On Saturday night, April 29, there was a party in Washington, DC, thrown by the Human Rights Campaign (http://www.hrc.org) to make a claim for equal rights. The "Equality Rocks" concert was part fundraiser, part conscience raiser - all designed in an effort to "celebrate the dream of equality, safety and fairness for all people and a world free of violence based on difference". Built around the Millennium March on Washington weekend, the show featured George Michael, k.d. lang, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche, Pet Shop Boys, Tipper Gore, Chaka Kahn and Wait a second? Garth Brooks? At a gay rights event? What's going on?? Has Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines completely lost his mind?
In response to much questioning as to why he would support such an event, Garth replied with a clear conscience - "I'm here to make a statement. I came here to play music for human rights. I'm here for equality, so that maybe not my kids, but my kids' kids will live in a world of real equality."
Emcee of the evening, actress Kathy Najimy, echoed Garth's feelings. "People always say, 'What are you doing? Why are you here?' It's an understandable question, but to me it's kind of absurd. I care about child abuse, but I'm not a child. If there's an epidemic and no one is paying attention -- even if you don't care about it now -- it's going to come back to you. It's all part of who we are."
While the country music community may be up in arms about Garth's participation, over 45,000 people at the sold-out show welcomed him with love and open arms. Eighties pop superstar, George Michael, was reportedly so impressed with Garth's willingness to participate, that he signed on himself - his first U.S. concert date in almost 10 years. Backstage at the concert, fans apparently mobbed Garth in the VIP tent, but he took the time to shake each hand, sign autographs, and put a name with every face.
When it was time for the show, every performer in the nearly six-hour concert focused on music dealing with the larger issues confronting homosexuals. As the Washington Post said, "It's hard to imagine that any stadium rock event ever oscillated so wildly between polar opposite moods of anguish and joyful abandon."
Following a set by country rebel k.d. lang and rocker Melissa Etheridge, pop singer George Michael took the stage and brought the crowd to a frenzy. Garth Brooks joined him on stage for a spirited call for "Freedom" (an early-90s Michael rock anthem). Garth had reportedly been nervous about sharing the stage with George Michael, but he seemed right at home, despite "showing up in boots" at a "black tie affair". Garth was met with no resistance as he invited the audience to sing along. He later embraced the openly gay British pop star and encouraged Michael to wear a black cowboy hat - which Garth later threw into the audience.
Afterwards, Michael left the stage and Garth performed a short 20-minute acoustic solo set to end the show. Highlights included "The Dance" and "We Shall Be Free". Despite the short length, Garth bonded with the crowd, making them go wild when he sang the line "when we're free to love anyone we choose...we shall be free". By performing at this concert, Garth not only won over a huge audience that has long been ignored by country music, but set a precedent for other country music superstars to follow. After the concert everyone could agree, whether straight or gay, Equality Rocks.
written by ckcowboy
Copyright 2000 Countrycool.com
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 1, 2000; Page C01
So there's George Michael, the ultra-suave partyer in black, bug-eyed shades and a shiny double-breasted suit, singing a naughty little booty-shaker about "free love" and leading a crowd of some 45,000 in a massive, Studio 54ish dance. The mood, to say the least, is festive. But the mood changes. Michael slams the brakes on the euphoria and points to video screens spread all around RFK Stadium. He introduces a short film about the horrors endured by young gays whose parents believe that homosexuality is curable. The teens, according to the clip, were whisked against their wills to "clinics" and brutalized in a grotesque, "Clockwork Orange"-inspired effort to rid them of gay urges.
A palpable bummer quiets the crowd. "Equality Rocks," an all-night music party thrown by the Human Rights Campaign and starring such headliners as Garth Brooks, Melissa Etheridge and Pet Shop Boys, suddenly doesn't feel fun at all. For a moment, dancing seems wildly inappropriate and Michael soon multiplies the sense of outrage by asking everyone in the building to produce the angriest noise they can muster.
It was that sort of evening on Saturday night. You didn't know whether to dance or write your congressman, do the electric slide or march on the Capitol. Both responses seemed apt at various moments during the 4 1/2-hour show, which was part fundraiser, part conscience raiser, part gay Woodstock and very much a social mixer. It's hard to imagine that any stadium rock event ever oscillated so wildly between polar opposite moods of anguish and joyful abandon.
The Human Rights Campaign was apparently as hellbent on galvanizing as entertaining. And on its own terms, the group, which lobbies for gay rights issues and organized yesterday's march, succeeded at both. There is, however, a danger in mixing a lecture with a party--the danger that either the sternness of the message will undermine the giddiness of the music, or vice versa.
The organizers demanded an awful lot of emotional nimbleness from this largely gay crowd. At one point, the parents of murder victim Matthew Shepard took the stage to denounce violence against minorities, a heartbreaking sermonette. Soon after came a rollicking set by Pet Shop Boys, a British electronica duo reviving the leather-and-sailors spirit of the Village People. Confusing? Perhaps by the ordinary standards of arena shows, where typically only the broadest gestures register and the plot lines are kept to a limerick's simplicity. But this crowd, apparently, was willing to both get down and get angry.
Broadway and film star Nathan Lane started the show with some comic barbs, the best of which were aimed at radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger ("She's Jerry Falwell's prom date!"). Actress Ellen DeGeneres earned one of the night's most prolonged ovations just by walking onstage and spreading her arms as if to say "Here I am." She introduced soul-funk queen Chaka Khan, who played hits like "I'm Every Woman," and "I Feel for You" before turning the floor over to Kristen Johnston, star of the hit sitcom "3rd Rock From the Sun." Johnston introduced k.d. lang, who greeted the crowd with "Hiya, homos," then played favorites like "Constant Craving."
The problem with menagerie-style shows like "Equality Rocks" is that the performers get about 20 minutes each, which is hardly enough to develop much momentum or bond with the audience. This seemed like a blessing with performers Michael Feinstein, a piano-playing Ira Gershwin revivalist whose mood is apparently stuck on indigo. But it's insufficient stage time for someone like lang or, later, Brooks. Etheridge followed lang, the first of her three appearances during the night. She plowed through standouts like "Come to My Window" and later rolled around the stage floor with her guitar--bonding with the instrument in a Sapphic, graphic and highly suggestive love minuet.
Happily, every performer focused either on the music or on the larger issues confronting homosexuals. Until George Michael showed up; he chose to open his performance with an angsty little diatribe about his career trouble. Michael hasn't scored a U.S. hit for years and hasn't performed in the States for a very long time, a fact he seemed to believe is somehow connected to his arrest for a "lewd act" in a Los Angeles restroom. (He still has six weeks of probation left for that interlude.)
Brooks traded vocals with Michael on the latter's hit "Freedom," then delivered a strong if abbreviated acoustic set, which included "The Dance." Etheridge then returned to sing "Celebrate" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music," the songs culminating in a conga line with many of the night's musicians.
Even Tipper Gore showed up, banging enthusiastically on a set of drums. When it comes to drums, enthusiasm is about half the battle.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
