Red Wedge 2.0? Momentum backs Concerts for Corbyn

Momentum, the socialist British pressure group formed in support of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, has announced a series of concerts in “celebration of [Corbyn’s] progressive policies and the growing grassroots movement around them”.

People Powered: Concerts for Corbyn, a joint venture between Momentum and Brighton-based promoter Rocksalts, will debut at the Brighton Dome (1,700-cap.) on 16 December with a line-up of Temples; Kathryn Williams; Stealing Sheep; Paul Weller, Robert Wyatt, Danny Thompson, Steve Pilgrim and Ben Gordelier; The Farm; Jim Jones and the Righteous Mind; Edgar Summertyme; and Ghetto Priest.

Tickets go on sale this Friday (14 October), priced at £25 plus a £1.50 booking fee.

“Music brings joy and pleasure, and it can also politicise and empower. That’s why Momentum is so excited to be collaborating with Rocksalts and these amazing artists to put on this series of concerts”

Adam Klug, a national organiser for Momentum, says: “Music brings joy and pleasure, and it can also politicise and empower. That’s why Momentum is so excited to be collaborating with Rocksalts and these amazing artists to put on this series of concerts.”

The concert series echoes the ultimately unsuccessful Red Wedge collective of the mid-’80s, which organised music and comedy tours in opposition to the policies of then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Despite the efforts of the group, which centred around The Communards, Paul Weller’s The Style Council and comedians such as Ben Elton, Phill Jupitus and Lenny Henry, Mrs Thatcher became in 1987 the first Conservative leader since 19th-century prime minister Lord Liverpool to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories, and Red Wedge disbanded shortly after.

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