FireAid live updates: L.A. fires benefit concert kicks off with Green Day, Billie Eilish 

The screen behind Alanis Morissette featured what appeared to be a number of social media posts thanking first responders as she sang “Thank U.”

After an emotional tribute from Billy Crystal, Alanis Morissette walked onstage in a glittering “I ❤️ LA” shirt, singing “Hand in My Pocket.”

“The connections that have been born from this tragedy [are] deeply heartwarming. And L.A. is a colorful, wild place,” Morissette said. “And when things get hard, we come together really hard. And I feel it.”

After thanking first responders, she launched into her next song “Thank U.”

The actor kicked off FireAid by urging viewers to donate, mixing emotion and laughter with his personal story.

“You’ll be hearing from a number of people who were tragically affected by these fires and I was one of them,” he said.

Crystal added that he was wearing the same clothes he wore when he lost his home — and that he wore these clothes for a week.

He said when he arrived back to his home he fell to knees and wailed. But then, he said, his daughter came over to him and brought him a rock that said “laughter,” which reminded him in that moment that “even in your worst pain it’s ok to laugh.”

FireAid’s first major donation is from the rock band U2. Billy Crystal announced the group has donated $1 million.

Crystal reminded audiences that the donation is really $2 million for L.A., thanks to the matching effort from Steve and Connie Ballmer.

Green Day formed in Rodeo, California, which is north of where the fires wreaked havoc, closer to San Francisco. That didn’t stop the band from sharing its West Coast love at FireAid.

Tonight’s shows are taking place at two of the city’s most impressive venues: Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Kia Forum. Both are in Inglewood, just about a mile apart.

Green Day got things started at FireAid with big, beautiful letters behind the band spelling out “Los Angeles” on a screen.

Within the letters were pictures of the destruction the fires left in their wake, a reminder to audiences watching all over the world of the impact the tragedy has had on the city.  

“We’re still alive, this is California, and we’re all in this together. From the bottom of our hearts, we love you Los Angeles, and we got your back no matter what,” Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said before the band’s second song of the night, “Still Breathing.”

With a sharpish 10 p.m. ET kickoff, Green Day is opening the show with “Last Night on Earth,” with an appearance from Billie Eilish.

The concert officially kicks off in less than five minutes.

FireAid merch — which includes a line of hoodies, headwear and posters — is now available online and will be ready for purchase during the shows tonight.

Graham Nash and Stephen Stills will be at tonight’s concert — and may even perform together.

Nash and Stills, classic rock legends in their own right, are best known for their work in Crosby, Stills & Nash, a folk rock supergroup (that also sometimes included Neil Young).

“How fortunate to get to spend some time with my great friend Stephen last night during rehearsals for @fireaidla,” Nash posted on Instagram. “Tonight we’ll be sharing a stage together again. All for a really good cause.”

No Doubt, led by Gwen Stefani, will have a rare reunion onstage at FireAid.

The group, which formed in 1986 and released six albums throughout its time together, last performed together at Coachella last year. The members of the band are Stefani, Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal and Adrian Young.

The group shared a few images on Instagram of what looks like their rehearsal for the benefit at the Kia Forum.

From the FireAid red carpet, members of Green Day said they are ready to “show community and that we are all in this together at this point” ahead of the behemoth benefit concert.

The band said its involvement is “a very small gesture on our part” after so many have lost so much.

It said they it is going to play its song “Last Night on Earth” at the request of event organizers, who used it in a social media post of damage sustained in the fires.

“It just resonated with us so hard and with the producers, it resonated with them, too,” the band said.

Each artist is expected to perform two to four songs, co-organizer Irving Azoff told The Wrap.

Azoff also teased some surprises but didn’t go into detail.

Los Angeles-based folk rock band Dawes is encouraging its fans to tune into tonight’s concert, in which it’ll be part of the lineup.

Brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, who started the band in 2007, lost their homes in the wildfires this month, according to Rolling Stone.

“Let’s enjoy each other’s company tonight ❤️” the band wrote on social media.

The goal of FireAid is to raise as much money as possible, with organizers expecting to rake in millions for fire relief efforts.

According to the FireAid website, donations “will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation,” an L.A.-based organization that provides funding and support for nonprofit organizations. The money “will be distributed for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California,” FireAid’s website says.

In addition to ticket sales, organizers expect to raise money from donations made by those who are watching the live feed at home. Throughout the broadcast, a link to FireAidLA.org will be up on the screen, encouraging people to contribute.

NBC News also reported on ways you can most effectively help the city’s recovery efforts.

Read the full story here

Joel Gallen, of the Los Angeles-based production company Tenth Planet, has produced many benefits, including “America: A Tribute to Heroes” after 9/11 and similar programs after Hurricane Katrina, according to The Associated Press. 

Tonight, he is FireAid’s executive producer. In an interview with the AP, Gallen said viewers can expect to see “one of the best shows ever televised.”

In addition to the slew of performances, Gallen said, there will also be several speakers and a mix of celebrities and noncelebrities, including people who lost their homes in the fires.

