WHAT WAS LIVE 8 AND WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
Do you remember Live 8? Were you there? Why was this benefit concert needed?
Let's dip in and answer those questions, other questions, find out the back story, who played, the charity. Basically a whole bunch of stuff about Live 8.
What was Live 8?
On July 2nd 2005 music venues across the globe were awash with people witnessing the follow up concert to ‘Live Aid’, it was called called ‘Live 8’. 10 concerts were played simultaneously across the world including Berlin, London, Rome and Moscow.
Over 1000 musicians performed to support the UK’s ‘Make Poverty History’, ‘Global Call To Action Against Poverty’ and to make awareness of issues in Africa like AIDS issues, poverty, hunger and government debt.
The concerts were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio stations. On the 6th July there was an eleventh concert ‘Edinburgh 50,000-The Final Push’ and was the closest concert geographically to the location of the G8 summit. On the 8th July the G8 summit ended and the leaders pledged to increase the aid to Africa from $25 billion to $50 billion by 2010. The concerts were held around the 20th anniversary of Live Aid in 1985.
The Live 8 project was launched on 31st May 2005 by Bob Geldof with the aim to raise awareness of issues in Africa. He organised eleven free concerts in London, Berlin, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, Barrie, Cornwall, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Moscow and Chiba. Tickets were released for these concerts via a text lottery in the UK and the messages cost £1.50, over 2 million people messaged and £3 million was raised from the messages alone.
Which artists performed in Live 8?
Live 8 consisted of ten concerts on the 2nd July and one concert on the 6th July. Below is just a snippet of the many artists that performed at the events.
Hyde Park had over 25 performers including:
Coldplay, Dido, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Scissor Sisters, Madonna, The Killers, The Who and Elton John. It was presented by Peter Kay.
Cornwall:
Peter Gabriel, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Kalsi hosed. Coco Mbassi, Mariza and Ayub Ogada were some of the acts that performed in the Eden Project ‘Africa Calling’ concert.
Japan:
Included performances from Mcfly and Björk.
Germany:
Phill Collins, Green Day, Söhne Mannheims and A-ha as well as many other artists performed.
Park Place in Barrie:
Over 20 artists including Deep Purple, Celine Dion, Neil Young and Jet.
Johannesburg:
Hosted by Nelson Mandela and featured music by Oumoi Sangare, Lucky Dude and Zola.
Red Square Moscow:
Included performances from Pet Shop Boys and Bravo.
Paris:
Presented by Laurent Boyer and Solidarity Side featuring artists like Muse, The Cure and Andrea Bocelli.
Philadelphia:
Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Kanye West and Simon & Garfunkel.
Rome:
Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Faith Hill.
Edinburgh:
Artists included Wet Wet Wet, The Proclaimers and James Brown.
What were some key events in the lead up to the concerts?
From the 31st May, 2005, there were a few major events that happened during the build up to Live 8, some include:
3rd June 2005, Gordon Brown (British Chancellor) wiped all the VAT for the concert saving the organisers around £500,000.
11th June 2005, G8 cancelled the debt of 18 of the poorest countries 17th June 2005, a petition was created to send to the G8 leaders.
2nd July 2005, a peaceful protest which was organised by ‘Make Poverty History’ started in Edinburgh with around 200,000 people.
Were you at Live 8?
We would love to hear if you attended any one of these concerts. To get in touch with us click here or comment below.
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