Voices That Care

There are very few musical milestones in the history of the world that have had such a profound effect on mankind. There's Woodstock, of course. The first time The Beatles played on Ed Sullivan is another. Somehow I'm quite certain The Spice Girls last concert doesn't make the cut.

Now take those milestones and factor in those that have been done in the name of a good cause. Notice that list shrinks dramatically. Woodstock still makes the cut, but somehow I don't think the introduction of the four lads from Liverpool's trendy haircut to America falls in the do gooder category.

But now I can say that I was part of one of the minority of musical milestones that was created to do some good after attending Live8 in Philadelphia.

Before I continue, I have to admit I still have no idea how big this event was actually considered on a global scale. I mean I know it took place in many cities simultaneously, much like a giant New Years Eve party. And I can say I was there admist a rumored 1 million plus size crowd. But even after saying all of that, I still don't feel like I thought I'd feel if I was part of something quite as big.

In fact, up until a few days before the concert, I didn't even know it was happening. And it wasn't until I was standing there, in the crowd, that I finally knew what Live8 stood for. Here, I just thought Bob "Live Aid" Geldof had finally gone greedy and taken the name, and all its incarnations, on as his own.

Although I gotta admit, I'm still baffled at the concert's purpose. Although it was an event created in the name of garnering help to rid the world of poverty, the concert was FREE, yes free, as in you paid nada to get in but instead still got yours after getting ripped off by local vendors who charged an arm and a leg for a cheeseburger, hold the cheese and the roll. No, the concert people didn't want to raise money, they wanted to raise awareness, cause apparently awareness and a live rendition of "One" by U2 gets the children of Africa a high school education. Who knew?

It's not like there was no mention of donation, cause there was. In between acts, random people would come on to tell stories and ask for your help. Picture a giant telethon, sans the crappy accordion player nephew, booked as a favor of host, Jerry Lewis. But for the most part, these donations were asked for in the form of text messages. Once again I felt like a dork living in the nineties as I don't have text messaging. I can, however, give you half of my hamburger, sans cheese and bun. Would that suffice?

There were a slew of acts on the roster for the day. I didn't see most of them, although I was there. This was because I didn't see much of anything. Well except for the backs of peoples heads. And a few badly sunburned bodies that were no doubt, full of regrets the next day. And although there were so many acts, each act only sang on average, three songs or so. Except of course, for the never ending set of Linkin Park and Jay-Z. How they rate the half hour or so, I'll never know.

I enjoyed Maroon 5 and dug the Sarah McLachlan/Josh Groban due. I was also intrigued by Rob "I slowed down 3 AM so it's now an entirely different experience without the Matchbox 20 guys behind me" Thomas. By the way, note to Rob, it's a bad sign you're one year into your solo career, and get to perform 4 songs and 75% of that is still not your actual solo material, but I digress.

But all and all, the musical highlight was probably Stevie Wonder. We ended up bailing a little early, but that was only because we wanted to beat the rush and we had been listening to music for 6 hours straight. It's kind've anti-climactic really. Here most people were waiting for Stevie, and that's why they kept him to last, but yet so many people were leaving during Stevie, in order to get the edge on the crowd. It's a no win situation, really.

Given the sarcastic tone, you might wonder why I went at all. Well despite how it sounds here, I did have a good time. I don't necessarily feel like the concert accomplished all that it set out too though, whatever that was, other than to stroke some egos. As for the regular folk of America, I hate to say it, but I think they were just psyched to get a free concert. I mean I can't be sure, but I think the message was lost on many of the people who threw their waterbottles and other garbage around aimlessly. It's just a hunch, but I don't think these folks are about to help other countries when they can't clean up Philly anytime soon.

And how about the celebrites whose hearts are in the right places? I'm sure most of them signed up to help the cause, no hidden agendas on the horizon, but one does have to wonder. Whatever did happen to us raging to help the poor in Ethiopia during USA for Africa, or how about the first Live Aid? My guess is they weren't too successful if here it is, twenty years later and we're still campaigning for the cause. Same as it ever was.

So there you have it. If I could have topped off my Live8 experience, I would have ordered a "one for all and all for one" type finale. You know, get everybody out on the stage a la "We Are The World" or "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Of course no concert would have been really complete without a Dan Ackroyd cameo, but I'm sure Jimmy Smits could have been a suitable substitute.