Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Massive Attack‘s 3D played a gig in an abandoned bank in London last night (December 6) to show support for the Occupy movement.
The show’s organisers said it was the musicians’ way of saying “thank you” to the protesters, as Yorke and 3D played DJ sets for a crowd of 100 people inside the basement of a building owned by Swiss banking company UBS.
They were also joined by UNKLE‘s Tim Goldsworthy for the gig, which The Guardian says was recorded and will be made available as a downloadable album on a ‘Pay what you want’ basis from the Occupation Records label – with the proceeds being used to support the Occupy movement.
Occupy spokesman Ronan McNern said: “Artists are doing this in solidarity with the Occupy movement. It’s tremendous… and hopefully it will be the first of many concerts.”
Concert organiser Adam Fitzmaurice, meanwhile, said: “Yesterday I was meeting with clergy [from the church], and today it is with rock stars. The Occupy movement has so many cultures and this is just a snap shot of what we are doing.”
Last month, a host of musicians including Lou Reed and Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine launched a website to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Occupymusicians.com, which has also garnered support from the likes of Sonic Youth and Sharon Van Etten, will “serve as a resource to facilitate performances at Occupy spaces and events”. Musicians as well as “sound engineers, sound artists, producers DJs, producers, instrumentalists, composers, lyricists” are being invited to sign up and show their support of the movement.
On November 9, Morello and Billy Bragg played unannounced acoustic sets at the Occupy London protests at St Paul’s Cathedral, with the Rage Against The Machine guitarist telling the crowd: “The people that own and control this world don’t deserve to. I have a message for them, the beginning is near. History isn’t made by CIA men running dope or by old men. It is made by people.”
To read an interview with Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello on the future of the protests, pick up this week’s issue of NME, which is on UK newsstands and available digitally now.