New Zealanders in London have pulled together skills and contacts to put on a concert to raise money for the Christchurch relief fund.
The NZ Earthquake Relief Gig takes place this Thursday night at London's Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush. Featuring performances by The Veils, Rodney Fisher, Renee Brennan, Chris Lawson Jones and Ian Munro.
For the friends who have put it on, most of whom woke to news of the disaster last Tuesday, it was instantly the obvious thing to do.
"With all our contacts a gig was the first thing we thought we could pull together really quickly," says Dorothy Power, who worked in the music industry in New Zealand before moving to London in 2007, where she now works in events.
"This is something we're doing basically as an immediate reaction to what's happened. We thought about doing a gig later on in April but then we just thought hey lets do it next week."
Power isn't the only one with appropriate skills.
The team includes Rodney Fisher (Goodshirt), Renee Mundy (TVNZ, bFM), Clare Fisher (Juice TV, bFM), Nickie Omer (TV3), Bruce Earwaker, (Juice TV) and Jason Lonsdale of Saatchi and Saatchi.
Aside from the main goal of raising money for the relief fund, the concert has been a good way to feel connected to a home that currently feels particularly far away.
"It's interesting, the people who have got together to put this on, we're not normally all that patriotic," says Rodney Fisher.
The ex-Goodshirt frontman moved over in 2006, and spends a lot of his time putting on club nights at pubs around London.
"But it's been quite nice just hanging out because we're a bunch of people who do industry stuff and we wouldn't normally all get together, but it's united us to do that."
"It was a massive, massive shock to wake up to," say Power.
The time difference meant that when most Londoners heard the news, the scale of the devastation was already well known. Renee Mundy however, heard the trickle of information at the same time as those in New Zealand.
"I phoned my dad in Dunedin immediately, and he hadn't actually caught up with it properly," says Mundy, a senior TV producer at Associated Press. She was just finishing up a late shift when she got the news.
"I just said 'Dad, turn on the news now', and he just sat there watching the rolling news as I was on the phone with him, and that was quite emotional, he was really floored."
All of the performers have unsurprisingly donated their talents for free, and the group has been touched by the generosity of Londoners too. The venue has reduced the hire charge to simply covering the cost of staff.
"The response from Brits has been incredibly overwhelming," say Mundy.
"They've been very concerned and very moved by everything that has happened."
Social media has also played had a huge influence on ex-pats. Despite working at a large news agency - Mundy first heard of the earthquake on Twitter.
"I've had lots and lots of people contact me on Facebook," she says. "For everyone from New Zealand in London, it's been somewhere to focus our grief.
"We don't have a central point here, we're not surrounded by our countrymen, so this has been incredibility healing."
LOWDOWN
What: The NZ Earthquake Relief Gig
Where: Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush, London.
When: Thursday night, 7.30pm (London time)
Featuring: The Veils, Rodney Fisher, Renee Brennan, The Pins, Chris Lawson Jones, Ian Munro, DJs, raffles and Anzac cookies.
Tickets: £10 from here (You can also donate any amount, regardless of if you buy a ticket or not).
You can download a PDF of the concert flyer (artwork and design donated by Saatchi & Saatchi) in the top right column.
