Live 8

Live8

“We don’t want your money… we want your voice.” вЂ" Bono

Live8, the largest, most viewed concert ever, took place on July 2nd, 2005. There were ten different venues on that day which included London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Philadelphia, Japan, Johannesburg, Moscow, and Ontario. 4 days later, on July 6th, one more show was put on in Edinburgh, Scotland called “50,000 - The Final Push.” In total, 150 bands performed in addition to multiple guest speakers for an audience of over 3 billion worldwide. Examples of the bands that played include the Black Eyed Peas, Linkin Park, U2, Coldplay, Elton John, and The Who to name a few. Guest speakers like Will Smith, Bill Gates, and Chris Tucker also made appearances. The purpose of the free concert was not to raise money but rather to raise awareness for the upcoming G8 Summit which took place from July 6th вЂ" 8th. Each year the Group of 8 (G8) meets at a summit to discuss world issues and what actions will be taken to right them. The Group of 8 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US. The goal of Live8 was to show these 8 world leaders how much support there is for the Make Poverty History campaign. The voices of everyone who gave their name to Live8 were heard loud and clear at the G8 summit, where many different promises were made to take action in Africa. As of today, many of these promises have been left unfulfilled but that does not necessarily mean that Live8 was unsuccessful. Regardless of the criticisms of Live8, it truly achieved its goal of raising awareness of the conditions in Africa and remains the largest musical event in history.

Live8 took place on the twenty year anniversary of a similar concert called Live Aid. Live Aid, another benefit concert organized by Bob Geldof, was put on in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Live Aid was viewed by over 1.5 billion people through live satellite broadcasts and raised around ₤150 million directly from the concerts and through phone pledging. The key difference between Live Aid and Live8 was that Live8 wanted people’s names, not their money. Live8 was put on to influence G8 leaders to take action in Africa, rather than directly donating money like Live Aid. Promises made by the G8 leaders at the Summit in Scotland starting July 6th, 2005 include:

• $50 billion more aid per year by 2010

• AIDS drugs to all those who need them, and care for all AIDS orphans

• Debt cancellation for 38 countries, with 18 benefiting this year

• Free, quality primary education and basic healthcare for all children.

• AIDS drugs for all who need them, and care for all AIDS orphans.

• Treatment and bed nets to halve deaths from malaria.

• Vaccinations to eradicate polio.

These promises came as a result of the incredible support for Live8 and the actions of many of the performers and speakers. The performances were not just random popular songs chosen by the artists. Most of the songs had messages related to the Live8 cause and many of the performers had a lot to say about what was going on. Kanye West and his performance in Philadelphia were a good example of this. The first song he played was “Diamonds (from Sierra Leone).” This song is about how celebrities and rich people love diamonds but don’t care at all that they are mined by poor, hungry, malnourished people from Sierra Leone. The Black Eyed Peas played their song “Where is the Love” which also has many strong messages that support the Live8 cause. An example of lyrics from the song that supports the Live8 message is:

If love and peace so strong

Why are there pieces of love that don't belong

Nations dropping bombs

Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones

With ongoing suffering

As the youth die young

So ask yourself is the loving really strong?

So I can ask myself really what is going wrong

With this world that we living in

There is clearly a direct reference to the living conditions in Africa followed by “What is going wrong with this world that we living in?” In the last verse, there is another similar message:

Whatever happened to the values of humanity

Whatever happened to the fairness and equality

Instead of spreading love, we're spreading animosity

Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity

That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under

That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down

It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under

I gotta keep my faith alive, until love is found

The last chorus of the song is repetitions of the line “Where is the love?” which became a rallying cry that the entire crowd in Philadelphia chanted. The last chorus was extended, repeating this line over and over again to really get the crowd involved with its powerful message.

Of course not all the songs had such powerful and easily seen messages but that did not stop many of the artists from expressing their opinion about the situation in Africa. An example of this would be when Jay-Z came on stage to join Linkin Park for a performance of their collaborative song “Numb.” Jay-Z said, “We all here having a good time and all, we rapping, we cussing, we spitting, but the reason we out here is for a cause. You know they spending billions and billions of dollars to kill people, we should spend billions and billions of dollars to help people live. We appreciate all ya’ll help. I don’t want to get too political, let’s play some music.” Even though he did not come out with a big speech and quickly got to the music, what Jay-Z said was meaningful