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Live 8 was a series of concerts that took place on 2 July, 2005, in the G8 nations and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and Summit held at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland from July 6-9, 2005; it also coincides with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. Running parallel with the UK's Make Poverty History campaign, the shows planned to pressure world leaders to drop the debt of the world's poorest nations, increase and improve aid, and negotiate fairer trade rules in the interest of poorer countries. Ten simultaneous concerts were confirmed for 2 July and one for 6 July.
More than 1,000 musicians performed at the concerts, which were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
Live Aid and Band Aid organizer Bob Geldof announced the event on 31 May 2005. Many former Live Aid acts offered their services to the cause. Prior to the official announcement of the event many news sources (see e.g. ) referred to the event as Live Aid 2. However Geldof and co-organiser Midge Ure have since explicitly said they don't think of the event as the same as Live Aid. Geldof said "This is not Live Aid 2. These concerts are the start point for The Long Walk To Justice, the one way we can all make our voices heard in unison." . Many of the Live 8 backers were also involved in the largely forgotten NetAid concerts.
Organizers of Live 8 presented the "Live 8 List" to the world leaders at the G8 summit. This is a list of names compiled from around the world of people who have voiced support of the Live 8 mission to "Make Poverty History www.live8list.com. Names from the list also appeared on the jumbotrons at each concert during the broadcast.
Some ticket holders placed their tickets on the auction site eBay, creating an uproar which included Geldof demanding that the company remove the auctions, even encouraging hackers to attack eBay. eBay later removed the tickets, after some controversy.
Other critics say that billionaire rock stars would make greater contribution by donating parts of their personal fortunes. Indeed as some performers have been out of the public eye, it may be seen as a way of getting back. It is also important to note that Live 8, unlike Live Aid, didn't intend to raise money, but awareness and political pressure.
- Live 8 concerts around the world to "End Poverty Now"
- EBay UK bans sale of Live 8 tickets, rest of world unaffected
- Live 8 concert plans announced
- Over 1.5m apply for British Live 8 tickets
- MTV and VH1 to broadcast Live 8
Concerts
| Live 8 concerts and line-ups |
|---|
 |
| 2 July 2005 |
| 6 July 2005 |
There were ten concerts held on 2 July 2005, most of them simultaneously. The first to begin was held at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, with Rize being the first of all the Live 8 performers. During the opening of the Philadelphia concert, Will Smith led the combined audiences of London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Barrie in a synchronised finger click. This was to represent the one death every three seconds due to poverty.
Bob Geldof was at the event in Hyde Park, London and made numerous appearances on stage, including an impromptu performance of his greatest known hit I Don't Like Mondays. Some of these were also shown to other venues. Special guests appeared throughout the concerts, with Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, making a speech at the London show and Nelson Mandela appearing in the South African venue. Guest presenters, ranging from sporting stars to comedians, also introduced acts.
The final event will be held in Edinburgh on 6 July 2005 and goes by the name "Edinburgh 50,000: The Final Push". It will feature repeat performances from some of the artists from the other concerts, and is the closest of the eleven to the actual location of the G8 summit.
Lineups
Key events in the build up
31 May 2005: Official announcement of Live 8 concerts by Bob Geldof. Geldof calls for a coinciding march on Edinburgh to protest poverty, "What's better - two days of work? Two days of geometry? Or participating in something you will remember all your life," he says.
3 June: British Chancellor Gordon Brown announces that VAT will be waived on the cost of the London concert. He estimates that this will save the organisers £500,000. He also supported Geldof's call for a peaceful protest rally in Scotland.
6 June: Text lottery launched in the UK for tickets for the London concert. 1.5 million text messages are received in the first day.
7 June: Midge Ure announces a concert to be held in Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 July as the climax to the proposed rally.
11 June: G8 finance ministers agree to cancel the debt owed by 18 of the poorest countries.
14 June: eBay announce that they will block the selling-on of tickets after Geldof calls on the public to rally against the internet auction site.
