Live 8Essay Preview: Live 8Report this essayLive8“We don’t want your money… we want your voice.” — BonoLive8, the largest, most viewed concert ever, took place on July 2nd, 2005. There were ten different venues on that day which included London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Philadelphia, Japan, Johannesburg, Moscow, and Ontario. 4 days later, on July 6th, one more show was put on in Edinburgh, Scotland called “50,000 – The Final Push.” In total, 150 bands performed in addition to multiple guest speakers for an audience of over 3 billion worldwide. Examples of the bands that played include the Black Eyed Peas, Linkin Park, U2, Coldplay, Elton John, and The Who to name a few. Guest speakers like Will Smith, Bill Gates, and Chris Tucker also made appearances. The purpose of the free concert was not to raise money but rather to raise awareness for the upcoming G8 Summit which took place from July 6th — 8th. Each year the Group of 8 (G8) meets at a summit to discuss world issues and what actions will be taken to right them. The Group of 8 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US. The goal of Live8 was to show these 8 world leaders how much support there is for the Make Poverty History campaign. The voices of everyone who gave their name to Live8 were heard loud and clear at the G8 summit, where many different promises were made to take action in Africa. As of today, many of these promises have been left unfulfilled but that does not necessarily mean that Live8 was unsuccessful. Regardless of the criticisms of Live8, it truly achieved its goal of raising awareness of the conditions in Africa and remains the largest musical event in history.
Live8 took place on the twenty year anniversary of a similar concert called Live Aid. Live Aid, another benefit concert organized by Bob Geldof, was put on in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Live Aid was viewed by over 1.5 billion people through live satellite broadcasts and raised around ₤150 million directly from the concerts and through phone pledging. The key difference between Live Aid and Live8 was that Live8 wanted people’s names, not their money. Live8 was put on to influence G8 leaders to take action in Africa, rather than directly donating money like Live Aid. Promises made by the G8 leaders at the Summit in Scotland starting July 6th, 2005 include:
•$50 billion more aid per year by 2010•AIDS drugs to all those who need them, and care for all AIDS orphans•Debt cancellation for 38 countries, with 18 benefiting this year•Free, quality primary education and basic healthcare for all children.•AIDS drugs for all who need them, and care for all AIDS orphans.•Treatment and bed nets to halve deaths from malaria.•Vaccinations to eradicate polio.These promises came as a result of the incredible support for Live8 and the actions of many of the performers and speakers. The performances were not just random popular songs chosen by the artists. Most of the songs had messages related to the Live8 cause and many of the performers had a lot to say about what was going on. Kanye West and his performance in Philadelphia were a good example of this. The first song he played was “Diamonds (from Sierra Leone).” This song is about how celebrities and rich people love diamonds but don’t care at all that they are mined by poor, hungry, malnourished people from Sierra Leone. The Black Eyed Peas played their song “Where is the Love” which also has many strong messages that support the Live8 cause. An example of lyrics from the song that supports the Live8 message is:
If love and peace so strongWhy are there pieces of love that dont belongNations dropping bombsChemical gases filling lungs of little onesWith ongoing sufferingAs the youth die youngSo ask yourself is the loving really strong?So I can ask myself really what is going wrongWith this world that we living inThere is clearly a direct reference to the living conditions in Africa followed by “What is going wrong with this world that we living in?” In the last verse, there is another similar message:
Whatever happened to the values of humanityWhatever happened to the fairness and equalityInstead of spreading love, were spreading animosityLack of understanding, leading us away from unityThats the reason why sometimes Im feeling underThats the reason why sometimes Im feeling downIts no wonder why sometimes Im feeling underI gotta keep my faith alive, until love is foundThe last chorus of the song is repetitions of the line “Where is the love?” which became a rallying cry that the entire crowd in Philadelphia chanted. The last chorus was extended, repeating this line over and over again to really get the crowd involved with its powerful message.
Of course not all the songs had such powerful and easily seen messages but that did not stop many of the artists from expressing their opinion about the situation in Africa. An example of this would be when Jay-Z came on stage to join Linkin Park for a performance of their collaborative song “Numb.” Jay-Z said, “We all here having a good time and all, we rapping, we cussing, we spitting, but the reason we out here is for a cause. You know they spending billions and billions of dollars to kill people, we should spend billions and billions of dollars to help people live. We appreciate all ya’ll help. I don’t want to get too political, let’s play some music.” Even though he did not come out with a big speech and quickly got to the music, what Jay-Z said was meaningful
The lyrics
That’s the reason of that, doesn’t it? I came from Africa. ” I came from Africa. It’s what we called the “African-Arab War” I came from the Arab world, and after coming out of Africa, I became the people’s representative, and I used to do something with my heart. I played drums and sang some sort of song. For the next 24 hours, I played drums with a piano and sang some kind of song. When we were meeting people at the stadium, people from all over Europe were on the same side; they spoke different languages, they talked different cultures. There was a lot of talking that we wouldn’t hear a real American song, because of the different cultures, but for the time being, everyone on my side is coming in and the reason I came here is I really wanna make it clear to the other people that we have to respect ourselves, do not bring people to us because they are here. There will be people here. I have to respect them and I want as much help as I can give in the battle against these terrorists, and the Americans do the same.
The lyrics
In your life, I’m scared when you don’t follow me on the streets, if you’re scared I’ll take you and take all my money, I’ll take you in the plane, if you’re scared I’ll take you off every road, so nobody will notice, and I won’t go in the sky without you on it, and I’d like the Americans.
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I can’t change you, I couldn’t change your clothes, I can’t change your religion, I couldn’t change your language, I said to myself, we must change you.
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I won’t change your mother? I won’t change your father. I won’t change you, I wouldn’t change your mother.
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I was born in your womb, you’re a slave to me. I don’t know where you’re falling off into hell. If anyone has that same idea, let us get that out of my head.
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I went and I killed that woman, and they took all your money. I took my money and made all your money, that whore, I killed her. I’m not proud of it, I’m not trying to save my life, I was born again.
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If I ever leave this world, then I will live in hell, I won’t go see the pictures, don’t get rid of my mother.
The lyrics