"Tibetan Freedom Concert" - Various Artists

Album

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Full Track Listing:

Disc One (New York City, June 7, 1987):

  • Opening Prayers – Monks (1:12)
  • Ground on Down – Ben Harper (5:10)
  • Blues Explosion Man – Jon Spenser Blues Explosion (4:02)
  • Om Mani Padme Hung – Yungchen Lhamo (3:08)
  • About a Boy – Patti Smith (6:59)
  • Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead (5:01)
  • Oh My God – A Tribe Called Quest (2:34)
  • One – U2 (4:57)
  • Cast No Shadow – Noel Gallagher (4:51)
  • Wildflower – Sonic Youth (9:29)
  • Meija – Porno for Pyros (3:43)
  • The Celebration – Nawang Khechog (3:44)
  • This is a Call – Foo Fighters (3:45)
  • The Bridge is Over / Black Cop / South Bronx Medley – KRS 1 (3:43)
  • Star Spangled Banner / Nobody Beats the Biz – Biz Markie (3:03)
  • Closing Prayers – Monks (1:21)

Disc Two (New York City, June 8, 1997):

  • Opening Prayers – Monks (2:24)
  • Yellow Ledbetter – Eddie Vedder (5:44)
  • Noise Brigade – Mighty Mighty Bosstones (2:35)
  • Type Slowly – Pavement (6:48)
  • Gyi Ma Gyi – Dadon Davadolma (3:43)
  • Heads of Government – Lee Perry Fraser (5:27)
  • She Caught the Katy – Taj Mahal (3:42)
  • Beetlebum – Blur (5:56)
  • Electrolite – R.E.M.(5:18)
  • Ajo Sotop – Chaksam-pa (5:10)
  • Wake Up – Alanis (5:16)
  • Hyper Ballad – Bjork (6:25)
  • The Harder they Come – Rancid (2:29)
  • Root Down – The Beastie Boys (4:12)
  • Closing Prayers – Monks (2:11)

Disc Three (San Francisco, June 15 / 16, 1996):

  • Birthday Cake – Cibo Matto (3:48)
  • Asshole – Beck (2:24)
  • Me Myself and I – De La Soul (3:50)
  • Fu Gee La – The Fugees (3:52)
  • Bulls on Parade – Rage Against the Machine (5:25)

Note: The remainder of disc three is a multimedia presentation which includes interview footage with Bono.

Background Information

The Milarepa Fund was initiated by the Beastie Boys in 1994 when they sampled Tibetan monks on their album “Ill Communication” as a way disburse royalties to the Monks. The Fund would also be the recipient to the profits from a series of festivals supporting the cause of Tibetan independence, which were organized by the Beastie Boys. The first concert was held in 1996 over two days in San Francisco, and material from those shows can be found on the third disc of this set. The second concert was held at Randall’s Island, in New York on June 7 and June 8, 1997. Tracks from those two days make up the other two discs in this set, with one disc centered on each day.

U2 performed on the first day of the festival, June 7, 1997. They performed a five song set that included “Gone”, “Mysterious Ways”, “One”, “Until the End of the World” and “Please”. Only “One” is included on this compilation, which is a sample of artists throughout both days, and only includes one song from each. The third disc features audio from the 1996 concert, which U2 was not a part of, but also features a short multimedia presentation, which includes a short interview with Bono. That interview is included as a .aif file on the third disc and runs 2:49 in length. Bono is also quoted in the liner notes of the set, “To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.”

The songs are mixed so that it appears to be one continuous presentation and you can hear Bono quietly mutter “Oh you better get up early in the morning” at the very end of the song “Oh My God” by A Tribe Called Quest on this CD. This is the song that precedes “One” on the CD. When listening continuously this makes up the opening introduction to the song “One” on this album.

A promotional release titled “Selections from Tibetan Freedom Concert” would also feature the U2 performance of “One” and was sent out to promote the 3-disc set. That release is not continuously edited, and the version of “One” on that release is faded out, and also edited to be seven seconds shorter in length than the version found on the main set.

Liner Notes

One:
Written by Paul David Hewson / Adam Clayton / David Evans / Laurence Mullen. Bono: Vocals and Guitar. The Edge: Guitar and Vocal. Adam Clayton: Bass. Larry Mullen: Drums.

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