15 June: It is announced that Peter Gabriel will organize a sixth simultaneous Live 8 concert dubbed "Africa Calling" featuring all African artists, to counter criticisms that most performers announced to date are white. The event is to be held in Cornwall, southwest England, on 2 July. Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour will host the event, which will also feature performances by African performers Maryam Mursal, Salif Keita and Thomas Mapfumo.
16 June: Geldof announces three more concerts for 2 July, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tokyo, Japan, and Toronto/Barrie, Canada.
17 June: The LIVE 8 List, a petition to the G8 leaders, is launched.
21 June: "Live 8 Canada" announced. Acts include Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies, and more. The event will be hosted by comedians Dan Aykroyd and Tom Green
21 June: Damon Albarn, who recently criticised Live 8 for the lack of African artists, is now reportedly happy about Live 8 now that they have addressed his criticism. He told a reporter: "I have said certain things in relation to the density of African performers... In some way that's been addressed and that's really good... Live 8 will make a difference - it's already created a debate that we're all involved in." . Albarn was originally a part of the Live 8 line-up, but withdrew after complaining of the event being too "Anglo-Saxon"
22 June: In the United States, MTV, MTV2, mtvU, and VH1 all confirm that they will broadcast Live 8 starting at Noon ET. Country Music Television and VH1 Classic will show highlights on July 3 in favor of their viewer's genres.
23 June: All 35,000 tickets for Canadian show are taken within 20 minutes of being made available online .
24 June: Live 8 Japan and South Africa announced. Acts in Tokyo concert include Björk, Good Charlotte, while acts in Johannesburg concert include African stars such as 4Peace Ensemble and Oumou Sangare
27 June: Live 8 Russia announced. Show will take place at Moscow's Red Square. Acts include Pet Shop Boys and Bravo
28 June: ABC say they will broadcast a two-hour highlights event at 8pm ET on 2 July in prime time.
2 July: AOL Music began broadcasting streams from each city live and on-demand at Aolmusic.com.
2 July: The march against poverty in Edinburgh starts and continues mostly peacefully, with an estimate of 200,000 people involved with the march. Main concerts start.
6 July: 'Final Push' concert in Edinburgh.
Live 8 List
- We don't want your money, we want your voice. - Bob Geldof
The previous Live Aid concert, held in 1985, was a massive fundraising effort which accumulated approximately £79 million, which was sent to the world's poorest countries in aid.
The current Live 8 concert is not a fundraising event of any kind; rather, the organisers are hoping that it will spur people's political interest. The event coincides with the 2005 G8 summit at the Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland, and the idea behind it is to overwhelm the eight politicans attending with the amount of public support for the principles of the Make Poverty History campaign.
An enormous petition with (presently) some 27 million names is available to be signed on the Internet. Named the "Live 8 List", this can be reached via the Live8 List page. Millions of paper petitions and emails have already been submitted.
Tickets
Although the concerts were free, 66,500 pairs of tickets for the Hyde Park concert were allocated on 13 June 2005 to winners of a text message competition that began on Monday 6 June 2005. Entry involved sending the answer to a multiple choice question via a text message costing £1.50. Winners were drawn at random from those correctly answering the question. Over two million texts were sent during the competition, raising £3 million. Thus texters had a roughly one-in-28 chance of winning a pair of tickets. The first £1.6m raised is to be given to the Prince's Trust, who in turn will donate to the Help A London Child charity. The Prince's Trust usually host the Party in the Park concert in Hyde Park in July. This event was cancelled in 2005 to make way for Live 8. The £1.6m donation will act as a quid pro quo. Funds raised beyond the £1.6m "will go to pay for the costs of Live 8, as it is a free event", according to the Live 8 website.
