Well, Sean Penn did anyway, but that was expected.

Making his newly scheduled appearance from the Gobi Tent, the crowd quickly jumped to its feet before Penn took the stage. Two kids behind me said, "I've never heard this band." (They didn't quite get it.)

Launching his "Dirty Hands Caravan" campaign, Penn spoke for about 5 minutes and said it's time for this generation to give back for the weekend of music they've just enjoyed.

Two biodiesel buses are scheduled to leave the Empire Polo Field on Monday at 1 p.m. to make the cross-country trip to New Orleans by May 4.

His speech wasn't without controversy, though, as he had some words for President Bush they won't let me print here.

"In either case, the 3,000 lives lost during 9/11 are matched by 4,000 deaths in this criminal war," Penn said. "We let it happen... but the most powerful third party is you and me."

About a dozen of those in the audience rushed over to the nearby tent to sign up for the trip that leaves tomorrow. Others were more skeptical.

Meanwhile, the mercury just hit 97 degrees. Though most concertgoers don't look too affected, one guy lying facedown in the grass by the bamboo waves was a bit questionable.

-- John Asbury
jasbury@PE.com

2 Comments

Ryan Purkey on April 30, 2008 11:26 AM said:

Was the bamboo waver in a 'peanut' ? The little huts were dubbed such after an install we did in Artist's Camp. There's probably some upcoming video of that, but so far we have the initial build online here: http://www.bamboodna.com/video.html

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Vanessa Franko on April 30, 2008 5:00 PM said:

Ryan-

I'll have to ask my colleague who wrote about it.

But I have to say--Bamboo DNA is amazing. Phil Blaine at Coachella had mentioned a little bit to me about it before, but nothing prepared me for the scope of it. It looked incredible!

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