Episode 5: The Tibetan Freedom Concerts head to New York, where the team faces slow ticket sales, city bureaucracy, and the pressure of turning one breakthrough concert into something bigger. But even as the concert nearly breaks them, U2’s surprise appearance fulfills Erin’s teenage promise and helps carry the movement toward Washington, D.C.
Note: This episode includes a cuss word or two.
In this Episode:
- After the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco, the team sets its sights on New York as the media capital of the world and a key step toward Washington, D.C.
- Deyden Tethong joins the Milarepa Fund as Education Coordinator, helping bring even more Tibetan voices into the work as the concerts grow.
- The New York concert proves much harder than San Francisco, with slow ticket sales, venue challenges, city bureaucracy, and pressure from police and promoters.
- At Randall’s Island, the concert brings together artists including Radiohead, Björk, Alanis Morissette, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Beastie Boys, and a surprise appearance by U2.
- U2’s appearance marks a full-circle moment for Erin, who once promised as a teenager that she would put on a concert for Tibet and U2 would play.
- New York nearly breaks the team, but it becomes a stepping stone toward Washington, D.C., where the concerts grow into an even larger cultural and political moment.
- With President Bill Clinton preparing to leave for China two weeks after the D.C. concert, the team sees an opportunity to bring Tibet directly into the national political conversation.
- Erin and Deyden describe plans for a rally at the U.S. Capitol calling for human rights in China and unconditional negotiations with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Voices in this episode (in order of appearance):
- Erin Potts — co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and the Milarepa Fund, expert on music and activism, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
- Deyden Tethong — Tibetan activist, producer, and executive producer of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack.
- Rebecca Rankin — Music journalist and television host/correspondent associated with MuchMusic, heard through archival audio.
- Alanis Morissette — singer-songwriter and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
- Thom Yorke — Radiohead singer and performer at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
- Björk — Artist who performed at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, heard through archival audio.
- KRS-One
- Adam Yauch — co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and Milarepa Fund, member of the Beastie Boys, heard through archival audio.
- Kurt Loder — Journalist, author, and longtime MTV News anchor who helped define music news coverage in the 1990s, heard through archival audio.
- Bono / U2 — Artist and performer heard through archival concert audio.
- Serena Altschul — Journalist and longtime MTV News correspondent, heard through archival audio.
- John M. Fahey — then president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, heard through archival audio.
- President Bill Clinton — 42nd President of the United States, heard through archival audio.
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Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen production, produced by Adonde Media and distributed in Partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco.