Last week, a vast number of stars, including the surviving members of Nirvana, played FireAid, a big-deal benefit for people affected by the recent Los Angeles wildfires. That was a big one, but it was just one of many wildfire benefit shows that's happening these days. Tonight, I'm going to see a bunch of Richmond hardcore bands play a wildfire benefit. Last night, the indie-leaning G*VE A F*CK LA benefit came to the Hollywood Palladium, and its lineup included Jenny Lewis, Lucy Dacus, St. Vincent, Courtney Barnett, MUNA, and Rico Nasty, among many others. It also had Paramore's Hayley Williams singing a couple of acoustic covers.
Hayley Williams is a confirmed fan of the LA cult band Failure, and she's made that clear over the years. In 2022, Williams appeared in a trailer for a Failure documentary, though I'm not sure the film ever came out. During the pandemic, Williams played a lot of acoustic covers on Instagram, including songs by Failure and Björk. Earlier this week, Williams teased a collaboration by posting a picture of a Failure guitar pick on her Instagram story.
At G*VE A F*CK LA on Wednesday night, Williams was joined by Failure leader Ken Andrew, and she once again covered both Failure and Björk, though they weren't the Failure and Björk songs that she did during the pandemic. Instead, Williams and Andrews started off with the 1996 Failure song "Daylight," and then they did Björk's 1997 classic "All Is Full Of Love," which translates surprisingly well as an acoustic singalong. Watch fan videos below.
Earlier this week, Rilo Kiley announced plans for a reunion tour. At last night's benefit, the band's Jenny Lewis (wearing an outfit paying homage to her Troop Beverly Hills role) and Pierre de Reeder reunited, performing the old Rilo Kiley song "Let Me Back In," and they was joined by Hayley Williams and MUNA's Katie Gavin. Rilo Kiley last played that song, an Under The Blacklight outtake first released on the Rkives comp, in 2007. It sounded awesome.
Perfume Genius just announced his new album Glory, but he didn't play any of those songs at the benefit. Instead, he did solo-piano covers of Townes Van Zandt's "Don't Take It Too Bad" and Radiohead's "4 Minute Warning." The level of crowd noise in the fan footage is pretty crazy. Los Angeles! I know you've been through a lot, but that's Perfume Genius on solo piano! Let the man cook!
Kevin Morby was joined by his partner, Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield and they covered Magnolia Electric Co.'s "Dark Don't Hide It" together.
At the end, everyone joined Phantom Planet for "California":
Also, I can't find video of it, but former Girls leader Christopher Owens apparently sang Michael Jackson's "Heal The World." That seems like a joke, but I bet he did it with total sincerity. Along with the show, there's also a G*VE A F*CK LA charity auction, which includes music-video outfits from Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Hayley Williams, Billie Eilish, Shirley Manson, and more. You can browse through all that stuff here.