Some people who won tickets immediately placed them for sale on the Internet auction site eBay, with the intention of making a profit. This was heavily criticised by the organisers of the event, including Bob Geldof. Initially, eBay defended their decision to allow the auctions to go ahead, stating that there were no laws against their sale. They also promised to make a donation to Live 8 that would be "at least equal to any fees" they would be making for such sales. Many people, angered by others seemingly using Live 8 to make money, placed fake bids for millions of pounds for such auctions in an attempt to force the sellers to take them off sale. It was later announced that eBay, under pressure from the British government, the public, as well as Geldof himself, would withdraw all auctions of the tickets. Many have argued, though, that selling the tickets would not have done any harm to the people Live 8 is supposed to be helping and it would have allowed those who missed the random selection a chance to go to the concert.
35,000 tickets for the Canadian show were all distributed in just 20 minutes on 23 June 2005, Ticketmaster reported.
March On Edinburgh
At the same time as announcing the concert, Geldof also prompted people to make a 'protest on poverty' march on Edinburgh near where the G8 conference would be held. This was apparently a spontaneous idea, that had not been a part of the original plan for the Live 8 activities. This was taken up by the Live 8 organizers and Make Poverty History group.
The march was held on the same day as the main concerts, and an estimated total of 220,000 people took part. The marchers had been asked to wear white to make a symbolic ring of white through the city, matching the Make Poverty History white wrist band. Marchers were addressed by celebrities, political and religious leaders who supported the reduction of world poverty.
A group at the head of the procession through the city were dressed in business suits. They raised applause from the marchers by stopping to bow before Starbucks and McDonald's while chanting "Two, four, six, eight, we really must accumulate." .
Police presence at the march was moderate but effective, handling a small series of scuffles over deliberate trouble makers with no arrests. The march was considered peaceful, and effective.
- "I want to pay tribute to the crowd of 225,000 who came and cooperated with the police to make this a successful and memorable occasion. I also want to pay tribute to the organizers of the march who have achieved their objectives through meticulous planning and cooperation." Chief Constable Ian Dickinson
Criticisms
A lack of African artists
London-based group Black Information Link described the list of performers at the Hyde Park event as "hideously white" , noting that Mariah Carey, Ms Dynamite and Snoop Dogg are the only non-white performers scheduled to perform at the event. Damon Albarn re-iterated this criticism, saying that "This country is incredibly diverse," he said. "More than ever, black culture is an integral part of society. So why is the bill so damn Anglo-Saxon?"
Albarn is now reportedly happy about Live 8 now that they have addressed his criticism. He told a reporter on 21 June: "I have said certain things in relation to the density of African performers... In some way that's been addressed and that's really good... Live 8 will make a difference – it's already created a debate that we're all involved in."
A Live 8 spokesman said that a number of black performers had been approached to participate and that the event would feature a "large urban element", and pointed to the number of artists of African descent like Ms Dynamite. However, Youssou N'Dour and Dave Matthews of Dave Matthews Band, remained the only African-born artists signed to perform at the main concerts. Bob Geldof originally said that this was because he had aimed for the biggest-selling, most popular artists to ensure a large television audience; but critics noted that even if this was acceptable as the sole criterion for inclusion, some of the minor white artists signed up were substantially less well-known than some major African artists. Bob Geldof has been accused of compounding the original error by announcing an entirely African line-up ("Africa Calling") at a concert to be held at the Eden Project in Cornwall on the same day as the main Live 8 concerts. This "corralling" of the African artists away from the main concerts has been described as reminiscent of apartheid.
