Friendly Fires to host charity gig after the death of their friend

Friendly Fires performing in Leeds in June (Getty Images)

Mercury Prize-nominated band Friendly Fires are staging a star-studded charity gig after the death of their friend Adam Connolly last week.

Jack Savidge, who was Connolly’s flatmate, launched an appeal to find the 29-year-old on the Friendly Fires Facebook and Twitter accounts after he went missing on Wednesday 14 November.

On Saturday police discovered his body on Hackney Marshes, close to the Lee Valley Ice Rink.

After hearing of his death, Friendly Fires thanked fans on their Facebook page, saying: “The search for Adam Connolly has been called off and the news is bad. Thank you for all your help in spreading his picture and info.”

The band will hold the event on 12 of December at XOYO to “celebrate Adam’s live as well as to raised awareness and funds to prevent male suicide, which has recently seen a rise again in the UK”.

Connolly's girlfriend Juliette Hughes said in a statement: "We wanted to do something that celebrates Adam's life, his amazing creativity, and his beautiful warm, kind soul as well as showing how much we deeply love and miss him."

She added: "A day will never pass that we don't think about him and wish he was still here with us. The evening of the 12th is our way of sharing a little bit of happiness around recent events by picking out some music by a selection of bands and DJs that mean something to Adam in one way or another."

It will be compered by comedian Mat Horne and will features The Horrors, Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve, Sexbeat, Ben Conershp, Chapel Club, Trailer Trash Tracys and the Holy Trinity DJ, plus “a very special guest to be announced”.

Tickets cost £20 and all profits will go to charity chosen by the Connolly family.

The funeral is due to take place on 30 November. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

wegottickets.com