Joe Strummer will be the first rock star to play London’s Royal Opera House next month in a charity show to raise money for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Strummer will appear with his band The Mescaleos, alongside Bryan Adams and Bryan May. Actors Jeremy Irons, Terence Stamp and Monty Python star Michael Palin will give readings at the event.
The venue, home to the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, is hoping to overcome its ‘stuffy’ image by staging more mainstream musical events – Elton John is due to appear there in December.
The charity show is in aid of the conservation charity named after its founder who started campaigning for gorilla preservation in the 1960s. She was murdered in 1985, but her work came to public attention when her book 'Gorillas In The Mist' was turned into a film starring Sigourney Weaver in 1988.