General
As with many charity events before it, Live 8 has come in for some criticism in the media. Some of these criticisms are not specific to Live 8 but representative of a particular point of view concerning western attitudes towards Africa. However, some criticisms are directed at Geldof himself and the motives for Live 8:
- "I am coming, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Live 8 is as much to do with Geldof showing off his ability to push around presidents and prime ministers as with pointing out the potential of Africa. Indeed, Geldof appears not to be interested in Africa's strengths, only in an Africa on its knees." (See Andy Kershaw: The myth of Saint Bob )
Geldof is criticised for using Africa as "a catwalk" which is more about reviving the careers of ageing rock stars than about helping the poor in Africa. For example, some fans and music critics feel that some of the lineups, such as that in Barrie, are not only largely ethnically homogeneous but not likely to connect with, or speak to, younger fans (see this "Live 8 organizer dismisses criticism..." Globe and Mail article).
Many believed that it was hypocrisy that many of the performing artists had tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars of "spare cash" lying in their bank accounts whilst wanting to "Make Poverty History". On stage, Kanye West criticised G8 politicians for owning Bentleys, although he himself owns 12 vehicles.
Many charities had been planning a rally on 2 July targeting the G8 summit and were apparently surprised at the Live 8 announcement, although, due to the common cause, protest has been muted. A substantial body of opinion has developed that believes there is a contradiction between super-rich celebrities preaching about extreme poverty to the masses one day, and then returning to making and spending enormous profits the next. Counter-critics, however, point out that these celebrities are still not rich enough to be able to cancel the debts of nations. Damon Albarn also suggested that the performers' record labels should pay "a tariff" as the accompanying publicity would increase future record sales and hence their profits. Live 8, it is important to note, is not technically a charity event.
Many, especially in Africa itself, claim that Live 8 and Live Aid represent a neocolonialist and paternalistic attitude, whereby Westerners feel obligated to help out a supposedly helpless and hapless Third World. This view of ethnocentrism is reenforced by the low-billing and lack of attention to non-Western acts. Western Europeans, such as Bjork, dominated press coverage even in Japan. African and Japanese musicians were never given global PR or TV coverage similar to British performers, whose domination of the coverage could be seen as parallel to Western domination in general.
The debt relief idea being promoted by Live 8 is seen as giving a blank cheque to governments, many of which are plagued by corruption , and in the past have used debt relief to increase their defence spending. Some have criticized him for ignoring the root causes of Africa's problems, and seeking to solve complex political problems by simply throwing money at them.
In the UK the police in Scotland had also expressed fears for people's safety if a large protest rally is held during the G8 summit, although they later stated that they have subsequently made sufficient preparations to be confident for people's safety.
In Philadelphia, African-American business leaders are protesting that African-American vendors are not being given a chance to have to provide services at the concert. John Street, the mayor of Philadelphia, in response, has promised that at least 30% of the booths would go to minorities.
The economic principles and theories behind the event have also been subject to criticism as ill-informed and simplistic. A rising number of citizens of G8 nations are discontent with the idea of billions of their tax money funding developments in another continent whilst their own education, health, pensions and infrastructure systems require more funding.
Despite the show being broadcast before the watershed in many countries, there was no attempt at censorship. The BBC apologised for an instance when Madonna asked the audience "are you fucking ready, London?", and for Snoop Dogg's perfomance which contained the use of swear words without censorship. When Green Day's performance in Berlin was broadcast to the other venues, it was aired uncensored. As it was a charity show, it is expected that broadcasters will not be censured by regulators.
More criticism has been leveled at the performers based on what they will be bringing home for participating in the concert. While they received no monetary compensation, they have been given gift bags containing lavish gifts. These gift bags contain designer goodies valued at approximately $3000 (see "Fancy gifts at odds with cause?" Philadelphia Inquirer).
Criticism was also drawn from viewers of MTV (and possibly other networks), in which the broadcaster cut to commercials while bands were still performing, specifically Pink Floyd and The Who.
The Daily Mail criticised the event for running two hours late, with their frontpage headline reading 'Live L8'.
Broadcasters
As with the original Live Aid concert, the BBC handled the main broadcast feed for Live 8 for European viewers.
