Did the G8 concerts exceed expectations?

[Spin_Network]

UK Report, please add your thoughts from your continent's concerts?

What a DAY!..musically fantastic
I guess the only thing will be for the G8/9 leaders to comply!

Free Africa of Poverty and Trade inequality.

I have to say that Madonna was superb..her backing choir was pretty moving..Joss Stone again..superb.

 

[neurocomp2003]

no rap/r&b groups in Canada's version =[

 

[Spin_Network]

no rap/r&b groups in Canada's version =[

Here in the UK we had Snoop Dogg..he was pretty cool live..Robbie Williams has just come on here..I will give a wider comment on all the Artists soon...

P.S can someone from Philly give an overview of the Artists and their performance's?..I would like to hear how Dave Mathews Band performed?

 

[Spin_Network]

UK Report, please add your thoughts from your continent's concerts?

What a DAY!..musically fantastic
I guess the only thing will be for the G8/9 leaders to comply!

Free Africa of Poverty and Trade inequality.

I have to say that Madonna was superb..her backing choir was pretty moving..Joss Stone again..superb.

Link for anyone to view:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4641999.stm

 

[Astronuc]

Live8..Can anything top today?

Only if the problem of Global Poverty and Economic Inequality can be solved, and a sustained effort and liberty and justice for all can be maintained.

Entertainment is one thing - it's the hard work that follow that counts.

 

[revelator]

no rap/r&b groups in Canada's version =[

I know! Wasn't it GREAT! :rofl:

 

[Evo]

I didn't watch it, I hadn't even heard of it until someone here posted about it. I wouldn't have watched it anyway though, I don't care for watching bands on tv.

 

[loseyourname]

Was there even a show on the west coast? I don't remember hearing about anything. All I've been listening to lately anyway is orchestral music from the late romantic period and the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack.

 

[Pengwuino]

lol i love it. They did this to "raise awareness for poverty" yet every thread I've seen in every forum in every discussion has been about the music. Must have been some damn fine musicians for the cause to be overshadowed so much. I hear Jay-z performed so i assumed the music couldn't have been THAT good.

 

[Evo]

That's what I've noticed from the threads here, it's a shame.

What also amazes me is how poorly they advertised this, at least here in the US, I had not seen anything about it on the tv, or news, including online news links. No one I have spoken to had even heard of it. Can you say FLOP?

I guess it was advertised in Europe?

 

[Pengwuino]

Maybe it'll pick up next week to coincide with the summit. Hopefully the people at G8 will snap their fingers and make poverty disappear.

 

[brewnog]

I guess it was advertised in Europe?

We've not been able to escape from it. It's been on every piece of news, every TV and radio station, and in every newspaper for the past few weeks. I was going to say I'm shocked that it hasn't made an impact there (Moonbear didn't know what I was on about either), but it really doesn't surprise me. I think Bush is trying to play it down anyway...

 

[loseyourname]

Since when is Bush responsible for promoting a concert? Unless he coerced the FCC into outlawing radio and television ads to promote Live 8, how can this possibly be his fault? If people, including myself, never realized there was a concert until after the fact, that is the fault of the concert promoters.

Then again, I don't watch much TV and only watch movies on cable or sports when I do. I only listen to sports talk radio if I listen to radio at all, and I hardly even pay attention to the news anymore, except for what appears on the yahoo front page.

 

[Pengwuino]

Because by law, your allowed to blame Bush for anything and everything under the sun without question.

 

[brewnog]

Because by law, your allowed to blame Bush for anything and everything under the sun without question.

Yup, by this reasoning I thought I'd post an entirely irrelevant comment in this thread, since it's what certain other people did in mine...! :tongue:

 

[Pengwuino]

Yup, by this reasoning I thought I'd post an entirely irrelevant comment in this thread, since it's what certain other people did in mine...! :tongue:

hey hey, give me credit, don't just say 'certain other people'

 

[GENIERE]

G8..Can anything top today?

