Radiohead joined forces with other big names in music such as the Foo Fighters and Enrique Iglesias in a charity auction of 14 Brompton Bicycles, designed by the artists and have now raised $142,000.
Radiohead’s bike raised a whopping $24,000, making it “the most expensive Brompton ever sold,” and proceeds from the auction went to Live Nation’s Global relief fund set up to support live music crews affected by COVID-19.
Brompton Bicycle, announcing the grant total on Instagram, wrote: “Together with 13 Global artists and over 250 of you lot from all over the world, we raised $142,200 for Crew Nation! With Radiohead’s bike at $24,000, making it the most expensive Brompton ever sold.’ The idea was born out of a simple goal; to help as many live music crews as possible affected by the pandemic. What started as a small project quickly gained momentum into something much bigger with an incredible line up of some of the world’s biggest artists involved. The music scene has always had a close connection with Brompton, and we’ll continue to support the people and venues that make it such a spine-tingling industry to be involved with.’- Tevis Jory, Music Project Lead at Brompton. A massive round of applause to everyone involved and we will see you in the mosh pit very soon!”
The artist who has created Radiohead’s record artwork since the 90s, Stanley Donwood, said on the project: “I’m ridiculously happy to have been asked to design a Brompton bike that’ll be auctioned to raise money (and awareness) for Crew Nation. Brompton bikes are fantastic zippy folding freedom machines and crews are the unsung heroes of every gig, festival or live events that you’ve ever been to.”
Auctioned via Greenhouse Auctions, bidding took place between 28 May 2021 and 12 June 2021. Alongside Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Enrique Iglesias, other artists involved were: Phoebe Bridgers, LCD Soundsystem, Khruangbin, Nathan East, Dinosaur Jr, Oh Wonder, Underworld, Sub Pop, Rise Against and Neko Case.
Earlier this week, Radiohead joined other UK music stars who donated to a raffle supporting Gig Buddies, which is a project set up to pair together “people with and without learning disabilities (and/or autism) to be friends and to go to events together.” The band donated a test pressing of “Kid A” and 100% of the proceeds from the raffle will go to Gig Buddies Bristol and Gig Buddies Cymru.
