Live Earth thoughts

This weekend, there was an event called Live Earth, which was comprised of a bunch of concerts held all over the world to focus people's attention on global warming and what we can do as individuals. Being the music geek I am, I recorded it all (at least what Univision HD broadcast) to look for new artists and to see if anything interesting happened. So, I spent random parts of the weekend fast forwarding through lots of boring acts, but there were some interesting moments out of the 700 hours (kidding. sorta) of concert I had recorded.

The concert kicked off in Australia and then went to Japan, China, London and Germany and then New York (aka known as the "Meadowlands" or colloquially, "New Jersey"). Most of the Australia and Asia stuff was pretty boring (there was an interesting artist in Australia named Missy Higgins, who apparently is pretty big down there). Europe is where things got interesting though - mostly London (at least for my tastes).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers rocked, as usual. They are an incredible band and if you ever have the opportunity to see them live, run in their general direction. I was surprised that the Beastie Boys played London, being a NY band 'n all, but the crowd was pretty enthusiastic. One of the Beasties has gray hair now, which is kinda disturbing, ya know, since he's a boy 'n all.

But for me, when Spinal Tap came on stage, it was a special moment, especially when one of the Taps greeted the crowd with "Hello Wimbledon!" (they were at Wembley Stadium). Then for their closing number, they invited all the bass players from the other bands to join them onstage. There were about 15 bass players from Metallica, Foo Fighters, etc. playing along with this classic mockumentary band that basically pokes fun at them. It was a classic moment, which of course is available on YouTube:



They cut to Washington, DC for Al Gore to kick off the events there. What was interesting was that Mr. Gore then appeared in NY (Meadowlands) to kick off the events there a few hours later. Ummm....it takes about 4-5 hours to drive or take the train from DC to NY (NJ). That means that Mr. Gore took a plane....probably a private one, which is probably not a great way to help prevent global warming.

Apparently, the whole private plane thing was disturbing some folks in London - when Duran Duran was performing, Simon LeBon asked the crowd "who didn't come here today on a private jet?" and then the band all raised their hands...I'd be really interested to hear that conversation backstage, cause you know there was one.

Oy. Just giving the right ammunition, aren't we?

Al G. was very warmly received in NY (Meadowlands), which was very interesting to see. The NY (Joisey) show was pretty interesting - lots of celebrities introducing bands, stadium looked pretty full as opposed to most of the other venues. One of the acts I watched in NY was Kelly Clarkson, who won American Idol a few (?) years ago. I was interested cause she's having a big public fight with the CEO of her record label about her new (released?) album and I wanted to see how she fared with a NY (Jersey) audience. The initial response was somewhat tepid and the only folks who seemed interested in her (and were singing along) were women. She's got chops, but Joss Stone (another tv singing contest winner - who performed in Johannesburg earlier in the night) blows her away talent wise. I don't really get the whole American Idol thing - this chick had a #1 album. But probably not in NY (Giants Stadium).

After Spinal Tap, the second most amusing thing was Madonna, who started off really boring me. I thought she'd lost it - the woman knows how to work a crowd, but kicking off with a ballad doesn't do that. But then she asked two of the guys from Gogol Bordello (a Lower East side - NYC - the actual NYC, btw - punk gypsy band) to perform with her and that changed everything. It's amazing that she can still get a crowd that worked up. I saw her a long time ago at a benefit in Brooklyn where she performed "You got me babe" with Sandra Bernard. Madonna sang Sonny's part and she won me over by doing so...

Anyways, here's the video for your amusement: