Banding Together: How FireAid Raised $100M For Los Angeles Wildfire Relief (Pollstar Live! Keynote Discussion)

Keynote Discussion: The Story Behind FireAid LA
Wednesday, Apr 16
9:15 AM – 10:00 AM PDT

Moderator
Sharon Waxman | Founder, CEO & Editor In Chief / TheWrap

Speakers
Irving Azoff | Chairman & CEO / The Azoff Company
Jeffrey Azoff | CEO / Full Stop Management
Shelli Azoff | Founder & Managing Partner / The Azoff Restaurant Grp.
Joel Gallen | Founder / Tenth Planet Productions
Dan Griffis | President, Global Partnerships / Oak View Group
Geni Lincoln | President, California Region / Live Nation
Allison Statter | CEO / Blended Strategy Group
Gillian Zucker | President Business Operations & CEO / LA Clippers & Intuit Dome, Halo Sports & Entertainment

On the morning of Jan. 7, 2025, a wildfire, whipped by unrelenting Santa Ana winds, roared to life in the Santa Monica Mountains north of Pacific Palisades, California. That afternoon, another blaze sparked 25 miles to the northeast in Altadena.

Historic winds blew across parched land that hadn’t seen measurable rain in eight months. The fires raged for 24 days, finally declared fully contained Jan. 31.

Between the two fires — among the most destructive natural disasters in California history — nearly 38,000 acres burned, nearly the size of Washington, D.C. Twenty-nine people died and more than 16,000 structures were destroyed.

Angelenos from the coast to the mountains spent weeks on edge — every gust of hot, dry winds shook their nerves, the acrid stench of smoke and ash a constant reminder that disaster could press in at any time with less than a moment’s notice.

But still, in a city gripped with anxiety, reeling from a danger that just wouldn’t retreat, planning was underway for relief.

Within two days, prompted by a breakfast table conversation between Irving and Shelli Azoff, the FireAid concert was coming to life.

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 ‘n Al’s and Apple Pan), brought power players into the FireAid orbit, including Live Nation and the LA Clippers.

At first, the Jan. 30 concert was planned for the Clippers’ glittering new $2 billion, 18,000-seat Intuit Dome, but it quickly became apparent there was so much love to give that it would need help from its venerable big brother — the Kia Forum — a mile north.

And FireAid grew and grew: a six-hour, two-building, 28-artist, 40-sponsor, streamed and broadcast to kingdom come, raising tens of millions of dollars.

The show featured performances from the living members of Nirvana joined by a parade of badass frontwomen, to modern hitmakers like Jelly Roll, Olivia Rodrigo and Tate McRae to SoCal legends like Stevie Nicks and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. P!NK and Billie Eilish stirred the crowd emotionally; Green Day and No Doubt rocked the rafters. Timeless favorites like Stephen Stills and John Fogerty added further clout and showed the support from the music community for such a worthy cause that affected so many.

It was a tremendous success, but it was no plug-and-play undertaking. It required coordination and cooperation (and caffeination). It required the Azoffs’ rolodex and the Clippers’ operational expertise, led by Halo Sports’ Gillian Zucker. It required the expertise of benefit-show master director Joel Gallen.

And it required everybody’s egos to stay at home.

This is the story of FireAid. Shelli, Irving and the Azoff family, along with Zucker, Live Nation’s Geni Lincoln and more will keynote Day One of Pollstar Live! with a dive into how they did it and where they go now, as the more than $100 million raised by the show begins to get to the people and places who need it as the Palisades and Altadena dig out and build back.