Music reviews: Calendar spends a busy weekend attending diverse and notable events. : Tibetan Freedom Concert

Could it just be that the weekend Tibetan Freedom Concert is a sign that the times are truly a-changin’ again in rock?

It certainly felt like a turning point on Saturday at Golden Gate Park when you saw such unlikely scenes as Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys seated with ‘60s activists Yoko Ono and Richie Havens at a press conference condemning human rights violations in Tibet.

Just a decade ago, the Beastie Boys--and most other young rock acts--would have been satisfied if they left their concert fans with a message no more socially conscious than “Fight for Your Right (to Party).”

At the time of their breakthrough 1987 hit of that title, the Beasties were the pop equivalent of the Three Stooges, a punk-minded hip-hop trio from New York simply trying to jump aboard the rock ‘n’ roll gravy train.

Even such inspiring ‘90s groups as Nirvana generally skirted social and political issues, largely because they were disillusioned by the way earlier generations of rock musicians and fans had failed, they felt, to live up to their lofty social proclamations.

The abortion-rights organization Rock for Choice drew support from key acts at its fund-raising concerts, but their scale was modest. The first high-profile break in that rock ‘n’ roll isolationism came when Pearl Jam, the best-selling of the quality ‘90s rock arrivals, joined with Neil Young early last year for two concerts in Washington to benefit an abortion-rights political action committee.

Other contemporary acts have been painfully slow, however, to follow Pearl Jam’s lead and use their power to support social issues in major, high-profile events.

But it felt like the floodgates were suddenly opened Saturday and that the Beasties--of all people--were now at the controls of a peace train that lured some 50,000 fans to the first of the weekend’s two Tibetan Freedom Concerts. There were so many key contemporary acts on the bill that the weekend seemed at times like a Lollapalooza reunion: the Beasties, the Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement on Saturday, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Beck and Sonic Youth on Sunday’s package.

The event was sponsored by the Milarepa Fund, which was co-founded by the Beastie Boys in 1994 to raise awareness of human rights violations by the Chinese government in Tibet.

If the music didn’t come close Saturday to matching the urgency and power of the Pearl Jam/Neil Young pairing in Washington, the show benefited from a warm and passionate spirit.

At the press conference before the 5 1/2-hour concert, Yauch called on U.S. officials to end China’s preferential trade status and urged U.S. consumers to boycott materials made in China.

“It’s easy to think that [what is happening in Tibet] is just out of our hands, . . . but it has already been proven in terms of South Africa that financial sanctions do have a very strong effect,” he said.

Others backstage suggested there is a new feeling of social awareness and cooperation among young rock bands.

“During the late ‘80s, every band wanted to do their own thing and not be associated with any cause, but that is changing,” Gregg Perloff, president of the Bill Graham Presents concert production firm, said. “Bands recognize their power and their responsibility to use it.”

Early in the concert on a chilly, overcast afternoon, folk singer Havens injected a touch of ‘60s idealism by singing songs of freedom, struggle and hope.

Other acts, most of them appearing in 20- to 30-minute sets on one of two side-by-side stages, expressed support for Tibet, but generally kept their distance from the issue in their music, simply choosing songs from their normal concert fare.

Of the rock groups, Cibo Matto (with Sean Lennon sitting in on bass) was a tasty, appealing appetizer, but Pavement, though a quality band, simply has too laid-back an approach for a mass setting. The more forceful Foo Fighters and the Smashing Pumpkins fared much better, though the Pumpkins’ stronger and more distinctive material far outclassed the Fighters’.

A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie reminded the audience of the limitations of live rap as both acts moved about the stage with the same circular steps and arm waving or finger pointing that have defined rappers ever since Run-DMC a decade ago. Bluesman John Lee Hooker, in an especially disarming set, had more presence just sitting in a chair.

The Beastie Boys, who closed the show, are interesting and inventive on record, but they suffer from the same live rap limitations, even though they try to mix things up by switching from rapping to playing instruments.

Still, the day was an overwhelming success for the Beasties’ cause and for the health of rock. It certainly felt better to see MTV news reporting about contemporary rockers banding together to fight human rights abuse than the latest drug overdose.

Asked to trace his own heightened social awareness, Yauch, 30, a shy, soft-spoken man, said in an interview that he felt something missing in his life when he and fellow Beasties Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz became stars in their early 20s.

“I think that we are basically taught in the West, at least subconsciously, that the way to be happy is to have a lot of money or fame or a lot of beautiful women or men, . . . “ said Yauch. “In our case, we were just real lucky to get a lot of that stuff real early in life and have fun with it, and then realize it’s not an end in itself.”

Yauch subsequently became enchanted with Buddhist teachings, and, in turn, learned of the plight of the Tibetan people, whose representatives Saturday spoke on stage and at the press conference about torture and political oppression in their homeland.

In view of Saturday’s stirring reminder of how musicians can rally support for social causes, the Beasties might even think of redoing their old hit. Only this time, they could declare: “Party for Your Right (to Fight).”