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A small little town tucked quietly in the center of Maryland became the music capital of the world for one very short but important day.

Columbia’s Merriweather Post Pavilion has seen some great concerts before, but none as outstanding as the show put on by a handful of aware musicians Saturday afternoon. Earth Day 1990—The Concert, was everything it was built up to be and more. It was eclectic, it was dynamic. It was awesome.

The musical entourage played all kinds of music, from reggae to hip hop to folk to simple rock ‘n’ roll. Special guests came to support the just cause of saving the environment, and as performer after performer came on, an audience of 15,000 was windswept into believing they may have seen one of the best concerts ever.

The show got off to a slow start, as the enigmatic band, Grafittiman, took the stage to warm up the few fans who showed up early. Their easily forgettable performance was quickly remedied by Michelle Shocked, a powerful singer who unfortunately was granted only 25 minutes of playing time.

But Shocked made the most of it. With acoustic guitar in hand, she blasted through two songs from her 1988 release, Short Sharp Shocked, including the song, “(Don’t [You] Mess Around With) My Little Sister,” which discusses the problems of Central America.

“I think we’d all be better off if we bought a guitar, learned three simple chords and stopped buying so many damned records,” Shocked mused to the audience.

Shocked was followed by the overtly political teachings of Englishman, Billy Bragg. Bragg, a performer known for erasing the rules of concert etiquette, including an a cappella performance of “International,” an early 19th century war song, while in the process preaching the rues of capitalism.

“Stop buying and buying and buying,” he said.

Afrika Bambaataa’s Jungle Brothers came up next, playing a rather short and listless set. Bambaataa’s rap is nothing special, and the bass tones did little to incite the audience to dance.

Baltimore-based Crack the Sky, a living rip-off of pre-1980 Pink Floyd if there ever was one, came up next and played a tight 30-minute set. Lead singer John Polumbo, decked in Blues Brothers garb, sounded good in the broad pavilion arena, and may have even grabbed some new fans in the process.

But everything came full circle when the Indigo Girls, with REM lead singer Michael Stipe in tow, came out to play a riveting 25-minute set, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray flawlessly poured through songs from their 1989 self-titled album, while Stipe ambled graciously through the background vocals.

Then, after having sung, “Are You On Fire,” and “All Along The Watchtower,” Saliers and Ray let Stipe take centerstage to sing, “Hairshirt,” a cynical yet individualistic song off REM’s “Green” album.

The folkish sound was replaced 10 minutes later by the absolute funkadelic/reggaeish poundings of KRS One and his posse, Boogie Down Productions. Boogie Down hit every dance nerve cohort the Jungle Brothers were unable to find, and not five minutes into their performance had amassed a shaking motion in the audience.

Border pop and rock ‘n’ roll artists, Fabulous Thunderbirds and Bruce Hornsby and the Range, grabbed the next two slots. The Thunderbirds pumped through their hits, “Tough Enough” and “Wrap It Up,” but got their best response from an early 1960s blues tune.

Hornsby is a great stage performer who won over a skeptical crowd. The lanky piano player rolled melodiously through “Mandolin Rain,” “The Way It Is,” and the environmentally aware, “Through The Looking Glass,” never missing a beat.

Bragg came back after Hornsby to play a 10-minute set that lasted a little longer when REM guitarist Peter Buck, Stipe and 10,000 Maniacs lead singer, Natalie Merchant, came on to run through some REM tunes.

Bragg played “Shirley” and “Waiting For The Great Leap Forward,” and then played background guitar for Stipe’s singing of “Disturbance At The Heron House” and “Fall On Me,” in what was perhaps the highlight in an already highlighted concert.

The Maniacs followed close behind, swirling the crowd into a generated frenzy. Merchant pranced and swooned all around the stage, while her sharp playmates keyed perfectly to her adoringly melodic voice. “Like The Weather” and “What’s The Matter Here,” hits from the Maniac’s 1988 smash, “In My Tribe,” stood out in the flawless 50-minute performance. It couldn’t get any better.

But then the son of a musical prophet turned the event into his own showcase. Ziggy Marley, showing the face of youth and littering the air with outward political songs and joy, was amazing.

Marley began his set with “Tumblin’ Down” off his “Conscious Party” release, and followed with “We Propose,” a highly political song that works only with the diametric bass movement Marley has mastered on his albums.

And then Marley touched the heavens by singing one of his father’s songs. In an almost frighteningly comparative voice and stance, Marley and family sang, “Could You Be Loved,” with all the conviction of their late father. Outstanding.

Ziggy plays to an audience with adept control. He dances, he prances, and he absolutely enthralls from his patois accent to his long dreads. He ran through “Yesterday People,” “Look Who’s Dancing,” and “Justice,” and most important, “Get Up, Stand Up,” a proclamation of human rights his father wrote as a constitution to mankind.

After singing it once, he was joined minutes later by the whole crew to sing it one last time.

Earth Day—The Concert, could have made mountains move. It incited a generation; it was a call to action. But it was the performers that made it the most memorable concert of all time.

The rain clouds came and went, the wet, soggy afternoon mud turned cold and hard by nightfall, and as performer after performer came on stage to pledge their allegiance to the planet they have no intentions of losing. It was the Earth that played centerstage.

Earth Day 1990 couldn’t have been more perfect.

“This is not just an event, it’s an inflection point of history that puts an end to a decade of greed, hypocrisy and audacity and moves into a green decade,” said Dennis Hayes, member of Concerts for the Environment. “We can no longer continue to do what has been done in the last decade. We demand a change. We desperately need one.”

Merriweather Post Pavilion played host to the concert of the ‘90s Saturday afternoon. From the folkish musings of the Indigo Girls to the hip hop reggae sounds of KRS One and Ziggy Marley, the concert bridged all forms of music to unite in one common cause—to save the environment.

While on stage it was indeed the music that was the forefront, backstage it was the issues at hand that was foremost on the performer’s mind.

“We are not here for the music as much as we are here to show the world how important the Earth is as our Mother—our original Mother—and that we must take care of it,” the energetic Marley said. “I’m not going to make [just] today Earth Day, every day should be Earth Day. Keep the message alive that people should take care of their Mama, just like you take care of your Mama.