Benefit concert for Danforth shooting victims

Toronto rockers Billy Talent will be hosting a benefit concert next month in support of the victims of the deadly Danforth shooting.

In a one-on-one interview with CP24, Billy Talent frontman Ben Kowalewicz said the band was “devastated” when they learned about the attack, which left two people dead and 13 others wounded.

“We have so many of our friends and family and people that we love who live up in that neighbourhood and our studio is right up blocks from there,” he said.

“We were just completely devastated and then we spoke the next day and we were like, ‘We have to do something.’”

He said the band quickly started organizing the concert and recruiting other musicians, including City and Colour, to perform at the show.

“The people who were actually in Toronto and wanted to do it were on board 100 per cent right away,” Kowalewicz said.

Proceeds from the concert, which will be held at the Danforth Music Hall on Aug. 11 during the annual Taste of the Danforth event, will be donated to the Toronto Strong Fund.

He said he hopes the concert encourages people to come back to enjoy the Danforth.

“We are a diverse and wonderful place and we need to come together in these times and we need to celebrate each other and to realize that we are this special place,” he said.

“That’s why we want to go to the community. We want to go to the Danforth. We want to celebrate them. We want to let them know we love them, that we’re here for them.”

Tickets for the show go on sale at 10 a.m. on Aug. 1.