Billy Bragg has announced “Days Like These”, an evening of music, spoken word and film for Palestine, featuring performances from Jamie Webster (solo), words from Antony Szmierek, Reverend & The Makers (acoustic), Big Special, Khalid Abdalla, Ahmed Masoud, Samuel West, Ahmed Alnaouq and more to be announced.
Taking place at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Saturday 20 September, the event will raise funds for Amos Trust, whose vital work helps to provide essential medical care, food and aid, therapeutic trauma support for women and children, and support for young writers documenting the unfolding atrocities in Palestine. Working with local and international peace activists, Amos Trust partners with grassroots projects to call for a just peace, reconciliation, and full equal rights for all Palestinians and Israelis.
The lineup includes a solo performance by the singer/songwriter Jamie Webster, son of Liverpool and a stalwart of the Left Field Stage, Mancunian poet Antony Szmierek who released his acclaimed spoken word debut “Service Station At The End Of The Universe” in 2025 as well as his book “Roadmap”, Sheffield’s finest Reverend & The Makers who has collaborated with Billy on other projects including “Jail Guitar Doors” and for this show will play a live acoustic set and Black Country duo Big Special whose second album came out in May just months after their highly-praised debut, ‘Post Industrial Hometown Blues’.
“Days Like These” will also feature appearances from the Palestinian-British writer and director Ahmed Masoud, who grew up in the Gaza Strip and moved to London in 2002 and work includes the acclaimed novel ‘Vanished’. The accomplished actor and activist Khalid Abdalla will perform ‘A Simple Song’, his song, dedicated to the children of Palestine, past, present and future. The night will also feature BAFTA nominated actor and theatre director, Samuel West and Palestinian journalist and author from Gaza Ahmed Alnaouq, who this year published with Pam Bailey “We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth”, an anthology of 74 standout essays and an effort to preserve individual narratives from Gaza’s youth amid conflict and hardship.
“Peace, bread, work, and freedom is the best we can achieve, and wearing badges is not enough in days like these,” says Bragg. And he’s right.
Tickets are on sale now. If you can’t attend and you wish to donate, this is the address of the Amos Trust. In the meantime, here’s a reminder of Bragg’s brilliance:
