Live 8 Concerts Spotlight African Poverty
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Spectators cheer during singer Stevie Wonder's performance during the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia, Saturday, July 2, 2005. The Live 8 concerts held around the world today are part of a campaign to get the world's richest nations to cancel debt, increase aid to developing countries and promote fair trade. JOSEPH KACZMAREK
July 02, 2005 6:44 PM EDT
LONDON - 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 Saturday's unprecedented Live 8 extravaganza, Nelson Mandela outshone them all.
From Johannesburg to Philadelphia, Berlin to Tokyo, Rome to Moscow, hundreds of the world's top musicians and more than 1 million of their fans gathered for a music marathon designed to pressure the world's most powerful leaders into fighting African poverty.
Twenty years after he masterminded the legendary Live Aid concerts, rocker Bob Geldof delivered on his promise to produce "the greatest concert ever," broadcast live around the world on television and the Internet. But his ultimate goal went far beyond music: to squeeze debt forgiveness, trade concessions and $25 billion in aid for Africa out of next week's Group of Eight summit meeting in Scotland.
The power to even attempt such things came from Saturday's worldwide "declaration of interdependence," actor Will Smith, host of the Philadelphia show, said on Independence Day weekend in the United States.
"Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together," Smith said. Via satellite, he led the global audience in snapping their fingers every three seconds, signifying the child death rate in Africa.
Taking the stage in Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela received a five-minute ovation.
"History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks," Mandela told the 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."
In London's Hyde Park, Paul McCartney and U2 opened the flagship show of the free 10-concert festival with a rousing performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." A thunderous roar erupted from the crowd of about 200,000 as the two icons belted out the first line: "It was 20 years ago today..." - a nod to the mammoth Live Aid benefit that raised millions for African famine relief in 1985.
This time, the scale was bigger - 10 concerts instead of two and, thanks to the Internet, a potential audience of billions. The goal was different, too: "We don't want your money," said Live 8 banners in London. "We want you."
Bono, dressed in black and wearing his trademark wraparound shades, wrapped the crowd around his finger, enticing 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.
"We're not looking for charity, we're looking for justice. We cannot fix every problem, but the ones we can, we must."
Geldof appeared onstage to introduce Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Gates, whom the crowd greeted with a rock star's 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 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declare: "This is really the United Nations ... The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor."
Geldof's claim that 3 billion people around the world were watching Saturday seemed overblown, as did talk in Philadelphia that a million people were on hand. 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 5 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 simultaneously streamed its video, the most in Internet history.
The first concert kicked off in Japan, where Bjork and Good Charlotte joined local bands for a show that failed to generate much interest in Asia's only G-8 nation. Despite Bjork making her first live performance in two years, the crowd of 10,000 people was only half of what the hall in the Tokyo suburb of Makuhari could hold.
Still, "we believe passionately in what this is about," Bjork said. "Just the acknowledgment of the problem is an important step."
Live 8 then rolled on to Johannesburg. That show, plus one featuring African artists in southwestern England, were organized following criticism that African artists had been left out of an event aimed at their own continent.
"Africans are involved in helping Africa, which doesn't happen too often," Cameroonian singer Coco Mbassi said before the England show. "We're presenting a different image of Africa."
Near Paris, 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. Faith Hill and Duran Duran joined Italian stars in Rome for a concert at the ancient Circus Maximus, which was packed with about 200,000 fans.
German crowd-pleasers Die Toten Hosen kicked off Berlin's show - which attracted about 150,000 people - 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 G-8 meeting.
Canadian favorite Tom Cochrane started that country's concert with "Life is a Highway" before 35,000 roaring fans on a crisp sunny morning in Barrie, Ontario. And in Moscow, where 20 years ago residents heard little or nothing about Live Aid because of tight Soviet information controls, tens of thousands jammed a square in the shadows of the Kremlin.
In London, 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. Her life was saved, Geldof said, partly through donations from Live Aid viewers.
As night fell, Sting performed "Every Breath You Take" as a message to the G-8 leaders - "We'll be watching you," he sang. The Who belted out their classic "Who Are You?" to a backdrop of images of the G8 chiefs.
And 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 appeared onstage together since 1981.
London concertgoer Tula Contostavlos, 19, said she was there to see Mariah Carey - and to send a political message.
"Obviously some people are here for just music," she said, "but they're forgetting what's important and what they're here for."
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