Red Hot Chili Peppers Headlining Bernie Sanders Fundraiser Concert
Red Hot Chili Peppers will “Feel the Bern” by headlining a Los Angeles concert fundraiser for Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. The rock veterans will perform February 5th at Theatre at Ace Hotel, Loudwire reports.
Tickets, ranging from $40 to $2,700, will go on sale day of show at 10 a.m. PST via AXS. Sanders – who proudly relies on grassroots fundraising and refuses campaign donations from Super PACs or corporations – has earned widespread support from the music community.
In September, all four Chili Peppers signed a letter of endorsement posted on the senator’s website. “Bernie Sanders is the only remotely reasonable candidate for President of the United States,” bassist Flea tweeted the previous month.
Members of Vampire Weekend will join Killer Mike (an outspoken Sanders supporter), Foster the People, Josh Hutcherson and more at “Students for Bernie,” a Sanders rally scheduled for Saturday, January 30th at University of Iowa Field House. The event is free and open to the public.
Despite reports that the full Vampire Weekend will be playing, frontman Ezra Koenig clarified via Twitter that the lineup will be himself, bassist Chris Tomson, Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth, comedians the Lucas Bros and the University of Iowa Hawkapellas. “Bernie can call that Vampire Weekend if he likes,” he wrote, adding a winking face emoticon. “Also, we are def gonna try and figure out a place to go talk & play some VW and Dirty Projectors songs in Iowa City outside the main event,” he added.
The list of “Artists and Cultural Leaders for Bernie Sanders” on the politician’s site also includes Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Will Ferrell, Patton Oswalt, Bonnie Raitt, John C. Reilly, Danny DeVito, the Doors drummer John Densmore and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.
In December, Killer Mike sat down with Sanders for a wide-ranging six-part interview at the rapper’s Atlanta barber shop, touching on issues like gun control, marijuana, social justice, economic freedom and free health care.