Los Angeles is flush with wildfire benefit shows right now, from last week’s mega show FireAid to smaller but no-less-helpful concerts this week like I Love L.A. and G*VE A F*CK L.A.
Whereas all these shows focus on raising money for those impacted by the fires, rapper-turned-country-star Jelly Roll headlined an entirely different type of performance this past weekend: one solely for the emergency personnel who put their lives on the line to fight January’s devastating fires.
The Live Nation-produced show, dubbed “A Concert for All First Responders,” hosted almost 16,000 emergency personnel at the Rose Bowl—about a mile and a half from the edge of the Eaton Fire burn area—on Saturday, February 1. Over the course of more than two hours and 30 songs, Jelly Roll shared the Pasadena stage with the likes of Nate Smith, Lainey Wilson, Shinedown, Marshmello and Public Enemy.
“I want you to know that you are here tonight because you are a hero or you are a loved one of a hero,” Jelly Roll said from the stage. “And I knew the moment I was watching this go down all the way in Tennessee in my house, I thought if I got a chance to go to California I was gonna play music to everyone who worked their ass off for the last two months trying to keep the rest of this place safe. Thank y’all for having me tonight—this is awesome!”
Invited guests included personnel from California Professional Fire Fighters, National Guard, California Conservation Corps, LAPD, L.A. Sheriff’s Department, Pasadena PD, Sierra Madre PD, Arcadia PD, Angels National Forest, Ventura Training Center and FirstTix members along with their families. In addition, the show included attendees from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: more than 1,000 incarcerated firefighters from across the state.
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Live Nation partnered with Jelly Roll to cover the running costs of the show, and organizers also shouted out the Rose Bowl Stadium for their help with producing the “thank you” concert.