I think it would be a good thing to have one mondo Live 8 topic if anyone else is watching. I’ve signed a letter to President Bush at: http://www.one.org/
Performance-wise, I liked the Sergeant Pepper’s opening and Coldplay backing Richard Ashcroft on “Bittersweet Symphony”. I severely dislike watching the concert on VH-1 or MTV how else are people watching?
Maybe a seperate Great Debates topic can be started analyzing just how effective benefit concerts are.
I’ve been watching the Canadian version on CTV. Randy Bachman is awesome.
I should have tried to get to Barrie for this!
Does this sort of thing actually send a message to the world leaders? I signed up at www.live8live.com and tried to do my part. Hopefully it’ll end up making some sort of difference.
I’m watching on the web, you can check out performances in different locations. Pretty good picture and sound.
http://music.aol.com/live_8_concert/live_now
It froze up my firefox, but with IE it works fine.
I’m thinking this will be me for the day.
The BBC has been showing it on a couple of their channels all day. It’s good but a bit of a shambles, rather like the original Live Aid. The Hyde Park (London) crowd seem a bit lifeless, but then they’ve got all the corporate people up at the front. Mucho swearing, way before the TV watershed :eek: The Beeb’s complaints line is probably beseiged by Daily Mail readers at the moment.
I’m glad you started this thread, AmericanMaid. I think the idea behind the concert is fantastic, and I applaud all of the artists involved, especially Sir Bob.
The show, from a purely musical point of view? Pants so far.
I was wondering if this is a result of being older and remembering the Live Aid broadcast. Usram, the only thing I can remember is Bob Geldof on the telly every 30 minutes yelling at viewers to give up the cash. But I watched it the whole time. I have it on now, purely from an anthropological perspective though. I am not really digging it all.
MTV showed a recap of the '85 event, which might explain why it was so huge. First, it followed the Band Aid and USA for Africa songs, and many of us were unaware of the tragedy of what was taking place in Ethiopia before then. Today we live in a 24-hour news environment, and there’s no “shock” in hearing the numbers and seeing the pictures. Unfortunately.
Also, let’s recap who we saw on stage in '85. Queen. The Who. U2. Sting. Jagger and Bowie (well, they had the video). Even the lesser known bands, like Status Quo, Power Station, and Paul Young put on a good show. I guess seeing the Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, and Linkin Park isn’t doing it for me.
I thought what we saw of U2’s part was ok. Nowhere as powerful as Live Aid though. The biggest surprise for me was Madonna’s set. It was the best part I’ve seen so far. Very impressive, and I’m predisposed to slagging off Madge!
One last thing - the steaming pile of poo that is called Linkin Park just came on. Annoying screaming guy does his usual screaming, but then the rapper guy comes on and says to the crowd, “you guys sing along the words!” Tool. It’s a charity show, and I doubt anyone came just to see your crappy band. In fact, you were encouraging your 50 fans in the crowd, while the remaining 100,000 looked at their watches, wondering when the next act will come on…
Actually, it isn’t.
MTV needs to shut the fuck up. A few minutes ago, I was treated to Carson Daily (I think) and some british asshole in London saying “Wow, Joss Stone is really tearing up the stage here in London.” Then they went to commercial.
If she’s tearing up the stage, I want to see that. I don’t want to hear your commentors prattle on.
That doesn’t go for the younger generation, though. And the important point here is that everyone gets to know about our ridiculous trade practices. I mean, sure we give 1 billion to Africa but then we spend 2 billion to subsidize our farmers to outprice African farmers by dumping our products in Africa? If we would stop giving any more aid, but also stopped those ridiculous subsidies, then Africa would be heaps better off.
But the people who are actually standing there will probably feel the same vice versa. I’m starting to feel that this new generation is a modest, humble crowd, feeling tiny and insignificant, or maybe its just those ecstacy pills. 
There are definitely a lot of bands out there who are more suited to the studio, to say it kindly (unlike, say, the Dave Matthews band). Though the Black Eyed Peas are actually quite good life, imho. But what does seem lacking is a spirit of cooperation. It seems a bit as if the participating artists have too busy schedules and can barely make time to take part, let alone interact with others. That’s what I miss a bit from here - it’s too much like a bunch of separate concerts, without a unifying theme. With Live Aid, you at least had the dying children on the background of all the songs, so to speak. Now we have a few presenters doing their best to link stuff up a bit, and snap their fingers every now and then. That’s a bit lacking.
