Live For Live Music, in partnership with Nugs.TV and PLUS1, is proud to announce 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 will generate 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 the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund. Justice Comes Alive is also proud to partner with HeadCount to further encourage voter participation.
Tune in to Justice Comes Alive below from noon to midnight ET on Sunday, June 28th, or click HERE to watch the event on the streaming platform of your choice.
Justice Comes Alive: A Virtual Festival For Equality
The all-day streaming marathon will feature new live performances from 50+ artists captured during the ongoing lockdown specifically for Justice Comes Alive. The new content will be created by the artists in a variety of ways, from socially distant studio sessions to remote video collaborations to crowdless sets at venues around the country. Performers include Antibalas, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, BANDEMIC (John Scofield, John Medeski, Billy Martin, & Jesse Murphy), Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band, Stanley Jordan, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, Christone “KINGFISH” Ingram, Dumpstaphunk, Galactic, Lettuce, Nahko, The Soul Rebels, Tank and the Bangas, TAUK, Turkuaz, Umphrey’s McGee, and many more.
Related: 5 Mystifying Instrumentalists Performing At Justice Comes Alive [Videos]
In between performances, Justice Comes Alive co-hosts Nikki Glaspie (The Nth Power), Nigel Hall (Lettuce), James Casey (Trey Anastasio Band), and Robert Sput Searight (Ghost-Note), alongside Ari Fink of Sirius XM, will lead conversations with respected musicians about how we can heed the call of the moment to address and eliminate racial inequality on both a personal and a societal level. Featured speakers include Ellis Hall, Oteil Burbridge, Christian McBride, Karl Denson, Patrice Rushen, George Porter Jr., Ivan Neville, and more.
Justice Comes Alive follows Quarantine Comes Alive—the first virtual festival from the team behind real-life events like Brooklyn Comes Alive and Denver Comes Alive—which raised more than $170K for artists and the comprehensive PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund with a 15-hour event. When Quarantine Comes Alive went live on May 30th, there were no plans in the works for a second virtual festival. However, while Quarantine Comes Alive was a success in raising funds for COVID-19 relief, May 30th was far from a happy day in our country. As more than 200,000 viewers tuned into the virtual music festival, racial and social tensions were erupting around the United States following the wrongful killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN at the hands of police. The calls for change have only grown louder since then as people across the world have continued to take to the streets in protest of the systemic racial bias which persists in our criminal justice system. The morning after Quarantine Comes Alive, we got to work Justice Comes Alive with various members of our community in order to direct the momentum of QCA’s efforts toward causes and topics concerning the ongoing battle against racism.
“Waking up the morning after Quarantine Comes Alive was bittersweet,” explains Justice Comes Alive organizer/Live For Live Music founder Kunj Shah. “On one hand, we raised a lot of money for some incredible causes which will help a ton of people for years to come. On the other hand, the world was finally waking up to racial inequality in our justice system and everyday lives. I felt a responsibility to use our resources and platform once more to create an experience where people can enjoy music while helping those in need and educating themselves on the current issues facing our society today with the help of the Black musicians who make up this beautiful community.”
Adds Shah, “Quarantine has also taught me that the power of music is too potent for it to be wasted on something as simple as profit margins. Because of that, I’ve also pledged that all shows I produce moving forward will benefit a cause dear to our hearts in some way. We hope this event helps justice, finally, come alive.”
The PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund 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.
Related: Inside The Justice Comes Alive Supergroups: Everyone Orchestra & MoTown GetDown
As coronavirus continues to preclude regular live performances for the foreseeable future, it is no secret that artists are struggling. The pandemic has deprived musicians of their primary source of revenue—touring—and there’s no definitive end to the event shutdown in sight. Our world would not be what it is without these musicians, and we will strive to do what we can to keep them on their feet while off the road. This is why we have decided to split the donations between the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund and the participating artists.
Fans are encouraged to head to JusticeComesAlive.com and donate to the cause. Anyone who makes a donation of any amount will receive a link to the stream on the morning of the event. Fans can also donate via the widget below or by “JCA” to 50155. [NOTE: Be sure to check your Spam/Promotions/Socials email folders in case the streaming link email gets redirected].
Justice Comes Alive will also offer limited-edition merchandise, with proceeds going toward the associated causes. Check out the merch below:
Viewers can also get in on the fun with custom “Fan Baseball Cards” to match the Justice Comes Alive Artist Baseball Cards you may have seen floating around social media. Donate $100 or more via JusticeComesAlive.com or the widget above and email your receipt to justicecomesalive@gmail.com along with your name and a photo of you and the JCA team will send you a personalized card! Scroll down to flip through all of the Justice Comes Alive Artist Baseball Cards.
See below for a full list of participating artists. For more information, visit JusticeComesAlive.com. For updates, follow Justice Comes Alive on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and RSVP to the Facebook Event page.
Justice Comes Alive Performances by:
Antibalas
Alvin Ford Jr.
BANDEMIC (feat. John Scofield, John Medeski, Billy Martin and Jesse Murphy)
Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Bobby Rush
Brandon “Taz” Niederauer
Christone “KINGFISH” Ingram
Cory Henry
D’Vibes Trio w/ Adam Deitch & Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff
David Shaw
Doom Flamingo
Dumpstaphunk
Eric Krasno
Everyone Orchestra
Full Moonalice
The Funky Knuckles
G. Love
Galactic
George Porter Jr.
Ghost-Note
The Ghost of Paul Revere
Ivan Neville
Jennifer Hartswick w/ Nick Cassarino & Christian McBride
Kim Dawson
Lettuce
Louis Cato
Marco Benevento
Maurice “MOBETTA” Brown
Mononeon
Moon Taxi
The Motet
MoTown Getdown
Nahko
Neal Francis
Nick Cassarino & Erin Boyd
Nigel Hall
The OG’s
The Original Nth Power
Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band
Robert Walter
Roosevelt Collier
Shaun Martin
The Soul Rebels
Southern Avenue
Stanley Jordan
Star Kitchen
Stout
Tank and the Bangas
TAUK
Terence Higgins & The Nola Krewe
Turkuaz
Umphrey’s McGee
Justice Comes Alive Conversations with:
Christian McBride
Dennis Chambers
Ellis Hall
Eric Krasno
Gary Bartz
George Porter Jr.
Harvey Mason
Ivan Neville
Karl Denson
Marcus Miller
Oteil Burbridge
Patrice Rushen
Weedie Braimah
