It will be a whale of a good time — for a good cause — when members of Mt. Joy, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Young the Giant, Needtobreathe, The Red Clay Strays and more perform a show benefiting endangered whales next month.
This group of artists, along with other yet-to-be announced musicians, will perform as part of Whale Jam, an ongoing concert series benefiting The Whale & Dolphin Conservation, and North Atlantic right whales in particular.
This upcoming edition of Whale Jam marks the event’s first time in New York City, with previous show happening in Boston since the event’s inception in 2022.
Happening Dec. 12 at Brooklyn Paramount, a 2,700-capacity venue that opened earlier this year, the night will feature Matt Quinn of Mt. Joy, Ela Melo of Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Sameer Gadhia of Young the Giant, Clyde and Grace Lawrence of Lawrence and others. See the current lineup below.
Tickets for the event are available now and start at $64, with proceeds directly benefiting the nonprofit Whale & Dolphin Conservation North America. Focused on stripped down sets and impromptu collaborations, Whale Jam’s last show this past May in Boston raised $75,000 for the organization.
Whale Jam is produced by Nantucket Crisps, a potato chip brand inspired by Nantucket, with flavors named after islands on the beach. The famed Massachusetts island is, of course, located in the North Atlantic ocean, where whalers in the 1800s hunted North Atlantic right whales to the brink of extinction. Nantucket was once the whaling capital of the world, a legacy that gave Nantucket Crisps co-founder Hayden Arnot a special interest in raising money for whale conservation.
“For our last show, Matt Quinn joined Taylor Meier for ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac, David Shaw of The Revivalists joined Jonathan Russell of The Head and The Heart for ‘Lost in my Mind’, and at the end of the show all of the artists joined on stage for a rambunctious version of Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’, very fitting for Boston,” Arnot tells Billboard. “It’s truly amazing seeing these eco-minded artists take the time out of their busy schedules for this cause; it’s a stars aligning moment every time. The North Atlantic Right Whale is a whale that is very near and dear to the heart of the Northeast.”
North Atlantic right whales — named so because whalers once considered them the “right whales” to hunt — are only found in North America and live on East Coast’s migratory corridor. According to the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered large whale species. The whales have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1970, with roughly 370 of these whales currently remaining.
Their two biggest threats to these whales are strikes from water vessels and accidental entanglement in fishing gear. As such, money raised by Whale Jam directly benefits efforts to expand on demand fishing, which removes vertical line from fishing waters to prevent entanglement. Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America is also working to implement regulations that would require water vessels to go slower during whale migration periods. Money raised goes to purchase on demand fishing gear and to pay staff working to get regulations in place.
“In order for our oceans to be healthy, we need whales,” Whale & Dolphin Conversation’s deputy director Melissa Walker tells Billboard, explaining that the work whales to do circulate nutrients in the ocean plays a vital role in ocean health and its ability to absorb carbon and release oxygen.
