Flaming Lips to play NY human rights revival concert

The alternative rock band The Flaming Lips and a host of other leading performers are to appear in a concert in New York next month which will see the return of Amnesty International's famous Human Rights Concert series.

The 5 February concert, taking place in Brooklyn's Barclays Center, will also include performances from Ms. Lauryn Hill, Cold War Kids, Imagine Dragons, Tegan and Sara, The Fray, Colbie Caillat and Cake, with other special guests set to be announced. Tickets go on sale tomorrow via Ticketmaster (see: www.amnestyusa.org/Feb5concert).

Twenty-five years after its initial concert series - which featured U2, Sting, Lou Reed and others - Amnesty is bringing back the concert to raise awareness about human rights to a new generation. The "Bringing Human Rights Home" concert will use technology to connect the music and message in real time from the stage of the Barclays Center to activists across the globe.

Between 1986 and 1998, Amnesty held 28 concerts around the world with over 1.25 million attendees. The most high-profile component of the concert series was the six-week, five-continent, 20-concert "Human Rights Now!" world tour in 1988 - headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. Those concerts helped triple Amnesty's worldwide membership and mobilise a generation of human rights activists.