I can supply a list of several thousand "toppers". Just a few minutes ago I lit off a firecracker; wow!

 

[Pengwuino]

I can supply a list of several thousand "toppers". Just a few minutes ago I lit off a firecracker; wow!

lol i guess everyone is firing off their firecrackers today adn not tomorrow. All i hear is explosions tonight... but then again they probably arent fireworks :-/

 

[GENIERE]

lol i guess everyone is firing off their firecrackers today adn not tomorrow.,,

Yeah! Talk about toppers, the kids and grandkids are all arriving tomorrow to celebrate the Forth with the $300.00 worth of fireworks my eldest bought the other day. I have my PVC potato cannon ready to go with an improved fuel atomizer, hotter spark (weed whacker spark plug and coil), and a longer barrel. A neighbor put on a really great show tonight with a dozen or two of mortor launched aerial displays.


...

 

[Pengwuino]

I live in a street full of mormons so nothing really goes on around here :-/

 

[GENIERE]

I live in a street full of mormons so nothing really goes on around here :-/

I knew CA was a strange place to live. Back east we drive our cars in the streets and live in homes.

...

 

[brewnog]

hey hey, give me credit, don't just say 'certain other people'

 

[Pengwuino]

I knew CA was a strange place to live. Back east we drive our cars in the streets and live in homes.

What? isn't it illegal not to drive on the sidewalk? Guess things are different in CA :-/

 

[Astronuc]

Was there even a show on the west coast?

There was one venue in the US - Philadelphia.

There does seem to be a disconnect between Live8 and other programs.

The End of Poverty (in our time)?

I am not sure what Geldof and others have in mind. It is not clear that the project raised the consciousness of many people.

More than 26 million people worldwide sent text messages on Saturday in support of Live 8, setting a world record for a single event, organizers said. They had also expected up to two billion people to tune into the show worldwide.

Yeah, so what?!

There are many isolated projects such as

http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/manzanar/default.htm

http://www.eden-foundation.org/project/

http://www.uneca.org/

For as much as the UN seems to be doing there is much more that needs to be done.

 

[Art]

There was one venue in the US - Philadelphia.

There does seem to be a disconnect between Live8 and other programs.

The End of Poverty (in our time)?

I am not sure what Geldof and others have in mind. It is not clear that the project raised the consciousness of many people.

More than 26 million people worldwide sent text messages on Saturday in support of Live 8, setting a world record for a single event, organizers said. They had also expected up to two billion people to tune into the show worldwide.

Yeah, so what?!

There are 2 parts to the strategy; first is to raise the public's awareness of the problem with world poverty and the second is that these messages were collected as a petition to be handed into the G8 leaders at the summit in Edinburgh. The organisers are also trying to get 1 million protestors to march in Edinburgh during the summit to demonstrate to the political leaders that there is a demand from the general public to do all they can to eliminate poverty worldwide.

 

[alexandra]

For as much as the UN seems to be doing there is much more that needs to be done.

I agree with the substance of your message in both your posts in this thread, Astronuc. The problem is it was totally apolitical - and I am cynical enough to believe it was intentionally so.

I saw the whole event as farcical (for goodness' sake, a very well-known politician and one of the richest men in the world addressed the crowds with their sickening, hypocritical banalities). This event was, in my opinion (which concurs with political analyses I have read and heard on radio), nothing but an opportunity to allow ordinary people to 'vent' safely and the rich and famous to feel good about themselves. It amounted to a sunny outing.

No doubt many of the participants genuinely believed in 'the cause' and want to do something about it - but such events do nothing at all. By allowing people to 'march peacefully' and express their frustrations in such a controlled environment, all softened by music that is, in essence, devoid of any hard-hitting messages, is just like giving people 'feel-good' drugs to pacify them. It will take a lot more than this to do what needs doing.

 

[Andy]

Do you propose some terrorist style bombings to get the message across then? I also heard that one of the richest men in the world has given many billions of his own money to african charities (pretty farcical i know).

