Name: Bob Geldof Age: 53 Nationality: British Claim to fame: The man behind the largest, if not the greatest, musical show on earth
On Saturday last, several of the greatest and most popular performers in the world sang loud and clear, hoping that the eight most powerful leaders of the world would listen to them. It was the Live 8 series of concerts taking place in the G8 nations and South Africa, organized to pressure the world leaders meeting at the G8 conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, to bring an end to poverty.
The force behind this musical extravaganza was Bob Geldof, who had also organized Live Aid and Band Aid concerts years ago. While the previous concerts were massive fundraising efforts, this time Geldof was not interested in fundraising. He was simply hoping that it would spur people’s political interest and overwhelm the world leaders with the amount of public support of the principles of the Make Poverty History campaign.
Nine free simultaneous concerts took place on July 2 — in Barrie (outside Toronto), Berlin, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, and Tokyo. The final event was in Edinburgh on July 6, and called ‘Edinburgh 50,000: The Final Push’ and is the closest of the concerts to the actual location of the G8 summit.
The marathon concert was clearly the greatest rock show ever, full of memorable moments and a large number of pop stars, film stars, politicians and famous personalities making their appearance on stage. Politicians and economists would have to be completely tone-deaf to miss the point.
The first to begin was held 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 (outside Toronto) in a synchronized finger click. This was to represent the death of a child 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 I Don’t Like Mondays. Live 8 was the biggest event in Hyde Park’s history.
Special guests appeared throughout the concerts, with Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN, 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 different performers.
One of the highlights of Live 8 was the reunion of psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd, who took the stage together with vocalist Roger Waters for the first time in more than 20 years to perform classics such as Money and Wish You Were Here, in London. Paul McCartney and U2 opened the London concert with a joint rendition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Many of the London performers joined McCartney for the grand finale of Hey Jude.
Madonna, who performed at Live Aid 20 years ago when her career was just beginning, provided one of the more dramatic performances of the London event with a heartfelt rendition of Like a Prayer.
Geldof, who initially entered the music scene as a journalist, clearly knows how to gain attention. While he may not really be able to put an end to poverty in the world, Geldof has at least been able to mobilize public interest in his cause and show the social role public figures can play.
Name: Bob Geldof
