KEANE CURATE WAR CHILD GIGS

Band to play Brixton on 1st November 2007 and Manchester on 31st October 2007



Following the release of their War Child single 'The Night Sky' on 29th October, Keane will be continuing their support of the charity by hosting a musical extravaganza at Brixton Academy on November 1st. The event will be held to raise money and awareness for the War Child's work in Iraq. The evening will see a stellar array of musicians joining together to perform with Keane and launch the fundraising activity for War Child; Pet Shop Boys, The Magic Numbers, Guillemots and Teddy Thompson are confirmed, with more special guests to be announced.

"As patrons of Warchild we started talking to them a year ago about doing something special to help their work. What we decided was to curate a night to celebrate their incredible connection with the British music scene; and it's an honour that some of our best friends and heroes have agreed to take part. The proceeds from the gig will start War Child on the road towards raising the funds they need to keep their child protection services going in Iraq. In addition, we hope the night itself will draw wider attention to the incredible work War Child does for the children of Iraq as well as children in many other war-torn parts of the world."
Tom Chaplin

The main event on November the 1st will be preceded by five nights of warm-up gigs featuring up and coming bands from the Camden live scene and a larger event with Keane headlining at the Manchester Apollo on 31st October. Nambucca on Holloway Road, Islington will be the venue for the four night Dirty Rock N Roll Festival featuring artists such as: Goldrush, The Thirst, Six Nation State, Broken Dolls, My Luminaries, Metro Riots and many more. Entry every night to the festival from 27th–30th October 2007 will be via War Child dog tags which can be purchased for £2 from HMV stores nationwide. The proceeds of the entry pass/ dog tags go to War Child. Full details of the Nambucca shows will soon be available at www.warchildmusic.com.

Tickets to the gigs at both Manchester Apollo and Brixton Academy go on sale on Friday, 21st September. Pre-sale tickets, priced £30 will be available exclusively via The Shop here at www.keanemusic.com on Wednesday, 19th September. Any remaining tickets will be sold through the usual channels from Friday, 21st September.

Established in 1993, War Child is a UN award-winning charity that works with some of the most hard-hit children in conflict and post-conflict zones. They have a long established history within the music industry as one of their charities of choice. Their support from artists dates back to their first fundraising events with Bono and Pavarotti. Through their not for profit company War Child Music they have since produced the groundbreaking HELP: A Day In The Life compilation that featured exclusive tracks from: Coldplay, Gorillaz, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Radiohead, Keane, Hard Fi and Bloc Party to name only a few. Warchildmusic.com was the site that retailed the Arctic Monkeys' first download. Regular live music fundraising events have been held throughout the last 18 months and a Dirty Rock N Roll Calendar of cutting edge bands for 2008 in aid of War Child is available via Virgin and HMV.

War Child continues to work for children in conflict zones. They provide day release nurseries and negotiated the release of children from prisons in Afghanistan; they supported de-mobilised child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo with start-up grants and training in small business management; and have established much needed drop-in centres and trained social workers to support street children in southern Iraq. They are the only international child support agency operating in southern Iraq. The situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate. Statistics show that one child in Iraq dies every 5 minutes because of the war. An estimated 1.5 million children have been displaced in Iraq many of whom are denied access to basic health, education, shelter, water and sanitation. Nearly 50% of the children in southern Iraq do not go to school.

"We're very excited about the amazing line up for the gig at Brixton Academy. This gig and the warm-up events will raise a great deal of awareness concerning how children suffer as a result of war and what can be done about it. We also hope to raise funds to continue our much needed work in Iraq."
Mark Waddington, CEO War Child.