Turnstile Draw an Estimated 60,000 to the National Mall for a Free Palestine, Sudan and Lebanon Benefit

An estimated 60,000 people on the National Mall at three in the afternoon, for a hardcore band, at no charge. The Baltimore Banner reported that the first two fans in line for Turnstile’s October 24 show arrived at 5 a.m., ten hours before the set began.

The show raised money for Human Concern International’s relief efforts in Palestine, Sudan and Lebanon. The band’s stated target was $150,000; the event’s LaunchGood page has since passed $250,000.

Mid-set, Brendan Yates thanked the crowd for turning out, saying the band was “so grateful to have been raised by this scene, one that taught us that music not only reflects the artist making it but the people and the world and the suffering and the joy that surrounds it.” He then led a chant: “Loud enough for the White House to hear it: Free Palestine! Free Sudan! Free Lebanon!”

The concert closed Turnstile’s second North American tour behind Never Enough, and it capped a year of firsts: two Grammy wins in February, a Saturday Night Live debut that made them the first hardcore group on that stage since 1981, and a remix album in August featuring Elton John, Hayley Williams and Panda Bear. It also extends a practice. In 2025 the band played Baltimore’s Wyman Park Dell, funding production themselves and raising more than $35,000 for Health Care for the Homeless.

The year has carried harder facts too. In March, former guitarist Brady Ebert was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly striking Yates’s father with a car; William Yates was hospitalized. The band had parted ways with Ebert in 2022, citing a pattern of harmful behavior.

A benefit at this scale is a different kind of statement than a benefit in a city park. Turnstile now have the infrastructure to make the gesture match the volume, and they used it.