July 01, 2005

Live 8


In case you've been living in a hole, Live 8 is this weekend:

Ten shows. More than 100 artists. Over 24 hours of music. A Pink Floyd reunion. Live 8 — taking place in Philadelphia; London; Moscow; Paris; Berlin; Rome; Tokyo; Barrie, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as a special African show — may be the biggest concert ever.

The shows are organized by Bob Geldof, the man behind 1985's Live Aid concert, a 17-hour marathon that played simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, reached a television audience of more than 1.5 billion and raised over $100 million to help the famine-stricken people of Africa.

Live 8 is aimed at pressuring leaders of the world's richest countries, the G8, to cancel Africa's unpayable debts and double aid for the continent. The concerts take place days before G8 leaders meet in Scotland.

"This will be great. This is going to be cool. It will never happen again. This is going to work, and Africa will see what the world is doing on the behalf of its poor," Geldof told the New York Post. His goal is to reach an audience of 5.5 billion people.

Live 8 — taking place in Philadelphia; London; Moscow; Paris; Berlin; Rome; Tokyo; Barrie, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as a special African show — may be the biggest concert ever.

Who's Performing Where:

London: Acts include Annie Lennox, Coldplay, Dido, Elton John, Joss Stone, the Killers, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, REM, Snoop Dogg, Sting, and U2. Pink Floyd is reuniting after nearly a quarter century.

Philadelphia: Acts include Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Def Leppard, Destiny's Child, Jay-Z, Josh Groban, Keith Urban, Linkin Park, Maroon 5, P. Diddy, Rob Thomas, Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Wonder, and Toby Keith.

Paris: Acts include Shakira, the Cure and Dido.

Berlin: Acts include A-ha, Audioslave, Brian Wilson, Crosby Stills & Nash, Green Day, and Roxy Music.

Rome: Acts include Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Duran Duran.

Tokyo: Acts include Bjork, Good Charlotte and Rize.

Barrie, Canada: Acts include Barenaked Ladies, Bryan Adams, Motley Crue, and Run-DMC.

Edinburgh: Acts include Annie Lennox, Bob Geldof and African artists.

Moscow: Lineup yet to be confirmed.

Johannesburg, South Africa: Launches a series of pan-African concerts.

Eden Project/Africa Calling: African artists

In the United States, VH1 and MTV will air eight hours of the concert, while America Online, which owns the U.S. rights to the concerts, will beam them on the Internet. XM satellite radio is broadcasting all the shows.

--And in other Live 8 news, Neil Young will mark his return on stage by performing at Canada's Live 8 concert Saturday, three months after he was treated for a brain aneurysm.

Posted by: Lawrenkm at 07:30 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I watched Live Aid 20 years ago (Queen was my favorite of that day), I shall watch Live 8 this year. I'm glad to see Motley Crue got in. I'm also glad to see Neil Young perform. I love that guy.

Posted by: Kevvy the Unnamed Source at July 01, 2005 08:29 AM (qb+8W)

2 Definitely. When I saw CSN&Y a few years back it was basically Neil Young rocking out with a bunch of fat junkies doing back-up vocals. He was the only "rock star" on the stage that night.

Posted by: ren at July 01, 2005 09:50 AM (2qlER)

3 Dave Matthews rules the school.

Posted by: Rori at July 02, 2005 06:59 PM (fETr8)

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