Bono effortlessly worked the crowd. Half a globe away, Bjork strutted the stage. Bill Gates was cheered like a rock star. And on the continent that inspired the unprecedented Live 8 extravaganza, Nelson Mandela outshone them all.
Live 8’s long, winding road around the globe on Saturday has been an eclectic marathon.
From Johannesburg to Philadelphia, Berlin to Tokyo and Rome to Barrie, Ontario, musicians and fans sang and danced through a global music festival to raise awareness of African poverty and pressure the world’s most powerful leaders to do something about it at the Group of Eight summit in Scotland next week.
Fittingly, London’s rambunctious flagship show approached its midnight climax with The Long and Winding Road, sung by Paul McCartney after a set that included Get Back, Drive my Car — alongside George Michael — and ”Helter Skelter. For the finale, McCartney was joined onstage by many of the day’s performers, including organizer Bob Geldof, in a jubilant Hey Jude.
The concert had begun 10 hours earlier with McCartney and U2 giving a rousing performance of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A thunderous roar erupted from the 200 000-strong crowd as the two iconic performers belted out the first line: ”It was 20 years ago today …” — a nod to the mammoth Live Aid concerts that raised millions for African famine relief two decades ago.
This time, the scale was bigger — 10 concerts instead of two and, thanks to the internet, a potential audience of billions. The goal was also different: ”We don’t want your money,” said Live 8 banners in London. ”We want you.”
Organiser Bob Geldof promised to deliver ”the greatest concert ever”.
Crowd estimates taken at Live 8 venues indicated more than one million people attended the shows.
Hosting the Philadelphia show on Independence Day weekend in the United States, actor Will Smith said people had united for a ”declaration of interdependence”.
”Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: we are all in this together,” Smith said. He was beamed around the world by satellite as he led the global audience in snapping their fingers every three seconds to signify the child death rate in Africa.
Hip-hop ruled the day in Philly, with sets from host Smith — reprising his past life as the Fresh Prince, alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff — as well as Kanye West. West delivered some of the harshest words of the day, lamenting ”politicians who drive home in their Bentleys every night and watch thousands of Africans die”.
Earlier Bono, dressed in black and wearing his trademark wraparound shades, wrapped the London crowd around his finger, getting tens of thousands to sing along to the anthemic One and Beautiful Day. The crowd cheered when a flock of white doves was released overhead.
”So this is our moment. This is our time. This is our chance to stand up for what’s right,” Bono said.
In Johannesburg, Mandela drew bigger cheers than any of the acts at Mary Fitzgerald Square.
”History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks,” Mandela told a crowd of more than 8 000 people. ”I say to all those leaders: Do not look the other way, do not hesitate … It is within your power to prevent a genocide.”
It was a day of abrupt tempo changes. Coldplay soothed the crowd with their hit In My Place. Elton John belted out the propulsive T Rex anthem Children of the Revolution.
English chanteuse Dido and Senegalese star Youssou N’Dour performed a sinuous duet on Seven Seconds.
Geldof appeared onstage to introduce Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Gates, whom the crowd greeted with a rock star-scale roar.
”We can do this, and when we do it will be the best thing that humanity has ever done,” Gates said.
The crowd joined in as REM sang Man on the Moon, then heard UN Secretary General Kofi Annan declare: ”This is really the United Nations.”
”The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor,” Annan said.
Geldof briefly put on his rock-star hat — literally, wearing a peaked cap identical to one he sported as lead singer of The Boomtown Rats 25 years ago — for an impassioned rendition of I Don’t Like Mondays.
Madonna performed Like a Prayer hand-in-hand with Birham Woldu, an Ethiopian woman who as a malnourished toddler appeared in some of the most wrenching footage of the 1984-85 famine.
As night fell, Sting performed Every Breath You Take as a message to the G-8 leaders — ”We’ll be watching you,” he sang.
Local fave Robbie Williams’ Angels sparked the day’s biggest sing-a-long. The Who belted out their classic Who Are You? to a backdrop of images of the G8 leaders.
The crowd went wild for the reunion of 70s supergroup Pink Floyd — the first time guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright and bassist Roger Waters had appeared onstage together since 1981.
The band dedicated Wish You Were Here to founding member Syd Barrett, a near-recluse who has suffered mental problems for years.
Organisers’ estimates of the crowds and broadcast audiences seemed overblown, from Geldof’s claim that three billion people were watching around the world to talk in Philadelphia that a million people were at that show.
But Live 8 was huge nonetheless, with a mile-long crowd stretching from the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and more than five million page views on America Online’s music site, www.aolmusic.com, which broadcast all 10 concerts in their entirety. AOL said more than 150 000 people concurrently streamed its video, a record.
”There’s nothing more to do now,” Geldof said backstage. ”It’s either crap or it’s great. And so far it’s great.”
There were shows on Saturday in all the G8 countries — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia — as well as in South Africa.
The first of the day’s concerts kicked off in Japan, where Bjork and Good Charlotte joined local bands.
Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson and American rockers Green Day fired up a crowd of 150 000 in Berlin’s Tiergarten park.
Homegrown crowd-pleasers Die Toten Hosen kicked off the show with a string of power anthems while reminding revelers that helping Africa stood above the music.
”This is no rock concert, it’s a reminder about next Wednesday,” singer Campino told the crowds, referring to the G8 meeting.
An eclectic lineup including Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Goth-rockers The Cure played to a crowd of 100 000 at the 17th-century Palace of Versailles near Paris.
In Rome, Faith Hill and Duran Duran joined Italian stars for a concert at the ancient Circus Maximus, which police said was packed with about 200 000 fans.
Local favorite Tom Cochrane started Canada’s concert with Life is a Highway before 35 000 roaring fans on a crisp sunny morning
in Barrie, Ontario.
The concert in Johannesburg and a concert featuring African artists in southwestern England were organised following criticism that African artists had been left out of the Live 8 concerts, despite the event’s aim to raise awareness of the continent’s plight.
”Africans are involved in helping Africa, which doesn’t happen too often,” Cameroonian singer Coco Mbassi said before the Eden Project concert. ”We’re presenting a different image of Africa — showing that Africa has good things to give.”
The concerts were being financed by sponsors, who include Nokia and AOL. Many staff were working for free.
Not everyone at the London concert though Live 8 would help end poverty -but most felt it was worth a try.
”If we can make one penny difference, why not do it?” said Katherine Bolind, 24, a real estate agent from London. ‒ Sapa-AP