All-star global concerts come to aid of climate

02/15/2007 3:55 PM, Reuters


Environmental activists led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced plans on Thursday for a worldwide string of pop concerts in July featuring Sheryl Crow, Red Hot Chili Peppers and scores of others to mobilize action to stop global warming.

The Live Earth concerts on July 7 will take place in Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London and cities to be decided in Brazil, Japan and the United States. There also will be a live performance in Antarctica.

The shows will feature more than 100 of the world's top musical acts, organizers said. In addition to Crow and the Chili Peppers, U.S. artists who have signed up include Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Organizers of the concerts and the new campaign Save Our Selves (SOS) hope to reach a global audience of some 2 billion people through concert attendance, radio, television and Internet broadcasts.

"In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people," Gore said. "We are launching SOS and Live Earth to begin a process of communication that will mobilize people all over the world to take action.

"The climate crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement. We hope to jump-start that movement right here, right now, and take it to a new level on July 7, 2007," Gore said.

Gore, who lost his bid for U.S. president in 2000, has since become one of the most visible activists on global warming. His "An Inconvenient Truth" documentary has been nominated for an Oscar at the February 25 Academy Awards

The Live Earth concerts follow the model of the 1985 Live Aid and 2005 Live8 international concerts organized by Irish rock star Bob Geldof.

Live Aid raised money for African famine relief and Live8 sought to pressure world leaders to eradicate the debts of the world's poorest nations.

Kevin Wall, executive producer for Live8, said he got the idea of Live Earth after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" last year.

"We are moving from what Al has done for thousands and the movie for millions, we will put together 2 billion sets of eyeballs on a global basis," Wall said at a news conference.

Wall said each concert will last from four to eight hours and at any given time in the 24-hour period two or three shows will be running simultaneously.

The line-ups also will include local talent to appeal to the regional audiences.

Top Spanish-language band Mana from Mexico will interrupt its tour in Spain to play for Live Earth in Europe or Brazil.

"We want to be a huge part of this," said Mana's Alex Gonzalez.