Still, 3 Billion viewers is nothing to scoff at. Half the world has shared an experience, a bit of mutual history. In that context I found the comment that Russia couldn’t see Live Aid concerts last time, but now 160 million Russians can watch, quite interesting.
Yes, it’s a studio band. Not really it. I definitely prefer - say - Red Hot Chili Peppers.
God bless XM for carrying all the shows live. They bumped 6 channels for the day to carry them.
Highlights for me so far:
Audioslave playing Black Hole Sun and Killing in the Name Of. That was a pure rock out moment.
Green Day set the place on fire, IMO. American Idiot, Holiday, Minority and We Are The Champions (which sounded surprisingly good.)
Coldplay bringing out Richard Ashcroft from The Verve for Bittersweet Symphony, and Chris Martin singing backup so Ashcroft could have the spotlight.
Will Smith bringing DJ Jazzy Jeff with him, then giving the crowd the Fresh Prince theme as well as Summertime.
Lowlights:
Toby Keith. WTF?
The Linkin Park/Jay-Z set sounds awful. They all sound like they can’t hear themselves, and the microphones keep cutting out.
Anyone know what the deal with Shakira was? I caught a bit of the Paris feed, and they said she’d decided to go on, 20 minutes late.
No, I just know that they said that after the first song (if you ask me a bit ill-chosen, as I’m sure the original version of that song was probably more popular there, as it was here), the Paris crowd really warmed up to her. Perhaps she also did some of her Spanish work (which, imho, is far superior).
Another lowlight: Celine Dion.
First, the crowd booing when it was announced they were going live to Las Vegas for her part. Then her actual performance. Both horrible.
I’m digging this a lot more with the AOL feed than I was on MTV, to say the least. Although it was kind of a nice oddity to turn on MTV and actually see a little music. Made me feel kind of nostalgic…
The London sets by Joss Stone and Scissor Sisters were fun to catch in their entirety. Looking forward to the Roxy Music set in Berlin in a few minutes. I didn’t even know they were back together. Anyone know if this is a one-off for Live 8, or are they recording/touring again?
Who’s that Slash is playing with in London? 3PM CST USA time.
MTV has done a terrible job so far. The only act they’ve shown a major portion of their set has been Linkin Park/Jay Z. As hip hop is their major target demographic, this isn’t surprising. However, they could allow VH1 to show some of the other artists. So far, this is reminding me of old Olympics coverage. Too much coverage of the crowd and how far people drove, and not enough coverage of the actual coverage.
I watched almost the original Live Aid concert on MTV and an independent television station in Florida when I was in high school in 1985.
Live 8 so far has turned out much worse. Too many commercials, too much annoying chatter from MTV/VH1 'hosts" and too little of the actual concerts.
I have XM satellite radio, but only in my car and they’re not broadcasting it online.
I’d say Madonna (from the 2 songs MTV aired) has done the best. The Killers also looked impressive, but they didn’t show too much of their set. This is a problem. Live Aid helped bands get exposure such as U2. The Killers could have gotten the same exposure. However, MTV/VH1 needed to show more commercials and have more annoying chit chat from their host and interviews with the crowd.
Doesn’t she primarily sing in Portuguese?
Velvet Revolver.
Agree on cutting The Killers set to get some stupid chit chat.
MTV is finally showing the GreenDay set. It’s very good… I like them.
I’ll try to see if I can get the sets online instead of depending on MTV/VH1 shitty coverage… unless my computer is unable to handle it.
Noooo, Shakira sings primarily in Spanish. She has a Portuguese album (which is just translations of one of her Spanish albums), but she’s from Colombia and her best works are in Spanish.
Didn’t Russia have their own concert during Live Aid? I remember two songs by a Russian band which aired during Live Aid. How I wish I still had my Live Aid video tape. It may have been a “contribution” similar to BB King’s performance and the contribution from INXS from Australia.
I must say… the best I’ve heard so far are the performers in Johnnesburg… the Orchestra Baobob (which was just cut off by VH1/MTV, the bastards). 