Just have to say a MASSIVE thank you to the 25,000 people who attended WSO ISOLATION FESTIVAL yesterday, turning an otherwise bleak Easter Saturday in lockdown into something truly magnificent.
It wasn’t just the £26,000 raised on the GoFundMe, or the £2000 in festival t-shirts, all of which will keep WE SHALL OVERCOME functioning hitting the front line of need in these most desperate of desperate days; nor was it only the messages streaming in from all over the world- Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Italy, France– telling us how you were spending the day, and how much it all meant to you.
It was something bigger than that. Humanity itself was being tested here. No human contact. No roar of the crowd. No light shows. No big screens. We were sat at home and our only point of contact was a two dimensional screen, our willingness to comment, and the breadth of our collective imaginations.
Yesterday, for all its many faults, social media passed a test. It proved our connections aren’t just physical, they are existential too. 25,000 people transcended their remoteness and beat the lockdown without stepping out of their front door.
Our humanity was more powerful than our separation.
It was incredible.
So a colossal THANK YOU to George Borowski, Poetry Aloud Presents:, Davy Kettyles, Kirsty McGee, Jess Silk, Steve White and the Protest Family, Attila the Stockbroker, Maddy Carty, The Wakes, Caitlin Gilligan, Headsticks, Matt Hill Songwriter, Pixie Styx Music, Phil Odgers, Naomi Bedford & Paul Simmonds, Billy Liar, Chuck SJ, Efa Supertramp, Stephen Morris, Graham Rhodes, Janine Booth, Poetry on the Picket Line, Robb Johnson, Grace Petrie, Carol Hodge, Bernie Laverick, Pete Bentham and the Dinner Ladies, Boss Caine, Paddy Nash & The Happy Enchiladas, John D. Revelator, Depresstival, Star Botherers, Kev Titterton and Billy Bragg for being there for us and spreading that message around the world.
And of course to Matt Hill, Pete Yen, Val Colvin, Jamie Bramwell, Simon Ibbotson, Kevin Pearson and Steve Nevard who made it happen on the day in the name of Stephen Goodall.
Pauline Town? Big Sis? Told you we had your back xx
Joe Solo 
Wow Joe that’s fantastic shows when people come together xx
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