A diverse range of some of the biggest names in music will be performing some of their most unusual shows to date to kick start the sixth annual Oxjam music festival.
Artists including acclaimed singer-song writer and lead guitarist of Blur, Graham Coxon, a one off party thrown by the UK’s champions of electronic pop music Hot Chip, and, fresh from the festival circuit, electronic dance producer and DJ Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs will be performing amongst the donated clothes, books and vinyl of a London Oxfam shop to celebrate the start of the charity’s month-long music festival.
The line-up is:
- Monday 24 Sept: Graham Coxon, Theme Park (acoustic set), plus support
- Tuesday 25 Sept: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs DJ set, Breach (Aka Ben Westbeech), plus support
- Wednesday 26 Sept: Lucy Rose, Kyla La Grange, plus support
- Thursday 27 Sept: Hot Chip & friends including Hot Chip DJ set, The 2 Bears and special guests TBA.
The Oxfam shop in East London will become an Oxjam shop for the week, selling the best second-hand music in the city during the day. During the evening, it will be converted into a gig venue, playing host to up close and personal, one off shows for the lucky minority of fans who manage to get hold of an exclusive ticket.
For the first year ever, on the last night of the launch gigs, Oxfam will be giving up the shop floor and leaving it exclusively in the hands of Hot Chip. The band will be having their own Oxjam party, inviting friends to donate their music, join them on stage to spin their favourite records and hidden gems uncovered in the shop. The night will also include a DJ set from Hot Chip and The 2 bears will be performing. The band will also be helping the shop out with some exclusive merchandising by creating some “recommended by Hot Chip” racks of vinyl for fans to pick and choose from.
Tickets to the shows are on sale exclusively from www.wegottickets.com/oxjam. Tickets for these exclusive one-off performances will raise money for Oxfam’s lifesaving work around the world.
Graham Coxon said: “In all the years of doing gigs, I’ve never played in a charity shop before! It is a small venue so it will be great to be able to give the fans a really intimate and personal show to kick off Oxjam!”
Orlando Higginbottom aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs said: “Last year I travelled to the DRC with a group of British and American producers to create an album with local musicians, raising money for Oxfam’s work in the area. It was a great experience to be able to support a charity by doing what I love. Likewise with Oxjam where fellow artists can also do what they love in order to raise money to help fight global poverty, is something I am very happy being part of.”
These exclusive charity shop gigs officially launch the Oxjam festival, which runs through the whole of October. Oxjam is a festival with a difference: hundreds of fundraising music events put on by volunteers with a passion for music and charity. Gigs range from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks, combining to produce the biggest line-up of any music festival in the UK. During October, more than 800 venues, 9,000 volunteers, 7,000 musicians and 150,000 audience members will enable Oxjam to raise at least £350,000 for Oxfam’s work.
The highlight of the month-long festival will be the Oxjam Takeover, a series of city-wide mini-festivals taking place in 44 locations across the UK, from Aberdeen to Bournemouth, on the weekend of 20th and 21st October. During a single weekend, over 2000 musicians will perform to an audience of more than 40,000, all raising money to help Oxfam fight poverty worldwide.
Since 2006, more than 45,000 musicians have played to an audience of more than 900,000 people at over 3,500 Oxjam events, raising in excess of £1.8 million to fight poverty around the world. Oxjam 2012 will take the total past the £2 million mark – enough to provide safe water to over 2 million people, feed 300,000 families or buy 80,000 goats.
Previous artists who have performed the Oxfam shop gigs in the last couple of years include Fatboy Slim, Brett Anderson, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker, Basement Jaxx, Ghostpoet, Charlie Simpson, Johnny Borrell, The Charlatans, Editors, The Kooks, Jamelia, Patrick Wolf, VV Brown and many more.
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.
Source: Oxfam.org.uk
