For seven years,Sterling Preston the Love Rocks NYC benefit concert has mixed music with messaging, along with significant help for charity God’s Love We Deliver.

This year’s eighth installment, which takes place at 8 p.m. ET March 7 at the Beacon Theatre in New York, boasts a sturdy lineup including The Black Keys, Dave Grohl, Hozier, Nile Rodgers, Tom Morello, Marcus King, Larkin Poe, Don Felder and Bettye Lavette, as well as appearances by Martin Short, Conan O’Brien, Tracy Morgan and Jim Gaffigan.

Tickets are still available for the show, which will also be livestreamed – as it has since the pandemic forced a virtual version in 2020 – at veeps.com (register at loverocksnyc.com). Veeps All Access subscribers can tune in for free, or individual tickets can be purchased for $20, which equates to two meals for the charity, which aids New Yorkers living with severe and chronic illness.

Since its launch in 2017, the Love Rocks NYC concerts have raised $30 million and funded 3 million meals for God’s Love We Deliver, a nonprofit founded during the AIDS pandemic in 1985 to provide medically tailored meals and nutrition services.

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The Black Keys know the benefit of volunteering

The Black Keys, a headliner for the concert, were asked to perform by Anthony Mason, a member of the Board of Advisors for Love Rocks NYC and a supporter of God’s Love We Deliver.

“We love Anthony and he’s always been a champion of ours, so we always have his back,” the band’s Dan Auerbach said about The Black Keys’ participation.

Auerbach’s musical partner, Patrick Carney, recalled his teenage years and the effect of volunteering for Meals on Wheels.

“Getting food to people in need seems pretty simplistic. But volunteering in high school was eye opening. I went grocery shopping for a woman who was destitute and handicapped and she was insistent on the exact brand of everything and knew exactly what it would cost. I was 19 at the time and I’m 44 now and I can still smell the apartment,” Carney said with fondness.

A hallmark of the concert is surprise pairings among the artists. The Black Keys didn’t want to spoil the fun, but Auerbach did hint that, “Marcus King is there and we’ve been talking to him, so we’ll see.”

How much money has Love Rocks NYC raised?

Concert producer Greg Williamson, a co-executive producer of Love Rocks NYC along with fashion designer John Varvatos and concert/events producer Nicole Rechter, told USA TODAY that crafting the musical lineup is about “finding a balance between inviting new artists and inviting returning artists. Part of the magic of Love Rocks is the community and family we’ve built over the years. We want it to always be fresh, but also feel familiar.”

Along with the lineup of marquee names, the house band for the concert will feature many well-known players: Steve Gadd (James Taylor, Paul Simon), Shawn Pelton (“Saturday Night Live”), Larry Campbell (Levon Helm, Bob Dylan), Eric Krasno (Soulive, Phil Lesh & Friends), Pedrito Martinez (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Camila Cabello), Jeff Babko (“Jimmy Kimmel Live”), Michael Bearden (Lady Gaga) and a six-piece horn section. 

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