Mental health in Hong Kong: Pink Floyd tribute band teams up with KELY Support Group for concert to raise funds and awareness

A Pink Floyd tribute band is hosting a charity concert, with proceeds going to support a Hong Kong youth NGO

The band, Pink Phloyd, and KELY Support Group agree that music is a powerful tool to start conversations about mental health

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Hong Kong youth NGO KELY Support Group, which works with young people in the city on drug abuse prevention, mental health and positive development, is teaming up with cover band Pink Phloyd for a concert to raise funds and mental health awareness.

Published: 6:00pm, 4 Nov 2019Updated: 8:03pm, 4 Nov 2019

If psychedelic rock and mental health awareness seem an odd combination, Hong Kong-based tribute band Pink Phloyd might change your mind.

The band will recreate rock group Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon – one of the bestselling albums of all time – in a concert this weekend. All proceeds from ticket sales for the November 9 show will go to local NGO The Kely Support Group, shining a spotlight on mental health, a particularly hot topic with the months of social unrest that Hong Kong has been facing.

“We thought it would be great to do something positive with our shows, which is how we approached KELY,” says Pink Phloyd’s lead guitarist, Greg Reeve, who points out the recurring themes of mental illness in the songs they cover.

“Dark Side of the Moon is about the pressures of life and what effect that has on people. It’s particularly interesting that themes from 1973 still resonate, some would say even more so today.”

The Pink Phloyd charity show will include booths and activities involving mental health awareness.

Concerns over the city’s mental health have spiked amid the anti-government protests that began in June. A University of Hong Kong survey run in July estimated that one in 10 Hongkongers suffer from depression. A more recent study, conducted by the Mental Health Month Organising Committee and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, indicated that mental health has dropped to its lowest in eight years.