Dave Navarro, Billy Morrison Announce Special Guests For Above Ground Benefit Concert

Guitarists Dave Navarro and Billy Morrison announced the first wave of guests for their upcoming Above Ground benefit concert taking place at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 25. Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, Billy Idol, Alice in Chain’s Jerry Cantrell and Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Modern Lovers are among those who confirmed to perform at the show benefiting MusiCares in support of mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Above Ground is known to celebrate the art of the vinyl album by performing seminal LPs in their entirety. For this year’s show, Navarro and Morrison chose to highlight self-titled debuts by the New York Dolls (from 1973) and The Cars (1978), and all musical guests will perform songs from the iconic albums.

“Dave and I love albums that sit closer to the ‘art’ side of things, and that are a bit of a challenge to recreate,” Billy Morrison said in a statement. “We just do our best to honor the records, to get the parts and the tones correct, to not just hack through bad cover versions of these important songs. So, we don’t really try to put a ‘spin’ on them but rather present these albums as they were meant to be heard, every song in order, sounding as close as we can get to the original.”

Other artists making an appearance include Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, The Cars’ Elliot Easton, Josh Frese of Foo Fighters, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, Steve Stevens (who plays or Billy Idol) and Tommy Henriksen and Glen Sobel of Alice Cooper and Hollywood Vampires. Additional guests will be announced in the new year.

This is the fourth edition of Above Ground, which Navarro and Morrison launched back in 2018, and has featured a star-studded lineup of guests, including Jack Black, Anthony Kiedis, Juliette Lewis, Courtney Love and Corey Taylor. The last benefit concert the duo held was back in 2021.

“Above Ground 3 [2021] was a great success,” Navarro said. “But I got really sick with COVID after that show. And it’s been over two years until I was well enough to get back on stage. And as I continue to heal, we thought this is the time! We have work to do and we need to remind people, especially through the holidays, that it’s ok to ask for help! I really look forward to getting on stage with my friends and recreating this seminal music while at the same time having some fun and raising money for MusiCares.”

Morrison echoed Navarro, believing that it was the right time to bring back the Above Ground.

“The need to shine a light on mental health doesn’t go away,” Morrison said. “And I think that Dave and I work so well together on these Above Ground events that it just felt right to come back with the fourth show. We both have our own mental health battles on different levels and if we can help raise some funds and awareness, then we are doing a good thing.”

Tickets are available via the event website, abovegroundorg.com.