Ladies & Gentlemen,
I'd like to pay tribute to Bob Geldof - a great man in our age. Some of the greatest musicians and singers joined force for the good cause, with millions of people at live 8 or via TV/Air across the world. Watching it, you feel your blood is boiling.
Has anyone watched it?
Little
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Here is the ad for Live 8:
Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.
On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic.
8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history.
But they'll only do it if enough people tell them to.
That's why we're staging LIVE 8. 10 concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, 2 billion viewers, and 1 message... To get those 8 men, in that 1 room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty.
We don't want your money - we want you!
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July 3, 2005 latimes.com : World Single page Print E-mail story
AID FOR AFRICA
Start to Make It Better, Live 8 Urges
Nearly 1 million attend 10 concerts worldwide aimed at getting G-8 to address African poverty.
By Randy Lewis and Vanora Bennett, Special to The Times
LONDON ! The day began here with Paul McCartney and U2 joining forces, climaxed with the emotionally charged reunion of iconic '70s rock band Pink Floyd and wrapped with an all-star cast singing the Beatles' "Hey Jude."
And that was just on one of the 10 stages around the world that were part of Saturday's Live 8 concert extravaganza to raise awareness about poverty in Africa.
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American rock band Green Day powered through Queen's "We Are the Champions" in Berlin, husband-wife country music stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill topped the bill in Rome, and in Canada, Neil Young delivered a tenacious rendition of his sardonic anthem "Rockin' in the Free World" in his first public performance since a brain aneurysm in March.
About 900,000 people turned out in nine countries for the free concerts, which were broadcast live on TV, radio and over the Internet in 140 countries to a potential audience estimated at more than 1 billion.
"This is our moment, this is our time," U2 singer Bono, one of the driving forces behind Live 8 and 1985's Live Aid, said in front of an estimated 200,000 people at London's Hyde Park. "This is our chance to stand up for what's right. We're not asking for charity. We're asking for justice."
Unlike the Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia two decades ago, at which fans were asked to open their hearts and their wallets to help famine victims in Africa, the thrust of Live 8 wasn't raising funds, but consciousness about the toll poverty is taking in Africa.
Musicians and celebrity speakers urged audiences to pressure President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and leaders of other wealthy nations to take swift action when they meet for the annual Group of 8 summit Wednesday near Edinburgh, Scotland. About 220,000 people gathered there Saturday for a rally timed to coincide with the summit and the concerts.
Live 8 supporters want the G-8 to adopt a three-pronged program mirroring recommendations by Britain's Commission on Africa, of which Bob Geldof, organizer of Live 8 and Live Aid, is a member. It calls for canceling debts, increasing foreign aid and ending trade tariffs for impoverished African nations.
McCartney and U2, who sang the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on Saturday, were joined in London by other Live Aid veterans, including the Who, Madonna, Elton John and Sting.
At other venues, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Celine Dion and more than 100 pop, rock and rap performers took the stage in Philadelphia, Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Cornwall, England. Many of the musicians were children when Live Aid was staged, and many watching the Live 8 shows hadn't been born.
"This is really the United Nations," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the London audience on a warm afternoon. "The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor. On the behalf of the poor, the voices of the weak have said thank you."
In Johannesburg, former South African President Nelson Mandela received a five-minute standing ovation from an audience of more than 8,000 after saying, "History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks."
Anti-establishment rock stars even turned over stage time to one of the world's most famous capitalists and philanthropists, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, who received a hero's welcome. "We can do it," he said, "and when we do it, it will be the best thing humanity has ever done."
As chairman of this year's G-8 summit, Blair has promised to put the issue of poverty in Africa at the top of the group's agenda. Saturday's concerts were hastily mounted after being announced in May by Bono and Geldof.
In one of the day's most dramatic and emotional moments, Geldof addressed the skepticism directed at him about pop musicians and their fans attempting to influence world politics.
"Mahatma Gandhi freed a continent, Martin Luther King freed a people, Nelson Mandela freed a country," Geldof told the London crowd. "It does work ! they will listen."
Then he brought out Birhan Woldu, a 24-year-old Ethiopian who he said was prominently featured in a documentary shown at Live Aid about the famine then gripping her country.
In that film, Woldu, then a toddler, had been wrapped in a burial shroud because nuns caring for the starving told her father she was within 15 minutes of death. She survived, and with the help of money and services generated by Live Aid, she grew up and recently took exams for a college degree in agricultural studies.
After she told the crowd, through an interpreter, "We Africans love you very much," Geldof defiantly said: "There ! don't let them tell you this stuff doesn't work." He then introduced Madonna, who kissed Weldu.
In addition to Green Day, the Berlin lineup included Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and rock band Audioslave. The concert in Johannesburg and a smaller event in Cornwall, heavy with African acts, were arranged after Geldof and other Live 8 organizers were criticized for including few black performers in London. Geldof noted the heavy rap and R&B contingent in Philadelphia, and said the priority was to get big-name acts that could draw a wide
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- Re: We don't want your money - we want you! - live8 - the long walk to justice - ZTposted on 07/04/2005
i don't watch TV, missed it.
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