The object of the event was to raise awareness of the situation and it did a pretty damn good job of doing that. Many of the celebrities will probably get a nice PR boost out of it but that's always going to happen when performing in front of millions of people.

 

[alexandra]

Do you propose some terrorist style bombings to get the message across then?

Absolutely not - what on Earth does that sort of violence achieve? I propose people educate themselves rather than going out on sunny day outings.

The object of the event was to raise awareness of the situation and it did a pretty damn good job of doing that. Many of the celebrities will probably get a nice PR boost out of it but that's always going to happen when performing in front of millions of people.

From what I saw and what I read/heard about the actual events, people were just having a good time listening to music. There wasn't much consciousness-raising. Or was there? Were serious politics and economics discussed in any way? What sort of analyses did the speakers provide? And the audience - did they discuss the real issues and their underlying causes? I'm a bit foolish, perhaps, but I do believe that unless one understands the underlying causes of a problem one cannot hope to solve it.

Oh, another thing - let's just see what the results of this event actually are. Not long to wait now. We already have the answer about climate change: what are our great leaders going to do? Nothing, that's what!

 

[Evo]

26 million phone text messages from a tv show asking them to be sent. The tv show "American Idol" gets 30 million votes at a time. All this means to politicians is that people watching a tv show will do whatever they're told to do, most of them probably don't even remember doing it, or why.

 

[pattylou]

RE: Live 8 and US publicity:

I have been aware of the live 8 concert for a few weeks - but then I'm often on the BBC boards so probably had my awareness raised there. I don't recall - I think I saw some domestic mainstream news mention of it, but not sure.

Terry Gross (Fresh Air) interviewed a couple people yesterday regarding Live 8. Another NPR show a few days earlier interviewed a political science professor from the East Coast. He is African, thus can speak well towards how to "help" Africa.

The theme that came through in both programs was: some of the governments are corrupt, so sending money won't fix the problem ... and other means of enabling Africa to help itself would be more appreciated. That there is a general sense of Western guilt that we try to appease with money, and that this is not the best way to help see Africa out of poverty.

Aside to Pengwuino: Bush isn't responsible for all the woes in the world. But he has made more mistakes, and of greater magnitude, than a president ought to. We hold high standards for presidents, for a reason - and if a country is experiencing: Looming deficit, education cuts, health care problems, and so on ---- the president will take some blame whether rightly or not. He is certainly responsible for some of the fractioning in this country - He has been overt about his religiosity. This is directly responsible for the "religious right base" that he holds. That base is the one mentioned on the Sandra Day Oconnor thread, which is now brandishing threats about "what they'll do" to the politicians in 2006.

Bush's "fault?" Maybe not. Did his actions lead to this sort of thing? I think so. I think he made a conscious choice to express his fundamentalism. I think he could have chosen to not express that.

-Patty

 

[The Smoking Man]

Absolutely not - what on Earth does that sort of violence achieve? I propose people educate themselves rather than going out on sunny day outings.

So are you going to make the announcement about the manditory self education or should I?

What part of 'cloud cuckoo land' did you say you lived in?

From what I saw and what I read/heard about the actual events, people were just having a good time listening to music. There wasn't much consciousness-raising. Or was there? Were serious politics and economics discussed in any way? What sort of analyses did the speakers provide? And the audience - did they discuss the real issues and their underlying causes? I'm a bit foolish, perhaps, but I do believe that unless one understands the underlying causes of a problem one cannot hope to solve it.

What is it you are trying to say? On the one hand you quote what happened and then you contradict yourself by doubting what you said.

Geldoff was Knighted for what he did in the past. What he managed to do was to raise the consciousness of people, load up trucks with food AND get it delivered to starving people.

Politicians are not the solution to the problem. They are slaves to the process.

Geldoff has a knack of doing in just a couple of months what it takes politicians years to achieve.

Would you say that if he made even 5% of the crowd aware of what the problems truly were ... if he managed to drag them kicking and screaming into reality he had done a good thing?

The event cost nothing save what people were willing to pay out of their own pockets. There were no 'taxes' and few administrative costs.

