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 the Marco Benevento trio, as the Joe Russo’s Almost Dead pianist was joined by his live bandmates in bassist and Karina Rykman and drummer Dave Butler. For their remote performance to help get the marathon streaming event started, the trio delivered renditions of original tracks “Let It Slide”, “Atari”, “Send It On A Rocket”.
The 15-minute performance highlighted each member in their respective home locations—Marco in his home studio, Karina in the wilderness of upstate New York, and Dave balancing time between his home drum kit and his hammock. Fans will recognize the first and third songs from Benvento’s 2019 studio album, Let It Slide, while “Atari” appeared on 2008’s Invisible Baby. The performance also featured some extended jamming from the trio, which is a pretty impressive feat for a band unable to play together in person.
Relive Marco Benevento and company’s virtual performance of “Let It Slide”, “Atari”, “Send It On A Rocket” for Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the performance and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
Marco Benevento – Justice Comes Alive – Full Set
Of note, Benevento’s trio and Karina Rykman also both offered up performances at Justice Comes Alive’s precursor, Quarantine Comes Alive, on May 30th. You can revisit the Karina and Marco performances from Quarantine Comes Alive below:
Marco Benevento – “In The Afternoon” – Quarantine Comes Alive
Karina Rykman – Quarantine Comes Alive – Full Set
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.