‘Together For Palestine’: Damon Albarn, Bastille, James Blake and more for London charity gig
A host of names have been added to the line-up of Brian Eno‘s one-off show at Wembley, which will see artists band together to send “a message of love and solidarity to the people of Palestine”.
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The gig, titled ‘Together For Palestine’, will see Eno, Khaled Ziada, Khalid Abdalla and Tracey Seaward work as executive producers and enlist performances from “artists, musicians and people for whom silence feels impossible” on September 17.
Today (August 8), the first wave of artists involved was shared, with Damon Albarn, Bastille, Cat Burns, Greentea Peng, Hot Chip, James Blake, Jamie xx, King Krule, Mabel, Obongjayar, Paloma Faith, Rachel Chinouriri and Sampha among those performing.
They’ll be joined by Palestinian artists such as Adnan Joubran, Faraj Suleiman and Nai Barghouti, with more names set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Some will perform unique collaborations, and others will play new material created just for the fundraising event, with artists including Rina Sawayama, PinkPantheress and Riz Ahmed taking to the stage for one-off contributions. You can find your tickets here.
Albarn recently told The Times that “part of the huge issue of Palestine is the way that their identity is being eroded so brutally”.
“I’ve been doing this a very long time and I still haven’t got any bloody answers,” he said. “You want to say what you believe in and what you feel. That’s important, but it comes with huge caveats. We live and learn, or not.”
In a press release shared ahead of the show, he said: “I, like everyone with a heart, have felt despair and helplessness at the reports coming out of Gaza and the West Bank over these last days, months and years.
“A genocide unfolding in real time on our screens. I come from a family of pacifists. I have been taught, and I believe, that pacifism is an action. Peace is an action. To live peacefully requires vision and commitment. To act with humanity towards one another, that too is a decision. Music has taken me around the world, it is the sum of everything I know and trust and believe in – respect, collaboration, shared experience.”
Meanwhile, at an appearance alongside Bombay Bicycle Club at Glastonbury 2024, he asked the crowd how they felt about Palestine. “Are you pro-Palestine?” he asked festival-goers last year. “Do you feel that’s an unfair war?
Executive producer Eno added that “silence becomes complicity,” in the face of the scenes coming out of Gaza saying: “Artists have always helped societies to point out injustice and imagine better futures. That’s why this concert matters. It’s time for us to come together — not just to raise our voices, but to reaffirm our shared humanity.”
Fellow producer Khaled Ziada also noted the importance of speaking out, and said: “In a world where governments and mainstream media have fallen silent in the face of genocide, this gathering becomes a chorus of resistance – where artists and communities come together to grieve, to rage, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people, and with all those who suffer injustice.”
Explaining why he is organising the event, Eno said previously: “I’ve had the good fortune to work with some of the world’s most remarkable artists for over 50 years. But one of my biggest regrets is that during that time so many of us have remained silent about Palestine.
“Often that silence has come from fear, real fear – that speaking out could provoke a backlash, close doors or end a career. But that’s now changing – partly because some artists and activists have lit the path, but mostly because the truth of what’s going on has become impossible to ignore.”
Highlighting the relief efforts made by Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, he added: “We can’t remain silent. Which is why I’m helping to organise Together for Palestine – a night of music, reflection and hope at Wembley Arena.
“Whether on stage or by video from around the world, this is a chance for us to stand together and say: this can’t continue.”
Also in the post, Eno confirmed that “every penny donated” will go to Palestinian partners through Choose Love, a UK charity supporting local humanitarians in conflict zones. Also, beyond financial support, he said the gig is about “sending a message of love and solidarity to the people of Palestine – that they haven’t been forgotten.”
“We see them, we hear them, and though we may be far away, we’re deeply connected – as we are to all humanity,” he concluded.
This won’t be the first time Brian Eno has used his platform to speak out in support of the people of Palestine. Earlier this year he urged Microsoft to cut ties with Israel in an open letter, and shared that he would be donating his fee from the Windows 95 chime (which he composed for them) to aid Palestine.
Before then, Eno was also part of a cohort of artists who signed an open letter to Field Day, urging it to distance itself from global investment firm KKR. The firm owns the festival’s parent company Superstruct Entertainment and invests “billions of pounds in companies which, for example, develop Israeli underground data centres, and advertise real estate on illegally occupied land in Israeli settlements in the West Bank”.
Last year, he implored the International Criminal Court to “exercise the mandate it has been given to prosecute war crimes”, joined forces with Nadine Shah, Maxine Peake and more in performing at a special benefit event in support of Palestine at London’s Union Chapel in April, and worked alongside members of Fontaines D.C., R.E.M, Bastille and more in reading out letters from Palestinians suffering in Gaza as part of a ‘Voices For Gaza’ initiative.
Earlier this month, he joined Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., Garbage and more in publicly supporting the alliance of musicians made by Massive Attack, which speaks out against “intimidations from within” the music industry against those speaking out in support of Palestine.
The post ‘Together For Palestine’: Damon Albarn, Bastille, James Blake and more for London charity gig appeared first on NME.
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