Wembley Arena, Friday 21st September 2012
Tickets go on sale on Monday 18th June for the Peace One Day concert at Wembley Arena featuring a headline performance by Elton John & his band. Further artists will be announced over the coming weeks and there will be contributions from Peace One Day Ambassador Jude law and filmmaker and Peace One Day Founder Jeremy Gilley.
The concert is the final event of the London 2012 Festival and is the biggest event yet for Gilley’s Peace One Day non-profit organisation, which in 2001 led a process that resulted in the unanimous adoption by UN member states of the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence, fixed in the calendar as 21 September – Peace Day.
The Wembley Arena concert on 21 September is also a legacy show celebrating The Global Truce on Peace Day 2012 and the culmination of the Olympic Truce.
Jeremy Gilley said: “Peace One Day is calling for and working towards a Global Truce on Peace Day 2012. We have a clear strategy and we hope this will be the largest global reduction of violence ever recorded on one day – Peace Day. This day is as much about non-violence in our schools, our homes, workplace and local communities as it is about ceasefire on the international stage.
Everyone has a role to play. The Wembley Arena show will highlight and celebrate Peace Day 2012 activities as part of the Global Truce 2012 campaign and handover to Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016. I’m honoured to welcome Elton John and so grateful to him for giving his time to help Peace One Day take this message to the people of the world.”
Elton John said, “When Jeremy and Jude came to see me and told me about Peace One Day and the Global Truce 2012 campaign I had to get involved and support them. I am looking forward to seeing everyone on the 21st September at Wembley Arena!”
Jude Law who is producing the concert with Gilley said, “I’ve been involved with Peace One Day for such a long time, and it’s thrilling that Elton is performing at the Peace One Day Celebration on 21 September this year. It’ll be a wonderful event”
The Wembley Arena show, which will be filmed in HD and broadcast internationally, is the final in a trilogy of Peace One Day concerts produced as part of the London 2012 Festival. The second show in Derry-Londonderry on Thursday 21st June 2012 is the opening event of the London 2012 Festival and marks the three-month countdown to Peace Day 2012.
Since the adoption of the Peace Day resolution in 2001, activities on 21 September have enabled families to be reunited, mosquito nets and food aid to be delivered and children to be vaccinated all over the world, as this ceasefire and non-violence day creates a window of opportunity for humanitarian efforts.
In 2007, Jeremy Gilley and Jude Law travelled to Afghanistan to spearhead an initiative that has resulted in the vaccination against polio of 4.5 million children following Peace Day agreements by all parties in the region in 2007/8/9. This work forms the culmination of Gilley’s feature documentary The Day After Peace.
Others who have supported Peace One Day include Annie Lennox, Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon, Angelina Jolie, Lenny Kravitz, Kasabian, Pixie Lott, Imelda May, Newton Faulkner, Guillemots, Razorlight, Eliza Doolittle, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Yusuf (Cat Stevens), Patti Smith, Charlie Winston, Youssou NDour, Jonny Lee Miller, Joseph Fiennes, Kate Nash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dave Stewart, Jimmy Cliff, Faithless, James Morrison, -M-, Yodelice, Vanessa Paradis, Ayo, AfroReggae, Wonder Villains, Flawless, English National Ballet and millions of people across the world.
Peace One Day presents The Peace One Day Celebration 2012 “Global Truce 2012” as part of the London 2012 Festival.
Tickets on sale Monday 18th June, 10am. Online at wembleyarena.com
For more information visit www.peaceoneday.org
About the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival
The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.
The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, from Midsummer’s Day on 21 June and running until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September 2012.The London 2012 Festival will celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK’s world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Principal funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival.
For more details on the programme, to download the London 2012 Festival official guide and to sign up for information visit www.london2012.com/festival
