Portishead reunited to perform their classic track ‘Roads’ for the ‘Together For Palestine’ show. Check it out below.
The reunion took place ahead of Brian Eno holding his ‘Together For Palestine’ show at London’s Wembley Arena on Wednesday (September 17), where over 150 artists and cultural figures came together to show solidarity and raise money for the people of Gaza.
Huge performances came from Damon Albarn, Paul Weller, Rachel Chinouriri, Yasiin Bey, and more, and presenters included Eric Cantona, PinkPantheress, Richard Gere, Benedict Cumberbatch, Florence Pugh, and Nicola Coughlan.
It was available as a livestream too, and raised nearly £1.5million for the ‘Together For Palestine Fund’, which will be distributed to Palestinian-led organisations such as Taawon, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Palestine Medical Relief Service.
Ahead of the show, it was confirmed that the iconic trip-hop group had been added to the line-up, but would be unable to attend in person. For their contribution, they recorded a special one-off performance of their 1994 fan-favourite track ‘Roads’. Footage of the emotive rendition was captured in black and white, and showed Beth Gibbons and co. performing in the studio alongside a string quartet.
The video was played on the screen at Wembley towards the end of the night.
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It was the first performance from Portishead since 2022, when they performed as a one-off show in Bristol to help raise money for War Child. That event was their first in seven years, and saw them play ‘Roads’, along with ‘Mysterons’, ‘Wandering Star’, ‘Magic Doors’ and ‘The Rip’.
Announcing their reunion for the Brian Eno-curated show earlier this month, the band’s Geoff Barrow said on Instagram: “Yesterday we went to the Brilliant @cubemicroplex and filmed a live song for the up and coming “Together for Palestine” concert. We can’t be there in the day but we desperately wanted to be involved to put our voice to help end the Ongoing Genocide that is taking place right now.”
He, Gibbons and Adrian Utley also shared a statement, saying: “We are incredibly honoured to stand in solidarity with Palestine and be part of this crucial event. The genocide must stop.”
The concert on Wednesday came just one day after a UN commission inquiry concluded that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza. Israel continues to deny accusations of genocide or war crimes.
On the night, Richard Gere took to the stage to celebrate the doctors working in Gaza, Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan pushed for other artists to speak up, and Florence Pugh gave a short but powerful speech declaring that “silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality”.
Damon Albarn helped break out a medley of Palestinian traditional songs with the London Arab Orchestra and the Juzour Dance Collective, and later joined up with Yasiin Bey – FKA Mos Def – and Syrian singer Omar Souleyman to debut a song called ‘Damascus, which will be featured on Gorillaz’s new album, ‘The Mountain’.
Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos took to the stage too, saying: “As someone who survived the darker chapter of our shared history, I know what it means to be stripped of dignity, of land, of hope. That is why I remain steadfast in my commitment to the Palestinian people. Their struggle for freedom, justice, and return is not separate from mine, it is a part of the same cry for humanity.”
Check out all of what went down at the Together For Palestine concert here, and visit here to donate to the Together For Palestine fund.
Backstage, curator and organiser Brian Eno spoke to NME about the event and urged people to be hopeful that things can improve.
“Don’t be hopeless. You are in the middle of the biggest social movement in human history,” Eno assured. “The climate movement and all of these social justice movements are all part of the same thing, it’s all part of people thinking, ‘The thing is really fucked up, we can do something about it, we have to do something about it’. They’re doing that in the absence of political leadership.”
Portishead’s last album was ‘Third’, which was released in 2008. In the time since then, Gibbons has released her debut solo album ‘Lives Outgrown’.
Shared in 2024, the record was shortlisted for last year’s Mercury Prize Award, and given a glowing four star review from NME. “On ‘Lives Outgrown’ Gibbons uses this history to her advantage,” the review read.
“She cannily foregrounds the weather-beaten gravitas of her vocal at each turn, its familiarity holding us tight so that, in parallel, she can undercut that feeling of safety by continually pointing out the grains of sand falling into the wrong half of the hourglass.”
The singer also headed out on a solo tour in celebration of the album, and made appearances at Glastonbury, Green Man and London’s Roundhouse earlier this summer.
As for Barrow, the musician and producer announced last year that he would be leaving Beak> last year after “nearly 16 years of bad language & random tempo decisions”.
He featured on their fourth album, ‘>>>>’, which arrived last May, and played his final shows with the group earlier this year. The band will be continuing to perform live and write new music without him in the line-up.
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