{"id":39788,"date":"2026-05-18T13:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/39788\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:24:21","slug":"paul-weller-madness-suggs-dexys-kevin-rowland-sex-pistols-glen-matlock-and-roxy-musics-andy-mckay-form-supergroup-at-london-artists-for-gaza-fundraiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/39788\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Weller, Madness\u2019 Suggs, Dexys\u2019 Kevin Rowland, Sex Pistols\u2019 Glen Matlock and Roxy Music\u2019s Andy McKay form supergroup at London Artists For Gaza fundraiser"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jam<\/a>\u2019s Paul Weller<\/a>, Madness<\/a>\u2018 Suggs<\/a>, Dexys<\/a>\u2018 Kevin Rowland, Sex Pistols<\/a>\u2018 Glen Matlock<\/a> and Roxy Music<\/a>\u2018s Andy McKay have all come together to form a supergroup at a one-off London gig that raised money for Gaza.<\/p>\n

The gig was held at London\u2019s Scala last night (Sunday May 17) and organised by Artists for Gaza as a way to again raise funds<\/a> for the Health Workers 4 Palestine\u2019s<\/a> Gaza Medics Solidarity Fund. That initiative aids in the rebuilding of maternity wards in Gaza, as well as funding mobile clinics and paying stipends to Gazan medics \u2013 visit here<\/a> to donate and find more information.<\/p>\n

Artists confirmed as taking part were Paul Weller, Madness, Bobby Gillespie<\/a> (Primal Scream<\/a>), Jerry Dammers (The Specials<\/a>), Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols), and Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners), as well as Gilles Peterson, Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay, Simon Bartholomew (The Brand New Heavies), and Clive Langer.<\/p>\n

Held last night, the show saw Weller, Rowland, Matlock, McKay, and Langer come together with Madness\u2019 Suggs, Lee Thompson, Bedders and Barso to form a one-night-only supergroup called \u2018The Scala Band\u2019.<\/p>\n

Together, they performed Bread\u2019s \u2018Everything I Own\u2019, the 1982 anti-war song \u2018Shipbuilding\u2019, and Madness tracks \u2018Our House\u2019, \u2018My Girl\u2019, \u2018Madness\u2019 and \u2018The Harder They Come\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Rowland and Suggs attend Artists For Gaza. CREDIT: Grant Buchanan\/Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

DJ sets came from The Specials founder Jerry Dammers, Gilles Peterson, Simon Bartholomew, Aitch B of Soul II Soul<\/a>, DJ Prime Cuts, David Holmes, The Beirut Collective, Jeremy Healey, Lascelles Gordon, and Primal Scream frontman Gillespie. In the audience was The Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla, EastEnders\u2019 Jesse Wallace and photographer Misan Harriman.<\/p>\n

The event was held just one day after a pro-Palestine march was held in London on Saturday (May 16), where thousands gathered in Kensington, and went though Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, and more, before ending at Pall Mall. That day also saw another large protest in London, organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson and focussing on issues around immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to play Artists for Gaza because it\u2019s my duty as a human being to do whatever I possibly can,\u201d said Dexys founder Kevin Rowland. \u201cInnocent people are being slaughtered and our government don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GlenGlen Matlock attends Artists For Gaza. CREDIT: Grant Buchanan\/Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bobby Gillespie said: \u201c[Artists for Gaza founder] Chris Sullivan is an old friend who I respect very much. When he told me what he was planning to do with the people being massacred in Gaza by the Israeli Occupation Forces I said I would love to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it\u2019s the human rights issue of our time. A grave historical injustice has been done to the Palestinian people,\u201d he added. \u201cOur government are complicit in the genocide prosecuted by Israel. I support the Palestinian people\u2019s struggle for equal rights and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before last night\u2019s show, there had already been three Artists for Gaza events, which helped raise over \u00a355,000 for UNICEF\u2019s Gaza appeal<\/a>. This went towards providing life-saving aid, including food, medical care and shelter for people in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Weller attends Artists For Gaza. CREDIT: Grant Buchanan\/Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The first was held in November 2024<\/a>, and the second was held in March 2025. The third took place at Century Club in London last July and featured performances from Paul Weller, Bobby Gillespie and The Clash\u2019s Paul Simonon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before then, Primal Scream collaborated on a shirt design for a Palestinian refugee football team<\/a>, and Weller expressed his support for Palestine by saying that he was \u201cagainst genocides and ethnic cleansing\u201d<\/a> and performing with a Palestinian flag draped over his guitar amp.<\/p>\n

Both Gillespie and Weller previously joined dozens of artists in signing a letter from Heavenly Recordings, supporting the right to freedom of expression for musicians and artists<\/a> after Kneecap<\/a> were dropped from multiple live shows and festivals due to backlash over speaking out in support of the people of Palestine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jam\u2019s Paul Weller, Madness\u2018 Suggs, Dexys\u2018 Kevin Rowland, Sex Pistols\u2018 Glen Matlock and Roxy Music\u2018s Andy McKay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,20238,6513],"class_list":["post-39788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-london","tag-punk","tag-rock"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116595802891369272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}