Saturday, July 02, 2005

Live 8

I'm currently watching Live 8, the concert being performed in 10 cities around the world to raise awareness of poverty in Africa. I'm going to answer my only question, but why isn't the concert raising money to help the poverty in Africa? Live Aid raised over $40 million 20 years ago. I'm sure that Bob Geldof and the producers of the concert feel that it the responsibility of the 8 world leaders meeting next week for the G8 summit to combat poverty by dropping the debt and changing the trade laws for Africa. I certainly see their point, but wouldn't money raised by the concert help?

On to the concert itself. There was a video montage of children in Africa starving that was played at Live Aid. Bob Geldof brought one of the children featured in the video out on stage in London's concert. She just completed agricultural exams in Ethiopia and was there to show that fighting poverty in Africa is working. It was a very touching moment. Then, Madonna came out and hugged her and held her hand for the first 30 seconds of "Live a Prayer." At that point, the woman looked like she wanted to get off stage and Madonna was more than happy to have the limelight.

Some random thoughts about the concert:

- A-ha is performing in Berlin. Who knew they were still around? Are they practicing/auditioning for a spot on Hit Me Baby One More Time?

- VH1 and MTV showed Will Smith's performance of his new song "Switch." A little later, they showed only about 20 seconds of him performing "Summertime." What a great song; they should have showed his entire performance. It really wasn't necessary to see Good Charlotte in Tokyo.

- I saw that Yannick Noah is performing in Paris, and the name sounded really familiar. After doing some research, I saw Yannick Noah was a very good tennis player, who won the French Open (which is why I knew the name) and began a music career in 1993.

- Maybe not the most appropriate, but the VH1 airing of Live 8 is partially being brought to us by "War of the Worlds." I don't think the movie is a reference to the war against poverty.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

a-ha... are definitely not positioning for 'Hit My Baby...' They've been touring over in Europe and releasing albums through these years, to much success. They'll make it back over here for their first gig on U.S. soil in over 20 years on September 12, 2005 in New York City at Irving Plaza. I thought their Berlin Live 8 performance was fantastic, can't wait to see them in NYC!

Sean said...

Before responding to the A-Ha comment, the fact that it was anonymous is why I do not like Blogger's comments. I need to figure out how to add Haloscan comments again. The new template is great, but I haven't figured out comments yet.

On to A-Ha, they haven't performed in the US for over 20 years!?! Have they released any albums here the past 20 years?

Andy said...

I don't have an opinion on A-Ha, but seeing the four members of Pink Floyd reunite was pure bliss for me. I got into the Floyd in a big way when I was in college. Never thought I'd ever see Gimour and Waters share the stage again. Those old farts still got it! I'm not holding my breath for their reunion tour, though.