America Online broadcast every Live 8 concert in its entirety live in the U.S. via the Internet and will make them available for viewing for six weeks following the shows. Unfortunately, it appears that several of the concert rebroadcasts have been cut, and the last acts aren't shown. In particular both the London & Global broadcasts are cut short to that it is now impossible to see rebroadcasts of the final three acts of the London show (The Who, Pink Floyd & Paul McCartney), this will AOL still advertises to be able to see the Floyd performance. No word on if these broadcasts will be fixed before thier runs are over.
In Argentina, MTV broadcasted the events live via Cable and Satellite TV, as did local FM radio Rock & Pop. TV channel Canal 13 showed highlights of the shows the event night night and the following week, Saturday 9 July 2005, starting at 21:30 local time.
In Australia, the Nine Network showed selected highlights 20.30-22.45 on Sunday, 3 July 2005. Pay TV channel Fox 8 showed coverage live from 21.30 AEST on Saturday night to 10.00 AEST on Sunday morning. Radio stations in the Austereo network, including Triple M in certain capitals, broadcast the concert from 23.00 AEST Saturday night onwards.
In Austria, the entire day was covered live by ATV+.
In Belgium, JIMtv broadcast full coverage of Live 8 from different places 16.00-03.00.
In Brazil, MTV Brasil broadcasted the events live.
In Canada, CTV broadcast the full Canadian concert as well as selected live performances and highlights from the other eight concerts continuously from 7:00 a.m. EDT 2 July until approximately 1:30 a.m. EDT 3 July, including a five-hour "Greatest Hits" highlights package. Most of the radio stations of Standard Broadcasting aired the full Canadian concert live, and CBC Radio One aired highlights.
In Croatia, the show was broadcasted partly on HTV2 and fully on satellite channel HTVPlus.
In the Czech Republic, the show was broadcast live by the public channel CT2 of Ceská televize. (15.00-23.00, 23.25-01.00).
In Denmark, the entire day was covered live by DR: Coverage was shared between DR1 and DR2.
In Finland, the concerts were shown by YLE: YLE TV 2 17.00-18.00, 18.45-21.00, 22.20-04.00 and YLE Teema 16.00-03.00
In France, it was broadcast on the commercial channel M6. First there was live coverage of Live 8 in London, and in the late afternoon this switched to live coverage of the Paris concert. In the late evening there were highlights of all the day's Live 8 events.
In Germany, the entire day was covered by Phoenix. In the afternoon many local ARD stations had a live feed. Later in the day and on Sunday there were repeats on EinsFestival, EinsPlus, DasErste. (All these channels can be received FTA in Europe via satellite.)
In Greece, parts of the concerts were broadcasted by MEGA Channel from 21.00-00.30 and 1.00 until the morning.
In India, VH1 was broadcasting the concerts.
In Ireland, state broadcaster, RTÉ, showed the concerts live. RTÉ2: 14.00--17.00, 19.20--00.05 and RTÉ1: 17.00--18.00.
In Italy, the show was broadcast by the state-channel Rai Tre.
In Israel, the concerts were broadcast on channel Israel 10 16.00-21.00, 22.30-03.00, interrupted for a news editorial.
In Lebanon, Live 8 was covered by 99FM.
In Macedonia, the shows were broadcast on A1 and on Antenna 5 radio.
In Malaysia and Brunei, the shows aired live on satellite television Astro (All Asia Broadcast), on Astro Channel 88 and on MIX FM at 21.00 Saturday. There were repeat screenings on Sunday at 12.00 and on Monday at 16.00.
In the rest of the Middle East (Arab World), the show was broadcast on MBC4, part of the MBC network.
In the Netherlands, Live 8 was shown on public channel 3 15.00-03.00 CET (live8live.nl, as well as BNN, VARA and 3FM), along with BBC One and BBC Two which are widely available in the Netherlands (see United Kingdom for times).
In Norway, the shows aired live on both NRK television channels.
In Poland, the shows aired live on TVN.
