Primus Aboard For Oakland United: A Benefit Supporting Oakland Fire Relief

An impressive array of musicians and journalists with connections either to the Bay Area music scene or various warehouse/DIY scenes will come together to raise funds for victims of the tragic Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. Bay Area promoters Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment, along with Paradigm Agency’s Oakland office have announced Oakland United, a night of remembrance and community to be held at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Wednesday, December 14.

All proceeds for the benefit will go to the Grey Area Foundation For The Arts Oakland Fire Relief Fund, and will be hosted by Josette Melchor, who started the fund shortly after the tragedy and has already collected more than $500K. The event will feature music and stories from a wide variety of artists including: Boots Riley (The Coup), Christopher Willits, Dan Deacon, Gabe Meline (KQED), Geographer, Hieroglyphics, Jay Som, Primus, Rogue Wave, Sam Lefebvre (Pitckfork/East Bay Express), Sidecar Tommy (Beats Antique), Thao Nguyen, Tune-Yards, Tycho and many more.

“It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to shed light on a broader situation around the need for safe venues for artists, musicians, and creatives in the Bay Area,” said Melchor. “We will continue to increase this goal as support comes in. We want this funding to stay in the community that was impacted.” The fund is collaborating closely with the Oakland Mayor’s Office and the Red Cross as well as getting guidance from local arts institutions. A note announcing the show reads, “The immediate needs of fire victims will be the fund’s priority with the Red Cross as the first point of contact for allocation of the funds received from the Oakland Sports Teams funds. Gray Area will be second point of contact after that and are working on a system for intake. When the immediate needs of families are resolved, Gray Area will be turning their attention to longer-term issues of safety and resilience across the larger creative community, applying efforts to ensure this tragedy is not repeated.”

Tickets go on sale today (Friday, December 9) at 12 p.m. PT via Ticketmaster with 100% of the prceeds from ticket sales going directly to Oakland Fire Relief Fund. For those unable to attend, you are encouraged to donate online here.