Stars including Editors, VV Brown, Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Just Jack, Nitin Sawhney and legendary drummer Tony Allen will launch the month-long Oxjam music festival on 28 September with a series of sold-out, intimate performances in a specially-converted Oxfam shop in London.
The Oxfam shop on Upper Tooting Road, London, will become an Oxjam shop for the week, selling the best second-hand music in London during the day. During the evening, it will be converted into a gig venue, playing host to these intimate performances.
The shows, which sold out within hours, run from Monday 28 September to Thursday 1 October.
The current lineup, with more acts to be announced, is:
Monday 28 Sept: VV Brown, Just Jack (acoustic), Master Shortie. Compered by Lucio (Capital FM)
Tuesday 29 Sept: Tony Allen plus special guests, Nitin Sawhney, Shlomo. Compered by Matt Everitt (6music)
Wednesday 30 Sept: Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx (DJ set), Stereo MCs (DJ set). Compered by Shaun Keaveny (6music)
Thursday 1 Oct: Editors (acoustic with Tom, Ed & Russ), Good Shoes Compered by Eddy Temple-Morris (Xfm)
VV Brown said:
“I’ve spent the summer supporting Oxfam’s campaigns at music festivals around the country, but the charity shop shows are the highlight of the festival season for me. Playing intimate shows up close to the audience is loads of fun, and to do it in an Oxfam shop will be even better.”
Editors singer Tom Smith said:
“We’ve been supporting Oxfam for years now, so it’s really exciting for us to be a part of their biggest music event. Putting on shows in Oxfam’s high street stores is a great idea, these places are part of everyone’s daily lives these days, come September they’ll also be the hottest ticket in town.”
The charity shop gigs officially launch the Oxjam month of music. Oxjam is a festival with a difference: thousands of fundraising music events are put on by ordinary people - from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks - making it the biggest line-up of any music festival in the UK.
Since 2006, more than 36,000 musicians have played to an audience of over 750,000 people at almost 3,000 Oxjam events, raising in excess of £1 million to fight poverty around the world.
The highlight of the month-long festival will be the Oxjam Takeover on Sunday 25 October, when more than 2,000 musicians will fill over 150 venues in more than 20 cities in a single day to raise funds for Oxfam.
Hundreds of other events will be taking place throughout the whole of October, including:
- Oxjam @ Matter: A live show at The O2 featuring ABC, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Mylo, Kissy Sellout and many more
- The hotly-tipped Golden Silvers performing a series of Oxjam in-store shows in Newcastle on 3 October, Liverpool on 5 October and Coventry on 9 October.
- London: Scratch Perverts perform at the Oxjam Brixton Takeover.
- Blackburn Rovers FC getting their first team squad in tune with Oxjam this year
- Scotland: Busking at the peak of Ben Nevis.
- Edinburgh: Speed taping - speed dating based on iPod playlists.
- Manchester: Mr Scruff collaborates with Oxjam Manchester at his ‘Keep It Unreal’ club night.
This year the festival will be helping poor people cope with the devastating effects of climate change. As well as raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for Oxfam’s work, gig goers will be painting their faces blue as part of a massive visual statement to the UK government to take action on climate change before it’s too late. Around 50,000 festival-goers are estimated to have signed up to Oxfam’s blue faces campaign already this year, from Glastonbury to Reading and Leeds.
To find out what Oxjam events are going on in your area this October, visit www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam or call 0300 200 1255.
-Ends-
Notes to editors
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Stuart Fowkes
Oxfam press office
07818 406038
Photos, audio clips and videos of a wide range of celebrities supporting Oxjam are available from www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam/press.
Festival Republic, who work with Oxfam at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and Latitude, are happy to support Oxfam’s Oxjam events.
Tags: basementjaxx, editors, fatboyslim, gigs, goodshoes, justjack, mastershortie, Music, nitinsawhney, oxfamshops, Oxjam, shlomo, stereomcs, tonyallen, vvbrown
