On Friday, August 19, Showbox Sodo will host the Rock Against the TPP tour, a free show featuring Talib Kweli, actress Evangeline Lilly, Anti-Flag, Hawaiian slack-key guitar legend Makana, Downtown Boys, comedian Hari Kondabolu, and others. Conceived by Tom Morello and digital rights group Fight for the Future, the tour aims to bring awareness to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement currently being mulled over by Congress.
Alongside the music and comedy, the event will feature a teach-in on organizing from Lilly and most likely several impassioned speeches on a very important issue that affects us all. It’s hard to argue against it being a good cause, and the show stars great artists and you can’t beat the price. But Rock Against the TPP is also a chapter in the sometimes checkered history of all-star activist concerts, with their many pitfalls—from misused funds, to massive egos overshadowing the causes, to Eric Clapton. Here’s a refresher on the lineage.