Peace One Day

Paris 2010: The Music of Peace

"Jude is producing the show with me!"

Sometimes our trans-Atlantic phone conversations are less than clear, but this time I just wanted to make Jeremy Gilley repeat the big news. And yes, I'd heard him correctly: Jude Law will be producing, with Jeremy, both the 2010 Peace One Day Celebration and the next film from Peace One Day Part 3. 

But that was just the start of a breathless phone call, filled with new developments around the concert that marks the 11th year of POD. Tickets recently went on sale for this year's 17 September event at Le Zenith in Paris, and the venue is aptly named: Le Zenith is twice the size of last year's concert hall, and with a live audience of 6,000 people, this will easily be the largest POD concert in its history.

However, when Gilley told me, "this is the biggest we've ever done," he was referring to more than the size of the crowd. Patti Smith, Youssou N'Dour, Charlie Winston, - M -, and Yodelice will all be performing at Le Zenith, and Gilley seemed both emboldened and humbled by the line-up. "I feel really proud," he told me, "that it happens again and again, that these amazing artists come forward year after year."

Jude Law, in addition to his behind the scenes role, will be co-hosting the show with Sharon Stone. According to Gilley, Law's increasing participation in POD has been organic. As documented in The Day After Peace, the two men became fast friends and went on their groundbreaking trip to Afghanistan. Law then went to Cannes for the film's premiere, and he's been offering POD advice and assistance ever since. "Since 2007 he's been at the concerts, but he's not just some guy who turns up," said Gilley, "for every hour he does with the camera on, there are a hundred when it's off."

As it turns out, Jude Law and Charlie Winston are not the only returning participants; Dior will be sponsoring the POD concert for the second consecutive year, and once again, the show will be televised as a one-hour special on Peace Day. Gilley also promised that "new and innovative ways" of broadcasting would be announced between now and September.

Gilley emphasized that last point as being key to the entire purpose of the concert. "We don't do this to make money," he said, "we do this to shout about the work we are doing and the work of humanitarians all over the world."

When pressed for the initial inspiration for the show, Gilley told me that in 1985, he went to Wembley Stadium to see Live Aid. There he saw Bob Geldof do something with music that Gilley had "never seen before in his life. That was an inspiration."

With the level of talent surrounding him, a new producer by his side, and cutting-edge technologies to trumpet the message of Peace Day, Gilley and his team are poised to inspire people all over the world to make a difference. "We have America, Africa, and Europe represented on the same stage," he said, "what better way to acknowledge our interdependence, celebrate our diversity, and fill people with hope? Come and join us, ticket links are on the website...!"