'Boston Strong' concert, featuring Aerosmith, others, will benefit victims fund
Tickets go on sale May 6 for an event featuring New Kids on the Block, James Taylor, Aerosmith, and other performers with Boston roots. Proceeds from the May 30 Boston Strong concert will go to the One Fund Boston, set up for victims of the marathon bombings.
James Taylor at the Country Music Hall of Fame Inductions in Nashville, Tenn., in October 2012. Mr. Taylor, Aerosmith, and Jimmy Buffett are among the scheduled performers for a Boston Marathon benefit concert May 30.
Wade Payne/AP/File
Tickets go on sale Monday for a benefit concert that enlists stars ranging from Aerosmith to Carole King in support of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
The concert, scheduled for May 30 in Boston’s TD Garden arena, will benefit the One Fund Boston, a charity set up after the April 15 marathon attacks to benefit people who were injured or who lost family members.
“I find myself searching for words today,” said Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block, the group that kick-started the event, in announcing the concert Friday. “We all feel compelled to fight back, to step up” after the attacks in his home city. “As artists, this is our way to do it.”
“Hopefully this event will not only raise money, but spirits as well,” he added.
Organizers said the performers will include (in alphabetical order) Aerosmith, Jason Aldean, Boston, Jimmy Buffett, Extreme, Godsmack, The J. Geils Band, Carole King, New Kids on the Block, and James Taylor. Comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright will also appear.
Tickets, priced from $35 to $285, go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday on LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.
The concert bolsters efforts that have gathered momentum in Boston since the bombings to support victims and to put strength and love – not fear or despair – at the forefront of public thought.
The One Fund Boston has raised more than $28 million to date for victims.
US military veterans who survived explosions abroad have visited marathon-day victims who lost limbs.
Local songwriter James Taylor has already performed at one attack-related event, the memorial service for Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer Sean Collier, believed to have been shot by one of the marathon bombers.
Neil Diamond thrilled Red Sox fans with a live rendition of “Sweet Caroline” on the team’s first home game after the attacks.
Next week, One Fund overseer Kenneth Feinberg will release a tentative proposal on how funds should be distributed to victims, and then hear public comments on the plan. Money will go out to victims by June 30.
Donations were slated to be accepted through Labor Day, but Mr. Feinberg said Friday there is a possibility the fund could eventually assume a "permanent, ongoing role in providing communitywide assistance," The Associated Press reported.
The fund was organized by local corporations and political leaders immediately after the attacks. The explosions near the race’s finish line killed three people and injured more than 260.
The May 30 concert borrows its title from a motto that has emerged in the city since the bombings: “Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration.”