Watch Paul Weller join Primal Scream for ‘Rocks’ at Brixton Academy Gaza benefit gig
Primal Scream brought out Paul Weller for ‘Rocks’ at the Brixton Academy Gig For Gaza benefit show last night (December 13).
Weller, former frontman of The Jam, curated the line-up for the benefit show which was raising money for MAP (Medical Aid For Palestinians) and Gaza Forever. Both charities provide essential aid – including food, medical supplies and emergency shelter – for those suffering in Gaza amid the current humanitarian crisis.
At the end of Primal Scream’s 45-minute set, Weller joined them for ‘Rocks’, playing the song’s iconic opening riff on guitar.
Check out the full set below:
The band took to Instagram the next day to thank Weller and his wife Hannah for organising the gig, while also praising the other artists who performed. Kneecap, Paloma Faith, Lowkey, Liam Bailey and Roisin El Cherif were also part of the line-up.
“Paul joined us onstage for a raucous blowtorch version of Rocks to close the proceedings – the look on Andrew Innes’s face to be sharing a stage with PW was priceless,” they said. “A 15 year old Andrew saw The Jam on the In The City tour in the summer of 1977 at the tiny Zhivago’s club in St Enoch Square Glasgow and that was one of the punk shows that year that inspired Andrew to pick up a guitar and form a band. What a fucking great night it was.”
Over the summer, Primal Scream collaborated on a new shirt design for a Palestinian refugee football team, based on their classic record ‘Screamadelica’.
In May, Paul Weller expressed his support for Palestine by saying that he was “against genocides and ethnic cleansing”. His recent live shows have seen him perform onstage with a Palestinian flag draped over his guitar amp.
Meanwhile, Primal Scream recently announced a 2025 UK and Ireland headline tour in support of their new album ‘Come Ahead’. They later confirmed that British indie singer Baxter Dury will join them in Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham, while Fat White Family will join as special guests for the one show in London.
Mozart Estate will help open the shows in Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham, Liverpool and more, while Dylan John Thomas will also perform at the final run of shows, including at Leeds and Newcastle.
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Emma Wilkes
NME