The official Instagram account for tonight’s benefit, @fireaidla, is teasing a look at the behind-the-scenes happenings and rehearsals before it goes live in just under an hour.

One clip featured a video of Rod Stewart offstage during rehearsals. Others included personal messages from Katy Perry and Graham Nash.

Tickets for both concerts were available beginning Jan. 22 on Ticketmaster for $99.

In a post promoting the benefit, “California Girl” Katy Perry, one of tonight’s many performers, said she’s “truly inspired by my community’s activism,” referring to the Los Angeles area’s solidarity in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires.

“So grateful to contribute in my own way,” she wrote on Instagram, sharing how people can donate or buy tickets.

Perry is expected to hit the road in the United States in May for her Lifetimes Tour.

Irving and Shelli Azoff, who are co-hosting the concert in conjunction with other powerful partners, helped pull together the star-studded concert in a span of about 12 days.

Irving Azoff, former CEO of Ticketmaster and a giant in the music industry, told The Wrap that he and fellow organizers managed to wrangle 25 streaming partners for tonight’s concert — which is why it’ll seemingly be available everywhere online.

“I haven’t slept in two weeks,” he said in the interview.

This event is being produced by music mogul Irving Azoff and his wife, Shelli, in conjunction with Live Nation and the Los Angeles Clippers, according to the FireAid website. 

“When it became obvious that there was going to be a need, I think we were just trying to commiserate. ‘What can we do?’ And Shelli said we should do all we know how to do. We should do the show,” Irving Azoff told The Associated Press. “Gillian Zucker, the CEO of the Clippers organization, and Shelli were on the phone a few minutes later. And here we are.”

Zucker told the AP that Shelli began efforts to spearhead the event on Jan. 9, about 48 hours after the fires started. That’s when she offered the Clippers’ arena as a venue.

Music mogul Irving Azoff, among those who spearheaded the event, told the AP that “there are at least 2,000 seats going to first responders, firemen, policemen and people that have lost their homes.”

Some corporate sponsors will provide seats to those who lost their homes, as well, he told the news service.

Philanthropists Connie and Steve Ballmer, who are among tonight’s event organizers, will match every donation made during tonight’s concert, FireAid announced.

“That means 2X the impact for those affected by the fires in SoCal,” FireAIDLA wrote on social media.

That’s on top of the $15 million the Ballmers had already pledged in emergency funding two weeks ago.

Steve Ballmer owns the Los Angeles Clippers, the NBA team that normally plays at the Intuit Dome. Tonight the arena is one of two venues for the benefit.

Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, a series of ferocious wildfires erupted on Jan. 7 and roared across the Los Angeles area, killing at least 29 people, including some who died trying to prevent the fires from engulfing their homes, and destroying thousands of structures.

The Palisades Fire erupted the morning of Jan. 7 in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles neighborhood east of Malibu, as a brush fire. The blaze, which had grown to 23,448 acres, was 95% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. Cal Fire said the fire damaged or destroyed more than 6,800 structures.

The Eaton Fire ignited hours after the Palisades Fire near a canyon in the sprawling national forest lands north of downtown Los Angeles. It had exploded to 14,021 acres and was 99% contained, according to Cal Fire. The agency has reported that 9,418 structures were damaged or destroyed in the blaze.

The Hughes Fire began near Castaic Lake in northern Los Angeles County the morning of Jan. 22 and quickly grew to over 10,000 acres. It had covered 10,425 acres and was 98% contained by Monday night.

Read the full story here.

Because of a “critical illness in the family,” Dave Matthews is no longer performing at the FireAid benefit, the Dave Matthews Band said in an Instagram post yesterday.

No other details were provided, and it was not immediately clear what kind of illness was being referred to.

Matthews had been scheduled to perform alongside John Mayer.

The performances will kick off at 7 p.m. PT from the Kia Forum, according to organizers.

Organizers told The Associated Press that once both shows have begun, the presentation will “cut back and forth: a live performance and then one broadcast on the screens.”

Then “there’s never a dull moment,” executive producer Joel Gallen told the AP. “There’s no ‘let’s stop and watch them change the stage for 10 minutes.’”

At the Kia Forum, expect to see: Alanis Morissette, Anderson .Paak, John Mayer, Dawes, Graham Nash, Green Day, John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell, No Doubt, Pink, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stephen Stills, Stevie Nicks and The Black Crowes.

The benefit concert isn’t just for Angelenos. Organizers partnered with various streaming services so fans at home can watch the show, as well.

You can stream it on: Apple Music and the Apple TV app, Max, iHeartRadio, KTLA+, Netflix/Tudum, Paramount+, Prime Video and the Amazon Music Channel on Twitch, SiriusXM on “LIFE with John Mayer,” SoundCloud, Veeps and YouTube.

AMC Theatres also announced selected locations in 70 U.S. markets will have screenings of the event. The movie chain said, “FireAid is producing a centralized feed, which will include performances from both venues.” Guests are being encouraged to sing and dance to the concert film event.