Two Nights to Rock Around the Cause

The annual One805LIVE! benefit concert coming up this month could adopt a version of the old Doublemint Gum jingle as its tagline: Double your pleasure, double your fun. That’s because instead of just a single big event, there are actually two concerts slated to take place at Kevin Costner’s oceanside “Field of Dreams” estate in Summerland on September 25 and 26. 

Each boasts a completely different lineup, with Friday’s slate headlined by the first joint appearance by Motown legends The Temptations and The Four Tops in the Santa Barbara area in more than 40 years (19 years if you count the Samala Showroom at the Chumash Casino Resort). Fans will be dancing after dark to many of the Tempts’ 24 Top 40 hits that include oldies staples “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” plus fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Four Tops, whose smash songs include “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Baby I Need Your Loving,” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” 

Also part of Friday’s fare is an act at the polar opposite of the smooth sensations of the Motown bands in blues-rock legend George Thorogood, whose gritty, guitar-driven hits include “Bad to the Bone,” “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” “Who Do You Love?” and “Move It on Over,” plus Alan Parsons, the longtime Santa Barbara-based producer-songwriter-keyboardist/Beatles tape operator who is a co-founder of One805 and the concert supervisor. 

Saturday’s slate is topped by ‘80s hitmakers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, whose astonishing 36 million records sold (not to mention four consecutive Grammy Awards) include “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Heartbreaker,” and “We Belong,” and will be heard locally for the first time since they played a 2013 date at the Santa Barbara Bowl. On the other hand, Slightly Stoopid, representing 1990s rock, blasted their blend of folk, rock, reggae, hip-hop, funk and punk at the Bowl just last summer. Rounding out Saturday’s lineup is Costner himself, not only hosting but fronting his country rock band Modern West for a third One805LIVE! show, representing the 2000s, and Irish folk group The High Kings, who came into prominence just last decade. 

English-born DJ superstar Samantha Ronson will play DJ sets both days between the acts, as rather than having most of the performers playing in front of a house band as in past years, each will be able to play full sets with their own bands, necessitating stage realignments. 

Taken together, it’s a remarkably wide scope of genres that also spans almost 60 years of popular music, which alone could justify extending the formerly single One805LIVE! show to a pair of performances. But that’s not the reason at all. 

It’s simply about getting more funds for the cause – supporting first responders – explained Richard Weston-Smith, co-founder and COO of the nonprofit that came into being in the wake of the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow. 

“We’re in the business of raising money, so selling more tickets means we get to support our first responders even more,” he said. 

All of the net proceeds are earmarked for the now nine-month-old $10 million campaign to fully fund the One805 Endowment Fund, which provides ongoing support for the mental health, wellness, and safety of local law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical personnel. In other words, supporting those who support all of us in times of crisis. 

That’s why One805 is able to attract the array of artists to come play for free so that more money can go to improving mental health care for first responders, with everyone coming together to make music for a shared purpose. 

“Everybody on that stage is there because they are connected to why we’re doing this,” Weston-Smith said. “That’s why the artists waive their fees and they’re doing it because for them mental wellness or firefighters and first responders are a hot button, whether or not they spend a lot of time in Santa Barbara. So many musicians have a first responder in their families or friend group and they understand the issues… Providing extensive mental health care is not only good for them, but for all of us, because the more adjusted they are and the more things are good at home, they’re much more able to do their jobs well.”

That’s certainly the motivation for Benatar and Giraldo, who have been through so many fires approaching their Malibu digs that firefighters often use their property as a place to crash for the night. 

“We’re close to our firefighters,” Benatar said in an interview in May. “They’re like earth angels. Those guys work so hard and they have a special place in our hearts for keeping everybody safe.” Giraldo, who has been a mental health advocate and activist for years, said agreeing to perform at the One805 event was a no-brainer when he heard about the cause. “Firefighters and police have a tough time and go through so much. You want them to get the help they need, to stay grounded, and not have to turn to drugs and alcohol.”

That’s also why, over the years, the benefit events have drawn a glittering array of Montecito-based celebrities, whether in the musical realms such as Maroon 5 or Kenny Loggins, or Hollywood heroes including Zoe Saldaña, Cameron Diaz, and even Harry and Meghan, who, Weston-Smith said, have promised they’ll be involved down the road despite having recently relocated back to Britain. 

“He said he’s still going to wholeheartedly support us regardless of the distance,” he said.

It’s paramount to the purpose that the way things are set up with One805, first responders can get the help they need in complete privacy, able to completely avoid going through their employers and access services.

“It’s completely anonymous,” Weston-Smith said. “Just in the last two weeks, we’ve had two first responders contact us and say, ‘I was in my darkest hour thinking of committing suicide, and I was pulled up by somebody who told me to call the number to get help. What you offer literally saved my life and saved my family.’ It’s utterly heartwarming to realize that there are actually lives we’ve saved out there that we never know about unless they come forward to thank us.” 

The One805 shows are an opportunity for attendees to return the favor, beyond financially, by expressing gratitude to actual first responders, some 300-400 of whom will be in the audience each night. Each one is given a glow stick on a lanyard when they arrive. 

“We ask them to break it when it gets dark so everybody can recognize who they are,” Weston-Smith said. 

Meanwhile, the smaller number of guests at each concert will make for a more intimate experience and should ease congestion on the way in or out. Although Weston-Smith said the logistical issues that plagued the first two years of the concert have been fully resolved. 

“The parking at the polo fields is literally just a three-minute ride straight across the freeway, and we’ve got masses of buses,” he said. “People will not have to wait long. Last year, everybody was out of there within 45 minutes, and it will probably be quicker this year. It stills takes you an hour and a half to get out of Dodger Stadium and they’ve been doing it for 70 years.”

Saturday’s general admission tickets are sold out but all other categories on both days were still available at press time.

Visit https://tickets.one805.org