Footage gathered from the last four superstar-studded Amnesty International concerts and tours have been digitally restored for release on a new 17-hour Dvd/Cd box set, which will hit the market next month (Nov13).
Music historian Martin Lewis, a co-creator and co-producer of the human rights organisation's iconic A Secret Policeman's Ball concerts in the U.K., has painstakingly collected 12 hours of concert footage from two Amnesty shows in Chile (1990) and Paris (1998), the 1986 A Conspiracy Of Hope U.S. tour and 1988 Human Rights Now! world tour, which featured Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Sting, for the package. He has also unearthed and shot five hours of bonus material, including Gabriel's never-before-seen tour video and new interviews with the Sledgehammer hitmaker, Sting and Springsteen, among others.
The six-disc Dvd box-set and two-disc companion Cd, titled Released! The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1998, will be available from 5 November (13) and also include concert footage featuring U2, The Police, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Youssou N'Dour, Tracy Chapman and Alanis Morissette.
The release coincides with the 25th anniversary of the six-week, five-continent Human Rights Now! world tour, headlined by Springsteen, Sting, Gabriel, Chapman and Youssou N'Dour
Lewis tells Wenn, "Musicians innately understand key components of human rights such as freedom of expression. It's at the heart of what they do.
"The rock music community has been spectacular in its support for Amnesty. These concerts broke new ground in galvanising audiences to become involved. They fused cause and content in an inspirational way. It's been an honour to work with Sting, Bruce, Bono, Peter and the other artists in restoring and producing these concerts for home release."
Sting adds, "Amnesty in my opinion, is probably the most civilised and civilising of human organisations. It uses the writing of letters or the commerce of ideas and opinion to change the world rather than a gun or an army or an air force. And that seems to be very civilised to me. And that seems the only way that we will get positive change in the world. And so Amnesty's a fantastic flagship for that idea. I feel very proud of my association with it. And it's ongoing."
And Gabriel states: "The world is a much better place for knowing that Amnesty's around it. There's still an amazing amount more work that needs to be done... that must be done. But Amnesty International have made an extraordinary start."
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