A stunning night of music and emotion filled the Utilita Arena Birmingham for 1000 Lights, an event that showcased the power of Heavy Metal as a force for good raising £130,000 in the process.
UPRAWR Mental Health Foundation – 1000 Lights
Utilita Arena Birmingham – 18 August 2024
Words And Photography: Andy Shaw
Jack Davis, CEO and Founder of UPRAWR Mental Health Foundation had the idea of bringing 1000 musicians together, including singers, guitarists, bassists, drummers and keyboard players, to all play alongside L1NKN P4RK – The Linkin Park Experience Tribute Band and members from a plethora of bands. 
Somehow, they managed to pull it off.
This was all to raise money to help provide free mental health counselling and services to the alternative community. The name 1000 Lights came from the name of Linkin Park’s One More Light tour, which marked Chester Bennington’s final performance with Linkin Park in the same arena only weeks before his untimely death in 2017.
The floor of the arena was filled with a phalanx of musicians and an assembled audience ready for a unique musical experience. The night began with the amazing L1NKN P4RK playing Papercut, then Points Of Authority.
An introduction for the night’s proceedings followed before two more songs, Given Up and Faint. Then, the real meat of proceedings began.
L1NKN P4RK were then joined by a host of musicians including Andy and Beth from As December Falls, Bullet For My Valentine (Padge, Jamie), Creeper (Hannah), Defects (Harry, Tony, Luke), Dream State (Jessie), From Inside (Zaid), Hacktivist (Jay, Jordon and James), Holding Absence (Scott), Stone Broken (Robyn), Mallory Knox (Mikey, James and Dave) and Gareth from Valhalla Awaits. 
Also joining them were Scott Mangnall, Harry Gordon, Mitchelle Perry, Kian Brookes and Dan Yattes, some of the 1000 Lights top fundraisers.
Add to this the 1000 assembled musicians joining in to play Numb, and at this point, words fail me because the sound and visuals created by all the musicians playing together was truly awe-inspiring. 
Hundreds of drummers playing together was visually incredible to see, and I am sure many of the assembled viewers, like me, had real goosebumps. As Numb finished, they were all encouraged to play it again and if anything, it was evermore incredible. 
There followed a video piece with Jaret Reddick from Bowling For Soup talking about his own mental health struggles, which was a really powerful piece. Following this, the massed ranks of musicians both on stage and in the arena played two incredible versions of In The End.
A short interval where I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with a couple of the artists who had come off stage. First was Jessie Powell from Dream State, who is a mental health ambassador at Uproar Mental Health Foundation Trust. “It’s absolutely so surreal to look out and just see hundreds of people giving it their everything and feeling really involved,” Jessie said.
“Obviously this is all about mental health. I think music, for a lot of people, is something that you know will help people who are suffering, and you are able to connect with them. It just feels really special to be part of it.” 
Michael Padgett, from Bullet For My Valentine, was eauqlly enthuiastic. “I’ve never done anything like this,” he said. “Everyone’s just getting together and its fun seeing so many friendly faces.”
For Michael, the band’s management initially suggested getting involved. “I thought about it,” Michael said, “I wasn’t going to do it because I get really shy and am a bit of a nail-biter. But then I thought, fuck it, it’s a good cause. I like to get involved in things and be part of things, so everyone’s a part of this. It’s huge, and everyone is having a good time and enjoying themselves. You feel part of something so it’s like a big arena hug.”
The second half started with L1NKN P4RK – The Linkin Park Experience playing What I’ve Done then Bleed It Out. Following this, there was a remarkable and impassioned talk by From Inside frontman Zaid Elgahmi, who spoke about his friend who took her own life. Zaid encouraged everyone to believe You Are Enough.
Finally, the massed ranks played Numb, followed by In The End for a second time. I was lucky enough to be on the arena floor, experiencing the joy of everyone taking part in this epic event.
One More Light finished the evening with the crowd and musicians shining their phone lights, providing an awesomevisual metaphor of 1000 lights. 
This was an incredible finish to an unbelievable evening that raised around £130,000 for the UPRAWR Mental Health Foundation.
The mission of UPRAWR is to improve the mental health and emotional resilience of the people who love rock and alternative music. They provide 100% free mental health counselling to people aged 18 – 35 who associate and connect with Alt music, using custom-built counselling rooms in music studios and venues to create spaces where people can feel relaxed and at home. 
UPRAWR states that they believe life should be enjoyed. “So after Chester Bennington took his own life in 2017, we decided that more needed to be done to support our community and help bring people back to a place where they can love life.”
To find out more, including ways to support, then visit uprawrfoundation.org.
Need crisis support? Contact Samaritans on 0330 094 5717.
