Coldplay and Mumford and Sons Headline Policeman’s Ball

Coldplay and Mumford and Sons will be headlining The Secret Policeman’s Ball in New york in March. The Secret Policeman’s Ball is a British-based music and comedy festival.

Coldplay, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Mumford & Sons and Russell Brand are among the acts who have agreed to perform for the event at Radio City Music Hall on March 4. The concert will benefit Amnesty International, as it has since it started back in 1976 with celebrities like John Cleese.

“For us, it’s iconic and a very special thing, and has provided the opportunity to really celebrate the presence of freedom of expression and free speech, and how we can move people and how we can bring people together, and just how powerful that is,” said Amnesty International spokesman Andy Hackman in an interview Tuesday.

The last Secret Policeman’s Ball was in 2008 in London. Hackman said the organization wanted to do something different and on a grander scale this year since it’s the 50th anniversary of the human rights group.

“That phrase ‘human rights’ has lost meaning in some ways,” he said. “That’s why we want to demonstrate the power and the joy that free speech can bring to us all. … It’s really just using these amazing talented people to demonstrate the power, what a force of good free speech is.”

Tickets go on sale on Monday.