Nine concerts, 150 bands, two million spectators, three billion viewers — and one message to eight men in one room. That was the gist of last year’s Live8, organised by Bob Geldof: massive music events around the world with an anti-poverty message to the members of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland — a meeting that was to be overshadowed by the July 7 London bombings.
Many African countries were to benefit from debt-cancellation measures announced by the G8, so the concerts’ focus was primarily on awareness of Africans in need, and not on fund-raising. “We don’t want your money, we want your voice,” said Geldof at the time.
He was criticised for announcing concerts to be held on July 2 in Britain, the United States, Japan, the Russian Federation, Germany, Italy, France and Canada — but none in Africa, and with only one notable African performer, Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour, part of the global line-up.
A concert in Johannesburg was then added, and Peter Gabriel organised an all-African concert, titled Africa Calling, in Cornwall, England.
Politics aside, the Live8 concerts brought together a mammoth line-up of musicians young and old, upcoming and past their prime, and it’s all available now in a DVD box set of three discs.
Paul McCartney and U2 kick off proceedings on disc one with a singalong rendition of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, performed to a huge, happy Hyde Park audience waving flags from around the world. Bono and company continue with three U2 hits; then it’s Coldplay (with a guest appearance by Richard Ashcroft); then Elton John hits the piano and is joined on stage by a rather spaced-out Pete Doherty. An impressive start, for sure, and from there the hits just keep on coming.
Bill Gates delivers a speech, and Dido, the Stereophonics, REM, Ms Dynamite and Keane do their thing before Geldof himself steps on stage and starts a live crossing to Philadelphia, where Will Smith (in a Nelson Mandela 46664 shirt) initiates live links to huge crowds in Rome, Berlin, Paris and Ontario and delivers a potent message on how a child in Africa dies every three seconds. Short speeches by Brad Pitt and David Beckham come later.
From here, the coverage splits between the concert cities: most of the Hyde Park concert seems to be covered, with plenty of footage from Philadelphia and the other European cities too. Canada and Moscow are somewhat forgotten, and Johannesburg gets one measly insert: Vusi Mahlasela doing his best on what seems a small, dark and dingy stage when compared with the other concerts’ big screens, intricate lighting and fireworks.
There really seems to be music for every taste here: Madonna, UB40, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Bryan Adams, Green Day, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, the Scissor Sisters, Jars of Clay, The Killers, Daniel Powter, Jet, Roxy Music, the Pet Shop Boys, Destiny’s Child and Keith Urban, to name a few — and what’s a concert for a cause without Sting?
The musical highlight is the incomparable Annie Lennox. Performing solo on piano, she renders a poignant version of the Eurythmics hit Why, in front of a large screen showing her visiting HIV-positive people and children in Africa, some of whom have died since, the audience is told. It’s striking and she achieves more in one song than many of the other Live8 performers do in an entire performance.
The last disc contains — apart from more one-song showcases — what amounts to mini concerts by Robbie Williams, Stevie Wonder, The Who and Pink Floyd — reunited with Roger Waters, to much publicity, especially for the event.
The box set doesn’t offer any special features, apart from a performer index on each disc and sound settings, but it is engaging to flit between these musical events and have a better armchair view of what happened on stage than the hundreds of thousands of audience members had (and there are no loo queues at home). Be warned, however: it’s marathon viewing for one sitting.
WIN A LIVE8 HAMPER
One lucky Mail & Guardian Online reader can win a Live8 hamper comprising a Live8 DVD box set, a T-shirt, a key ring and a commemorative Live8 guide. Simply e-mail your name and phone number to [email protected] before Friday January 27, with “Live8” in the subject line. The winner will be drawn from these e-mails on January 27