On Sunday, June 28th, over 50 artists and tens of thousands of fans came together for Justice Comes Alive, a one-day, virtual festival harnessing the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. The donation-based streaming event generated $55,000 and counting in funds for the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues, as well as a number of social justice-oriented causes via PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund.
The 12-hour live-stream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world including Philadelphia-bred singer-songwriter G. Love (real name Garrett Dutton) who delivered solo performances of “Peace, Love and Happiness” and “The Juice” from his home rehearsal space. The first song appeared on G. Love & Special Sauce’s 2008 Superhero Brother LP, while the latter was one of the new tracks featured on the group’s 2020 studio album by the same name, released back in January.
The eight-minute acoustic performance of the two songs saw Dutton don his harmonica around his neck to go with his white Gretsch and wooden resonator guitars and metal slide for a fun and inspiring listening experience in contrast to the full-band shows he typically leads.
“This first song is called ‘Peace, Love and Happiness’, it’s what the world needs a whole lot of right now,” Dutton says to the camera to begin the performance. “Let’s come together people. I know I ain’t with you right now but y’all can sing along with me.”
Relive the G. Love performance from Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the Justice Comes Alive performances and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
G. Love – “Peace, Love and Happiness”, “The Juice” – Justice Comes Alive
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Justice Comes Alive was conceived as a way to harness the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. All funds raised from Justice Comes Alive will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, which was developed to address and continue the fight against anti-Black racism and violence in the U.S.
Directly supporting organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund focuses on empowering Black communities, movement building, keeping people out of the criminal justice system while dismantling it more broadly, and a collective, international narrative change toward the equitable treatment of Black people. 30% of the PLUS1 for Black Lives Fund is also committed to small grants for Black and Indigenous-led grassroots efforts combating racism. For more information on Justice Comes Alive, head here.