MySpace plans concerts for Sudan relief

NEW YORK — The online hangout MySpace.com will organize 20 concerts featuring bands promoted on its site as part of a campaign to raise awareness and money for humanitarian relief in Sudan.

The site, which grew in popularity thanks to emerging bands and their fans, has in recent months taken a more active role in social causes, such as environmental awareness and voter registration.

“The crisis in Darfur is a global concern, and as a global community, we have a responsibility to take action,” said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace’s chief executive, in a statement. “MySpace’s reach gives us an extraordinary opportunity to spread the word and empower individuals to help address the horrors in Darfur.”

Some 2.5 million people have been made homeless by three years of fighting between the Sudanese government and rebel groups in the vast, arid Darfur region of western Sudan.

At least 200,000 people have been killed since the hostilities erupted.

The Oct. 21 concerts will take place in Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco; Melbourne and St. Petersburg, Fla.; Atlanta; Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis; Reno, Nev.; Baltimore, Asheville and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Medford, Ore.; Philadelphia; Charleston, S.C.; Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Milwaukee; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto, Canada.

Bands -- pop, rock, country and reggae, among others -- have agreed to donate part of their ticket proceeds to Oxfam’s relief efforts in Sudan and Chad.