Bristol hosts major Ukraine fundraising gig

It was a special evening at the O2 Academy this Bank Holiday Monday, as various Bristol-based artists took to the stage in a bid to generate funds for War Child UK, a charity tasked with providing ‘a safe future for every child living through war’. DJ Boca 45, indie artist Willie J Healey, then Billy Nomates and Wïlderman. These Bristol based artists were joined by rock band Heavy Lungs, who opened the night with their first performance of 2022. Katy J Pearson later took to the stage, after recently releasing two singles (‘Talk Over Town’ and ‘Game of Cards’), with the rest of her album set to release this July. Then, of course, there was the return of huge local names in Portishead, who gave their first live performance in eight years, and fellow local big-names, Idles, closed with a raffle.

The concert was streamed live worldwide and, with War Child UK matching donations, the event has so far raised over £100,000 for children caught in the Ukrainian conflict. War Child have been working with artists for the past twenty-five years. HELP!, the concert’s title, references the album recorded in one day during September 1995, which featured the likes of Oasis, Blur, Paul McCartney and Paul Weller, alongs with the Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead and Portishead… Q Magazine called it ‘the best charity album every made’. If you’d like to donate, click here: https://www.warchild.org.uk/

On Thursday 26th May, The Killers play Ashton Gate.

Written by Harry Odgers