you have a shot.”

And that team isn’t just the artists and their retinues — the FireAid bill was chockablock with superstars of every era and genre, running the gamut from Joni Mitchell to Jelly Roll to Billie Eilish. It’s also the broadcast teams, the sound guys, the techs, concession workers, set constructors, ticketsellers and every other piece of the puzzle. The Clippers, for example, provided the entire facilities team gratis. And if there was a piece of equipment vital to the show, vendors, like SGPS ShowRig, stepped up. ShowRig is providing the hoist that will lift LED walls on stage at both venues; it’s a critical but often overlooked piece of gear and ShowRig’s is especially suited for TV production because it has built-in redundancy. But the gear was already allocated for the NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco set for Feb. 16. No matter.

“We put the right people on the phone and spent 48 hours de-prepping the equipment for the NBA show to reprep it for FireAid. We’ll have another 48 hours to turn it around and get it back for the NBA,” Brian Edwards, Showrig EVP, said.

And when they set up their rig, the ShowRig team is rubbing shoulders and sharing elbow grease with companies they usually compete against.

“it’s been really cool to see all the companies come together,” ShowRig’s technology operations manager Pete Lopez said. ”All Access (Staging & Productions) is doing the turntable, so we’re working with them on that automation. They’re our competitors but we are working together.”

Similarly all-in are the sponsors of the event. OVG’s President of Global Partnerships Dan Griffis helmed the sponsorship side of things alongside the Clippers’ Scott Sonnenberg and like everyone Pollstar spoke with ahead of the show, hadn’t slept much.

“Initially there was a bunch of outreach. We created a list of 1,000 brands to target and the response rate was overwhelming,” he said, praising the connections that the involvement of the Azoffs and Rapino created. “UBS – they were the first partner – introduced us to the Capital Group and they said ‘We’re in for $2 million.’ The snowball started at the top of the hill and now it’s a massive boulder moving down the mountain.”

Refreshing for Griffis: he’s heard nary a complaint about a lack of exclusivity for the involved brands.

“We drew from Live Aid. It was the first time Coke and Pepsi sponsored an event together,” he said.

The velocity of the event prep meant activations were being installed even before contracts were fully executed, another rarity. The Clippers in-house legal department handled the early deals but as more sponsors signed on — eventually there were 40 — a third-party firm had to come in just to keep the paperwork moving.

“There hasn’t been one argument. It’s been refreshing and people are checking their egos at the door. We are making stuff up in the moment, because there isn’t time to have multiple meetings on a decision,” he says.

Blended Strategy Group CEO Allison Statter helmed the marketing, communication and social media strategy for FireAid and said the proof of just how much people were looking to help was in the pudding even before the show hit the stage.

“What we’ve already accomplished is so incredible. We’ve all come together with 40 acts, 20 streamers, 40 brand partners and we’ve already raised $50 million before we turned anything on. What I’ve been saying to everyone is to remember we’re doing something for good, we’re all doing our best in the shortest amount of time with the largest obstacle,” she said. “What’s ahead of us is the fun part.”

But “the fun part” – the show – isn’t plug and play, of course, and getting it all going and over the air is Gallen’s challenge. Unlike other telethons — like the post-9/11 show, which was held in studios — FireAid was in full arenas.

“This is different from anything we’ve ever done. It’s live concerts in two of the most incredible iconic venues a mile apart, so to stage this concert at two venues at the same time … this is the ultimate challenge,” he said. “I can only be in one place at a time. You gotta really trust your team and do a lot of praying. … Even in rehearsal we’ll be rehearsing two huge artists at one time, because all these artists need to rehearse in a day and a half.”

One of Gallen’s gifts — why he keeps getting tapped to produce these shows — is his knack for striking the right tonal balance. FireAid is part-concert, part-fundraiser and part-community-building. It’s a celebration of L.A. and a way to honor her first responders. It’s a place to grieve with neighbors who lost homes and businesses and loved ones. And it’s a place to remind them that people have their back. And for viewers to demonstrate that support with donations, all of which made during the broadcast will be matched by ebullient Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie. 

“It’s a concert first and foremost. A lot of people are picking songs reflecting their feelings on L.A., but others are just playing their biggest songs. In between, we’ll have video packages that we’re scrambling to do … short films of the victims and the firefighters and first responders. You want to remind people why we’re here: these people need help,” Gallen said. “There’ll be a graphic on the lower third with numbers for donations and reminding people of all the great sponsors. It’s not as donation- and benefit-heavy as the 9/11 or Katrina or Hope for Haiti (specials), but it’s not ignoring it. I call it somewhere in the middle. … We’ll embrace the realness of the story so people watching are constantly reminded that L.A. suffered a tremendous amount of devastation.”

That devastation was so widespread — between the two largest fires, 29 people were killed and some 16,000 structures were damaged or destroyed with more than 38,000 acres burned — that it seems like nearly everyone in L.A. was affected or was one or two degrees of separation from someone who was.

“I was born and raised in L.A. Memories have been lost and entire towns completely taken out,” Statter said. “What does this mean for our city? What is the new normal? It’s unknown and it’s really sad. There are over 200 displaced families at my kids’ school. It’s one of those things that you can’t control.”

L.A. will wrestle with those big questions for years during the recovery, which promises to be arduous, but in the meantime, there’s music and there’s this concert that’ll be a monument to what happens when recriminations and rivalries and ego is left at the door in service of something larger.

“I haven’t slept in seven days but I love every minute of it,” Griffis said. “It’s true collaboration when the idea can no longer be traced to one person. No one even knows anymore who came up with what. … It’s a lovefest.”