The Live8 concert(s) were pretty amazing, though I really wish they (MTV & VH1) had given more focus to the acts in the other cities around the world. It would have been cool to have had multiple channels doing a certain city for a while so you could switch between them, they seemed to just switch back and forth between Philly and London all day. Given a choice between just those two, I would most assuredly have picked London though. Sir Paul, Elton, The Who, and a reunited Pink Floyd! I nearly had tears in my years when Roger dedicated Wish You Were Here to Syd. David Gilmour was just as incredible as ever, and he seemed to be having as good a time as Roger. Did you notice how they were bleeping every act (a lot of acts have some seriously foul lyrics, I’ll admit) but they didn’t bleep Floyd on Money. They played four tunes: Breathe, Money, Wish You were Here, and Hey you and I nearly smashed the TV when they cut away to the video jockeys right as the solo started. I guess you have to cut them some slack since they seemed to play more Floyd than anything else, except maybe Stevie (He was awesome).
Were there any interviews with Floyd? If so, I missed it though I did tape the whole thing (not the highlights on ABC afterward though) so if its in there I’ll look for it.
It really looked like there were some great acts going on in Berlin, Moscow and Barrie though I didn’t see anything except Green Day (about a zillion times) in Berlin. I think I have heard the The Red Elvises (is that the name) on WUSB once. Where was Niel Young? They only played a clip of Bob Geldorf playing with that Scottish band which sounded really good (if it’s not Scottish its crap!). How long till they come out with a DVD of this event do you think?
Other reflections: The show started off well with Bono and Sir Paul leading the crowd in a rousing Seargant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band complete with garbed horn players. I thought Sting’s rewrite of his classic song [fill in song name, I forget] with the pictures of the members of the G8 behind him rather clever. The Black Eyed Peas (who I usually like) sounded awful (to me) even with the Marleys singing with them, Green Day butchered "We are the champions" (hint to self: don’t try to cover Queen), The Who friggin ROCKED, and Floyd sounded awesome. Bon Jovi looked very cute with short(er) hair - I wanted to wring his neck. And lose his guitar player with the stupid voice waa gizmo that was so damn overplayed. Mariah Carey and Madonna could have been $51T-canned as far as I’m concerned along with the rap garbage which was most of the acts that I saw in Philly. Stevie Wonder was excellent, and I wish they had more than just a highlight of Elton John. I liked the spectacular Hey Jude finale with David Gilmour peeking over the heads of the African Girls choir.
