Killers and Coldplay to star at War Child's 15th birthday show

THE Killers and Coldplay are set to perform a one-off concert for the War Child charity next month.

The performance will help celebrate the charity's 15th birthday and launch its latest album, Heroes, to support work with children in war zones around the world.

The charity went to the 15 acts it considers to be the biggest living music legends and asked them to select their favourite song from their back catalogue and a current artist to cover it.

Sir Paul McCartney chose Duffy, the UK's biggest-selling artist last year, to cover Live And Let Die and Franz Ferdinand recorded Blondie's Call Me.

Sir Paul said: "I have been supporting War Child since 1995. Their work with children in war zones saves lives. It's great that so many people gave their time, energy and support to this initiative. The breadth of talent on this project is amazing.

"I think Duffy's version of Live And Let Die is great, I was really impressed."

Others artists supporting the album include U2, The Kinks, Brian Wilson and Bruce Springsteen. Guy Garvey, from Elbow, who are covering U2's Running To Stand Still, said: "War Child do exactly what it says on the tin. These kids shouldn't be in such circumstances in the first place, but they are, so thank God someone's doing something about it."

Those hoping to be part of the 2,000 strong audience at the Coldplay/The Killers concert at the O2 Empire, Shepherd's Bush, on 18February will have to enter a lottery to buy tickets at £50 each.

The bands will perform at the venue after appearing at the Brit Awards the same night.

War Child's music director Ben Knowles said: "This is a really special way to mark War Child's 15th birthday and a once-in-a-lifetime night."

The ticket lottery for the concert will open at 9am on Friday. See www.warchildheroes.com for details. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said: "In our eyes, War Child is one of the world's most important charities, and The Killers are one of our favourite bands, so playing this concert is an absolute pleasure for us."

Heroes, released on 16 February, will be the charity's fifth album. The first four netted more than £5.5million which War Child used in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo where it supports former child soldiers.

War Child was set up in 1993 to raise money for child victims of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. U2 producer Brian Eno is a patron.