OneRepublic, Alessia Cara Join Avril Lavigne Livestream Benefit

OneRepublic and Alessia Cara joined the lineup for Avril Lavigne’s Lyme disease livestream benefit concert. The event, set for October 24th at 8 p.m. ET, will benefit the Avril Lavigne Foundation and Global Lyme Alliance.

Rob Thomas and host Wilmer Valderrama were recently announced for #FightLyme With Avril + Friends, which will raise awareness and funds for those affected by Lyme. Tickets, merch bundles and VIP soundcheck passes are currently on sale.

Ticket buyers will be able to access the show using a unique access code and can replay the livestream for 48 hours on demand.

Lavigne revealed her own Lyme diagnosis in 2015, explaining that she contracted the disease the previous spring from a tick bite. In a January 2020 Instagram note, she wrote, “For the better part of two years, I was really sick and fighting for my life.”

One hundred percent of proceeds from the event — described in the initial announcement as her only performance of 2020 — will benefit the Foundation and Alliance.

The Avril Lavigne Foundation assists those with Lyme, serious illnesses or disabilities — offering prevention resources, funding treatment grants and advancing scientific research. Global Lyme Alliance funds research, provides awareness programs and aids patients and caregivers.

Lavigne, who released her sixth album, Head Above Water, in 2019, joined fellow Canadian artists like Justin Bieber and Rush’s Geddy Lee to cover Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” during a charitable TV special and livestream in April.

OneRepublic recently issued the singles “Better Days,” “Didn’t I,” “Wanted” and “Rescue Me” from their upcoming fifth album, Human. Cara released her This Summer EP in 2019.