Live 8

Here are a few random notes from the various Live 8 events. All times are EDT, and may not correspond to the time that those artists actually performed (i.e. I may be watching on tape delay at various points). Unlike running diaries of other events, I'm making no attempt at completeness here, just commenting when I feel like it.

Lots of people are being cynical about Live 8, complaining that we're all dreaming if we think this will accomplish anything. I refuse to buy into that viewpoint. Live 8 is not an endpoint. Nobody should be claiming that we're going to solve all of Africa's problems in one day. But awareness is important and shouldn't be underestimated. How many international causes would kill to have this sort of attention? Surely more people have learned about African debt in the past month than have learned about the Sudanese and Rwandan genocides in the past ten years.

9:32 London. Ben Mulroney and some other talking head are doing commentary between performances. They noted that Coldplay were coming on following U2 and claimed that it signified a "passing of the torch". Uh ...

9:38 London. RIchard Ashcroft (still performing in bare feet -- yes!) joins Coldplay for "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which is supposed to be one of those "moments", but feels like Mad Richard with a subpar backing band nearly ruining his signature tune. He warms up to the song after a few minutes, so good for him, I guess.

9:42 London. Chris Martin says that Live8 is the greatest thing that has ever been organized in the history of the world ever. Really? Better than the moon landings? Use much hyperbole?

13:38 Barrie. Oh, here comes the "we forget that those in the Third World are people too" speech except this time it's coming from Bruce Cockburn, and it's the lead-in to the still-relevant "If I Had a Rocket Launcher". Perfect.

14:21 London. I've just now tuned into AOL's webcasts, but sadly, I am too late to catch Snoop's profanity-drenched performance. Ugh, I'm gutted. However, I am in time to hear Madonna scream "ARE YOU FUCKING READY LONDON". Eh, whatever, I already got my fix of swearing from Bruce Cockburn earlier. Still, Madonna ("Like A Prayer", Ray of Light", "Music") is easily the best thing I've seen thus far.

14:49 Philly. Dave Matthews Band are playing some background music. ZZZZZZ.

15:08. London. I would have tapped the Killers to make a lasting impression and be to this show what U2 were to Live Aid, but they only got to play one song ("All These Things That I've Done", great as always) and weren't on stage long enough to burn themselves into anyone's memory.

I'm lost as to where we are on the London schedule. Things aren't proceeding according to the schedule I've seen, but we still have (at the very least) Robbie Williams, The Reunited Floyd (where's Syd?), Sir Paul, and what's sure to be a barf-bag singalong to "Do They Know It's Christmas".

15:44 Barrie. The mere mention of going live to Vegas brought out a round of boos for Celine, probably the biggest spontaneous reaction from this crowd thus far. Celine Dion's mini-monologue about helping the poor is ... exactly what you'd expect from a Celine Dion mini-monologue about helping the poor.

15:53 Philly. What in the name of all that is holy is happening here? A rap-off between Linkin Park and Jay-Z? Oh good, Blue Rodeo are coming on now in Barrie.

16:30 Barrie. Just my luck, Lightfoot comes on stage just as Def Leppard break into "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in Philly. Lightfoot looks and sounds great for a guy who spent most of his life drunk and nearly died a couple of years ago. Despite his weakened voice, he's one badass stoic singer.

Lightfoot is from Orillia, which means he's the only performer to my knowledge that is from the area where this concert is taking place. Speaking of which, why are the Philly and London gigs all mixed up regarding the nationalities of the bands playing there? Why aren't the American bands all playing in Philly and the Brit bands all in London? All the other gigs have gotten this straight, with a few exceptions (Deep Purple, lucky us).

16:52 London. Whoa, I just learned that Mariah Carey didn't actually say that quote about flies and death and stuff (http://www.snopes.com/quotes/carey.htm). Does make her any less of a flake? A tiny little bit, yes.

17:25 London. Amazingly, Robbie Williams hasn't performed live since Knebworth almost two years ago. His retirement/burnout at the time is clearly exaggerated -- or at the very least, the time off has done him a world of good. With "Let Me Entertain You" (complete with bonus Killers and Queen lyrics), "Feel" and "Angels", he riles the crowd into a football hooligan frenzy, and confirms the notion that he should appear on the bill of every festival.

18:00 Paris. Robert Smith on saving the poor and hungry people of Africa: "It doesn't matter if we all die!!!". Naturally, the Cure are amazing.

18:26 London. Led Zep reunited for Live Aid (3/4 of them, anyway), but even they'd only been broken up for five years. Reuniting Pink Floyd (4/5 of them, anyway) is a far more notable feat considering how much Gilmour and Waters hated (hate?) each other for some 25 years. Somehow, great bands have a knack of hating each other and still creating great music, as Floyd transcend and redeem two decades of bullshit with a chilling version of "Comfortably Numb".

18:35 Philly. Is that Rob Thomas singing "Higher Ground" with Stevie Wonder? Is that Rob Thomas sounding 1000x better than I ever thought he could while singing "Higher Ground" with Stevie Wonder?

19:01 London. Passing the mic during "Hey Jude" (what happened to the first three minutes of the song, anyway) was a really bad idea, but still preferable to the planned "Do They Know It's Christmas" celeb singalong (axed for time or taste reasons?). During all of this, I missed Stevie Wonder closing the Philly concert with "Superstition" -- Toronto is now the only one still going!

(oh, it looks like the Rome show is still going on -- wow, Rome and Paris went longer than Berlin!)

19:55 Barrie. The start of Jays-Red Sox means that I don't feel the slightest inclination to see BNL. I did happen to flip over and hear Stephen Page make a good joke at the expense of The Box (anyone under the age of 27 probably didn't get the reference).

20:18 Barrie. Neil Young is a different story. If you're going to pack the stage and do a singalong, I'll take "Rockin' in the Free World" over "Hey Jude", thank you. The whole thing turned into a shambolic mess by the end, but who cares.

And that's it. Hopefully I'll remember to tune into the London broadcast in a couple of hours to see Snoop drop f-bombs all over the place.