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Photo of Adam and monks, Washington DC, 1994 by Erin Potts
Thirty years ago, the Beastie Boys, U2, Rage Against the Machine, Björk, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, A Tribe Called Quest, and other major artists came together for nonviolence, freedom, and Tibet through the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.
In this six-part audio documentary, concert co-founder Erin Potts tells how a small team of twenty-somethings helped build one of the largest concert series of the 1990s. With friends, artists, activists, and organizers who were part of the story, Erin looks back at how the concerts began, what they changed, and what their legacy offers today.
Can’t wait for for the next episode? Dive deeper with our Spotify and YouTube playlists, and visit the Freedom Shop for shirts, books, and other pieces of Tibetan Freedom Concert history.
Episode 1: The Power of Music
Before the Tibetan Freedom Concerts became one of the biggest shows of the 1990s, teenage Erin Potts dreams of a concert for Tibet featuring her favorite band. Meanwhile, imprisoned Tibetan nun Ngawang Sangdrol reveals what it meant to resist from inside Tibet. Their stories meet in the same place: the power of music.
Want to go deeper? Check out our show notes, episode-specific content on social media and music playlists.
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Episode 2: Inside Tibet
After studying Tibetan in Nepal and meeting Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in Kathmandu, Erin Potts travels inside Tibet for the first time. In Lhasa, she and Sam Chapin leave their government-assigned tour, move into the Tibetan part of the city, and come face to face with life under Chinese occupation. When they witness a protest, tear gas, gunfire, and a violent police crackdown, they are left holding proof the world needs to see.
Photo by Erin Potts
Want to go deeper? Check out our show notes, episode-specific content on social media and music playlists.
Episode 3: “Standing Up for Freedom”
After protest photos and freedom songs are smuggled out of Tibet, Erin returns home, where a dinner with Adam Yauch transforms what she witnessed into a new kind of action. Together, they begin imagining what music, culture, and activism could do for Tibet, leading Erin to go on the 10-week Lollapalooza summer tour with the Beastie Boys and a group of Tibetan monks.
Photo by Erin Potts
Want to go deeper? Check out our show notes, episode-specific content on social media and music playlists.
Episode 4: The First Concert
After two years of near misses, Erin, Adam, and a young team of organizers finally bring the first Tibetan Freedom Concert to life, with one of the most talked-about lineups of the 1990s and a bold new model for turning music into action.
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Want to go deeper? Check out our show notes, episode-specific content on social media and music playlists.
Episode 5: No Slowing Down
The Tibetan Freedom Concerts head to New York, where the team faces slow ticket sales, city bureaucracy, and the pressure of turning one breakthrough concert into something bigger. But even as the concert nearly breaks them, U2’s surprise appearance fulfills Erin’s teenage promise and helps carry the movement toward Washington, D.C.
Publish date: July 13, 2026
Photo by Danny Clinch
Episode 6: After the Storm
Just two weeks before President Clinton’s trip to China, the D.C. concert becomes the biggest and most consequential yet. After lightning injures concertgoers, the movement carries its message to the Capitol, Beijing and beyond. Erin and others look back on what it set in motion, and ahead to what the fight for freedom needs now.
Publish date: July 20, 2026
Photo by Danny Clinch
Credits
No one who worked on this project was paid what they deserved, and some were not paid at all, but every person listed below brought a lot of talent, love, care, and generosity that made each episode infinitely better. Thank you, all!
Writer and Producer: Andrés Caballero
Editor: Martina Castro
Project Manager & Archival Producer: Mariano Pagella
Sound Design and Mastering: Martin Cruz
Fact Checking: Ana Lucía Murrillo and Lhadon Tethong
Some of the voices heard in the series through new interviews and archival tape include: Adam Yauch, Biz Markie, Björk, Bono, Dave Grohl, Deyden Tethong, Erin Potts, Flea, John Popper, Kurt Loder, Lhadon Tethong, Ngawang Sangdrol, Palden Gyatso, Sam Chapin, Thom Yorke, Tom Morello, Yoko Ono and others.
Original Theme Song: “Freedom Song” written by Mark Ramos Nishita. Visit Concord Music on the web at www.concordmusicgroup.com
Dramyin Music: Tendor
Music Supervision: Kathleen Smith
Recording: Paige Sutherland, Rick Nelson & Marigny Studios Black Sheep Studios, KALW, Preservation Hall Studios, and Tenzin Leckphel (India).
Finance & Operations: Jon Voss
Logo Design: Aaron Terry
Communications: Jamie Paratore
Publicity: Perry Serpa, Vicious Kid PR
Legal: Joe Voss, Esq.
Legal Review: Neil Rosini, Franklin Weinrib Rudell + Vassallo LLP
Fiscal Sponsorship: Shift Collective
Project Advisor: Leah Rose
For KALW: James Kass and David Boyer
Executive Producers: Deyden Tethong, Erin Potts and Martina Castro
Creators of Freedom Needs a Soundtrack: Erin Potts and Deyden Tethong
Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen, LLC Production. The audio documentary was produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco.