Ben Folds Plans Wilmington, North Carolina Benefit Concert

Ben Folds will headline a benefit concert later this month to raise money for North Carolinians affected by Hurricane Helene. The concert, titled From Wilmington, With Love, will take place at Wilmington, North Carolina‘s Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Oct. 29. Musicians from Western North Carolina will feature in the show.

Tickets for the concert are on sale now. One hundred percent of proceeds will go to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, which will provide food, housing, and home repair services to people affected by the storm. The United Way of North Carolina is overseeing the fund.

“I’m honored to share the stage and stand in unity with other North Carolina music artists to help those whose lives and livelihoods have been tragically lost or forever altered by the horrific events triggered by Hurricane Helene,” Folds said in a statement. “Our goal with this benefit concert is to raise awareness and funds to support the massive rebuilding efforts now underway, and that will be ongoing for months and years to come.”

“Here in Coastal North Carolina, we know the power of nature to disrupt lives and endanger communities,” Bill Saffo, Wilmington’s mayor, said. “That’s why we feel so deeply for those in the western part of our state whose lives have been upended by Hurricane Helene. We look forward to a beautiful night of music with Ben Folds, but also musicians from Western North Carolina traveling to Wilmington to share their talent and first-hand accounts of the devastation their region is experiencing.”

Folds was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and, after an abbreviated stint at the University of Miami, attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He formed the Ben Folds Five three decades ago in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Hurricane Helene has become the deadliest hurricane since Hurricane Katrina. About half of the 227 people who died as a result of the storm lived in North Carolina, according to The Associated Press. Efforts to rebuild the area are underway.