Jimmy Page, Joe Perry To Play Free Peace Concert In China

Jimmy Page, Joe Perry and the Black Eyed Peas are scheduled to headline a free April concert on Beijing’s Olympic Green; the Show of Peace is scheduled for April 17 to mark Earth Day, which is celebrated each year to promote awareness of environmental issues.

Pearl Jam, Lady Gaga, Green Day, and 50 Cent are also in discussions to perform.

The concert will take place in front of Beijing’s Bird’s Nest, the iconic stadium that became the global image of the 2008 Olympics in China.

Promoter Rick Garson called the event the first-ever global peace and environment concert in China featuring world famous celebrities and musicians.

“Tickets are free. You can’t charge for peace and green. It is going to be for everybody, it’s like China’s gift to the world and the people,” Garson told reporters.

“What we are going to do is raise money, obviously, from sponsorship, international distribution, merchandising, Internet, ringtones, DVDs, CDs. That’s how we are doing it, it is being self-funded as we speak.”

Organizers hope the concert will be beamed live around the world via television and the Internet to mark this year’s 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

“My belief in music as a universal language is the reason I returned to Beijing to voice my support for the Show of Peace,” said Page, who performed the Led Zeppelin classic “Whole Lotta Love” at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last year.

“This (concert) is a tribute to the power of music and its positive effect. Music has been one of the most powerful languages that speaks to the heart of the people around the world.”

An interesting subtext to the concert is that the headline to announce the show noted Aerosmith would be playing the event. But according to the band’s official website, only Joe Perry will be taking part in the event, not the entire band. If the band were to all perform, the big question would be whether or not Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler would attend. Tyler entered a rehab facility last month. So we shall see.

A Show of Peace Foundation will be established to administer the campaign’s social goals and manage the equitable distribution of funds raised by the campaign to support appropriate charities and initiatives.

The concert will be part of a yearlong awareness campaign to create a more peaceful and greener planet for future generations.