Live Earth

I guess I'd never thought of it this way. I'd always looked at these big concert events like "woohoo! A chance to see alot of my favorites perform!" Putting more thought into it though it is kida hollow. Maybe they should make these big acts donate their entertainment, it would put more of an impact to the whole thing. The sad part is they organize these events and a week after no one is talking about the cause behind it. I think it's funny, I live in Northern Iliinois and most of January was unseasonably warm, we're talking 50 degrees, and everyone was like "global warming". February has brought us a month of frigid temps ans all you hear is "who says we're going through global warming". I guess most people aren't looking at the big piture.

I agree that there's no such thing as bad publicity, and anything that raises awareness should be welcomed. However, I think these concerts do not influence governments and are not designed to, they are simply PR for bands who are having trouble selling records. The first such concert was organised by the late Beatle George Harrison, who did a concert with guests like Ravi Shankar and Bob Dylan, to raise money for flood relief in Bangladesh. Probably the most famous, though, was Live Aid in 1985. The idea behind this was that money would be raised to help drought victims in Ethiopia and Sudan. 22 years later, drought is still a problem in Ethiopia, and the money raised has genrated corruption and civil war in the Sudan, and of course the Darfur problem. I don't hear Bob Geldoff apologising to the people of Darfur for the impact his aid monies have had on their lives. Live8 generated many pledges from the worlds wealthiest countries, and the money has never been paid. Once the concert ended, the media coverage went away, and the governments never made good on their pledges, and still haven't. I noticed a story on Yahoo news yesterday, that Madonna (or Madge as we now know her in England), who sang a specially written song at the concert, has been named as one of the worst polluters of the World last year. Her carbon footprint was 100s of times larger than the average UK resident. Her global tour involved flying her and her entourage of dancers, hairdressers etc in private jets. He owns 8 cars, many of which do not have the capability to run off unleaded fuel. Bob Geldoff and, even worse, Bono fly around the world telling everyone else to cut back, whilst still performing concerts which eat up vast amounts of coal generated electricity. It all reminds me of last summers Labour patry conference, which my home city of Manchester hosted. Bill Clinton flew into Manchester on a private jet, travelled from the airport to city centre in a fleet of giant armoured vehicles, spoke for 30 minutes, before getting back into the car, driving back to the airport and flying off. As he did not bother to stay and talk with delegates, and generally hobnob, his speech could have been pre-recorded or delivered by satellite link. His message; we must all reduce our carbon footprints! I would prefer to have no concerts by over-the-hill wannabees, and instead see Madge, Sir Bob & Bono donate half their annual income to 'green' technology subsidies and re-forestation, and for them to pi$$ off into retirement. Perhaps tv celebs could stop flying to Africa to make films about global warming, too. It all reeks of you cut back, and we'll continue our over-the-top lifestyles! Perhaps I'm just a cynic, but I don't watch these concerts anyway, the bands are well passed their best. (On a slightly different note, did anyone see the Rolling Stones perform at last years American Football 'Superbowl' half-time break? Mick Jagger's voice has completely gone, and a sixty+ man trying to 'chicken dance' just looked like he'd shat himself and had Parkinsons disease. As a Brit, I felt humiliated!)

That really is a great place to see all the stars in one place. You can also watch it on TV. Live Earth on Vh1 at 2-30 pm - today -7th July! 100 artistes, 7 continents, 24 hr concert. Watch 'Live Earth', LIVE all 24 hrs on Vh1. Saturday-7th July, 2:30 pm. Feat- Madonna, Police, Linkin Park, Akon, Metallica & more. Enjoy!

You are right on this one too my dear friend. I am a great supporter of anything that highlight the problems this world should really be facing with seriousness. But I like you find it a little doubble moralistic as you so finely describe it. However, im not sure how much of this is my hippie heart talking or question how i would live if i was in their shoes. I know some of the artists actually pay their deeds by living in invironment friendly houses, eat only ecologig food etc. If i had the money and the prestige i know for sure i would not be living as i am today. As mentioned i am a great supporter of these kinds of events and think they, if nothing else, contribute to highlight the important issues, though i do not think it helps a lot in the decission making. Same time i am facinated how many people it brings together arround the world. They would not do that unless they use these megastars. Unfortunately that is 2007 for ya. :)