Cairns joins world stage in peaceful broadcast

Cairns will join with cities across the globe in a musical tribute to peace and youth culture.

The International Day of Peace will be celebrated with a series of youth concerts to be broadcast worldwide from such cities as New York, London, Paris and Cairns.

With a nationally-renowned headline act soon to be announced, Cairns will be the opening venue for a three-day concert marathon.

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning said Cairns had been selected as the sole Australasian city to host a Peace Day concert.

“The Cairns region is particularly active in the International Day of Peace and it is fitting that our city represents Australia and the South Pacific in this major international event,” Cr Manning said.

“We have a multicultural community, which we proudly highlight during Peace Week. We will be celebrating our links with the rest of the world at this concert.

“Other concerts are being held across every continent in major cities including New York, Paris, Montreal, Jerusalem and London – where Elton John will be the headline act.”

The Cairns contribution will be known as RUTHLESS Youth for Peace – “ruthless” providing an acronym for all of the elements of peace: respect, understanding, trust, harmony, love, empathy, strength and support.

Presented by Cairns Regional Council in conjunction with Headspace Cairns, the concert will feature a host of local bands alongside visiting acts from interstate and New Zealand. It is expected to draw a viewing audience of 1.6 million people via www.peaceday.tv

“This is not only a huge opportunity for our local musical talent to perform to an international audience, but it will bring big-name performers to our city for local and visiting audiences to enjoy,” Cr Manning said.

“We will be announcing the full line-up of performers soon.”

The free concert will take place on the Eastern Events Lawn at the Cairns Esplanade on Friday, September 21, from 1pm to 10pm.