The fact that you are here debating the issue is proof enough it has people talking about the issue.

Oh, another thing - let's just see what the results of this event actually are. Not long to wait now. We already have the answer about climate change: what are our great leaders going to do? Nothing, that's what!

Are you talking about a US Centric perspective?

Most of the world signed Kyoto. Most of the world went ahead and decided they woud attempt to pick up the extra 'cost' of American protectionism.

Geldoff ISN'T American.

I seriously doubt that if the thing did have effects that there would be any coverage in the US press unless there were significant sound bytes in support of US politicians.

 

[Pengwuino]

Aside to Pengwuino: Bush isn't responsible for all the woes in the world. But he has made more mistakes, and of greater magnitude, than a president ought to. We hold high standards for presidents, for a reason - and if a country is experiencing: Looming deficit, education cuts, health care problems, and so on ---- the president will take some blame whether rightly or not. He is certainly responsible for some of the fractioning in this country - He has been overt about his religiosity. This is directly responsible for the "religious right base" that he holds. That base is the one mentioned on the Sandra Day Oconnor thread, which is now brandishing threats about "what they'll do" to the politicians in 2006.

Bush's "fault?" Maybe not. Did his actions lead to this sort of thing? I think so. I think he made a conscious choice to express his fundamentalism. I think he could have chosen to not express that.

Your way off base here. This is basically what happened. Someone blames Bush for Live 8 not receiving much promotion here. A few of us realize "wait a second, our President ISNT A CONCERT PROMOTER". You then decide "well, he's a bad person anyway so i think he still deserves to be blamed for it". Truely amazing what partyline following will do to some people.

 

[Pengwuino]

The object of the event was to raise awareness of the situation and it did a pretty damn good job of doing that.

Every thread, every word, almost every discussion about live 8 I have read or heard about so far has been about who performed. This was only changed when someone jumps in and goes "hey, i thought this event was suppose to be about poverty, who are you trying to fool".

On a side note, from the Wall Street Journal online

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112016799914374625,00.html?mod=opinion_main_europe_asia
(subscription required... ugh i don't have it either :( someone just quoted me from it)

""...the Kenyan scientist, environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Muta Maathai, 'Africa's first Green' (Die Welt), said that the only people who would profit from debt forgiveness would be 'those who are responsible for the mismanagement in the first place.'"

 

[Pengwuino]

Do you propose some terrorist style bombings to get the message across then? I also heard that one of the richest men in the world has given many billions of his own money to african charities (pretty farcical i know).

Better find a source for that because there's only a few multi-billionaires on earth. If anyone, i bet it woudl be bill gates. Hes already given a little more then $1 billion to charities in his lifetime

 

[brewnog]

Someone blames Bush for Live 8 not receiving much promotion here. A few of us realize "wait a second, our President ISNT A CONCERT PROMOTER". You then decide "well, he's a bad person anyway so i think he still deserves to be blamed for it". Truely amazing what partyline following will do to some people.

Yeah, sorry about that, wondered what people would have to say about it! :tongue:

Every thread, every word, almost every discussion about live 8 I have read or heard about so far has been about who performed. This was only changed when someone jumps in and goes "hey, i thought this event was suppose to be about poverty, who are you trying to fool".

To be honest, over here I've seen the opposite, which is why I started the music-related thread in GD. Almost all of the adverts and promotion have heavily contained information about the reason behind it all, and the BBC (in particular) seemed very keen to keep reminding viewers/listeners what it was all about.

I'm genuinely surprised that Live8 doesn't seem to have been publicised very much at all in the US. Over here, it's been impossible to even see a newspaper or the TV, or even overhear the radio without being informed about it. I've overheard conversations between people talking about going on the march, or having been moved by the videos taken in Africa, perhaps more than I've overheard conversations about the headliners, or whatever.

So, is the difference between the US and the UK that we've got Geldoff and you haven't? I'm not sure. And how was the publicity anywhere else, anyone?