In Portugal, transmission was being handled by RTP channels, both on TV (RTP1, 2: and RTPN) and radio (Antena 3).
In Montenegro, the shows aired live on the state channel RTCG 2.
In Singapore, the shows aired live on cable television (Starhub Cable Vision) on Preview Channel 01 21.00-07.00.
In Slovenia, the shows aired live 15.00-17.00 CET on state channel TV Slovenija 1 and 17.50-01.00 on TV Slovenija 2 (the break being due to a long women's tennis final at Wimbledon). Hosts were Andrej Karoli and Mojca Mavec.
In Spain, the show was broadcast live by the public channel TVE 2 (16.00-18.15, 21.00-03.00 GMT+1). Ainhoa Arbizu and Neil Solé hosted the spanish broadcast of the show.
In Sweden, Sveriges Television broadcast the event non-stop on SVT1 (15.00-18.15, 21.00-00.00) and SVT2 (18.15-21.00, 00.00-03.00).
In Switzerland, Live 8 was broadcast in parts by SF2.
In Turkey, the entire day was covered live by NTV.
In the United Kingdom, the London show was broadcast live from 13.00-18.15 BST on BBC Two, when coverage switched to BBC One until midnight BST on Sunday. BBC One then aired the Philadelphia show until 03.35 BST. There was a repeat on BBC Three 19.00-03.00 BST Sunday. There was also live coverage not only on BBC radio stations, but also on the major commercial stations. (NB: Coverage was interrupted by the overrun of the Wimbledon ladies' singles final, leading the resumption of coverage on BBC One to be delayed approximately 15 minutes).
In the USA the coverage was as follows: MTV, MTV2, MTVU (the new MTV University-oriented channel), and VH1 showed most of the Live 8 concerts, switching between all eight shows and also showing recaps of Live Aid as well as special content such as interviews with the stars and people behind Live 8 . All channels had the same coverage of the concert, in order to keep viewers from avoiding commercials by jumping between channels. In keeping with general criticisms of U.S. music television, some viewers felt that the coverage contained an excessive amount of commercials and celebrity interviews, and a paucity of actual music. Coverage began at Noon ET, just when the show in Philadelphia got underway.
Other Viacom-owned networks Country Music Television and VH1 Classic aired concert highlights the following day (3 July 2005) featuring artists for their audiences. (Hence the Rome concert featuring Faith Hill and Tim McGraw for CMT and older artists or even veterans of Live Aid for VH1 Classic.)
ABC bought the U.S. network television rights, licensed through America Online, and aired a two-hour highlights show in prime time (20.00 EST) on the day of the concert, 2 July. The special contained specially selected segments of the concerts, and was hosted by late-night jock Matt Cord from WMMR Philadelphia, who also covered the event via radio.
XM Satellite Radio carried the concerts live from Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin and Rome. No word yet if the Edinburgh concert will air on satellite radio as well.
References
- Live 8 offical website.
- www.Live8live.com/list Sign the Live 8 petition to Make Poverty History
- Bob Geldof and Live 8 on Indymedia.
- Live 8 global concerts under way from BBC News, 2 July 2005.
- Thousands flock to poverty march from BBC News, 2 July 2005.
- Geldof unveils Live 8 show plans from BBC News, 31 May 2005.
- Guardian Unlimited - Special Report: Live 8 ongoing coverage
- The announcement by WMMR 93.3 FM Radio in Philadelphia. 31 May 2005.
- Live 8.
- Live8.jp official Japan Live 8 website.
- Live8.us unofficial US Live 8 website.
- Live8.de unofficial German Live website.
- live8live.nl Dutch broadcasting website for Live 8
- thelive8concert.com unofficial Live 8 reference site.
- "The organizer of Live 8 discusses his efforts to fight poverty, his relationship with Bono and his critics." Brian Braiker, Newsweek
- andrewkendall.com Photographs of Madonna at Live 8.