Fire Aid featured over 25 major artists across two Los Angeles venues, raising funds for victims of devastating wildfires

Fire Aid - Sir Rod Stewart was one of many big names who took to the stage as part of a star-studded benefit concert featuring over 25 major artists across two Los Angeles venues to raise funds for victims of devastating wildfires. The fires, which began in early January, claimed 29 lives and destroyed more than 16,000 buildings across Los Angeles. The concerts were held at the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome in Inglewood, two large arenas approximately a mile apart.

Billie Eilish and Green Day opened the show with a poignant duet of Last Night On Earth, singing: ‘If I lose everything in the fire’. Performing at the Intuit Dome, Sir Rod Stewart flew from the UK specially for the event, saying, "LA is very special to me, I've lived here for 50 odd years."

Elsewhere, Joni Mitchell delivered a stunning rendition of Both Sides Now whilst seated on an ornate gold-edged throne, wearing shades and holding a jewelled cane. The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed hits including Under the Bridge, Lady Gaga sang a previously unreleased song for the crowds, and Stevie Wonder took to the stage at the Intuit Dome alongside other stars including Katy Perry and Lil Baby.

Drama Crisis - Outgoing LAMDA chair Shaun Woodward has blamed a deepening crisis for drama schools across the country on "decades of failure" by successive governments. Woodward said successive administrations had shirked their responsibility to act as the "key strategic player" for the success of the arts.

Writing for The Stage, Woodward, a former minister for creative industries and tourism, called on those in power to coordinate thinking on supporting training as well as creative organisations and venues. He also called for a new understanding of philanthropy in the UK, arguing drama schools should be allowed to "innovate to raise income" if Westminster continued to insist it will not increase grants for higher education.

Woodward said Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s decision to cut undergraduate teaching as a result of financial strain should be seen as the "canary in the mine". But he said the similar plight faced by Rose Bruford College in Sidcup – which revealed a downturn in student numbers – and proposed voluntary redundancies at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama showed "the crisis is at hand".

Woodward said: "Drama training is increasingly undertaken within an impossible financial model. It doesn’t add up because it can’t." He continued: "I do not doubt the sincerity of Lisa Nandy’s commitment to the arts. Indeed, the new government did not create this crisis. It was part of the inheritance. Not even from just the last government, but decades of failure to appreciate the consequences of government by silo... There has been a failure to appreciate government’s responsibility as the key strategic player for the arts and creative industries to flourish."

Grammy Awards - The Beatles and the Rolling Stones have both won Grammy Awards. The Fab Four picked up best rock performance for Now And Then, their "final" song, which was assembled from a demo by the late John Lennon; while the Stones won best rock album for their 2023 comeback, Hackney Diamonds.

Correcting what was widely seen as an historic wrong, Beyoncé won best album at the 67th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The star was recognised for her eighth album, Cowboy Carter, which celebrates and contextualises the black roots of country music. She had previously been passed over for the ceremony's main prize on four separate occasions.

As Tears Go By - Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull died last week at the age of 78. She was famously the girlfriend of Mick Jagger in the 1960s, inspiring songs such as Wild Horses and You Can't Always Get What You Want. After a period of heroin addiction in the 70s, she resurrected her career with the classic album Broken English.

Mick Jagger said: “I am so saddened to hear of the death of Marianne Faithfull. She was so much part of my life for so long. She was a wonderful friend, a beautiful singer and a great actress. She will always be remembered.” Nick Cave called her: “A wild woman, bold, brilliant and beautiful. We have lost not just a fiercely unique talent, but the stored knowledge of a generation. Through her extraordinary, defiant and lived in voice, Marianne brought her own maverick truth to every song she sang, and every story she spoke. We loved her very much.” RIP.

(Jim Evans)
4 February 2025


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