In the tradition of Farm Aid, Live Aid and more recently Live 8, Live Earth kicked off today with concerts on seven continents in order to fight global warming across the world. The brain child of Al Gore and founder Kevin Wall, the 24-hour event will gather over 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
Broadcast on hundreds of stations all over the world (on television, radio and the web) Live Earth has gathered musicians, actors and leaders of various environmental causes to appear in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hamburg, Maropeng (near Johannesburg, South Africa), London, Rio de Janeiro, Antarctica, Washington D.C. and scenic Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (or rather, ‘New York’)
Sundance Channel in particular has done a decent job in their all day coverage. Hopscotching around the world to the various venues, they along with NBC (and related cable entities) are showing performances, PSAs and short films on the subject of climate change. NBC’s primetime (and Carson Daly-hosted) coverage was even more watered down and spliced to hell, but Sundance at least showed performances in whole.
It goes without saying that when musicians gather on stage for causes like this, it can easily become polarizing and smug. Or at very least come across as something less sincere. But at the same time, there is no denying what sort of affect Live Earth can have, bringing some big press visibility to the issue of climate change. Slowly it is moving to the forefront of the everyday and mainstream dialogue. And that is a start.
In the small amounts I managed to catch, the artist lineups came across a bit tepid with safe choices like Genesis, Black Eyed Peas and Red Hot Chili Peppers. But performances by the Beastie Boys, the Police, Spinal Tap and even in strange and cheesey collaborations (Keith Urban and Alicia Keyes singing The Rolling Stones classic ‘Gimme Shelter‘) it can all be surprisingly inspiring on some level.
In the months to come after today it will be interesting to see if more and more people adopt a more ‘green lifestyle.’ Perhaps Live Earth can help to make a difference.
To check out other good coverage check out the NYTimes ArtsBeat blog, NPR’s interview with Al Gore, and a discussion on NPR’s All Songs Considered about the role of rock in saving the world.
I am a big Al Gore fan and have enjoyed reading about his recent recreation of himself into a celebrity with serious name brand clout, while maintaining his lovable (and laughable) nerdy, boring image.
What I managed to watch was a bit stale and uninspired. Even Kanye West singing Message In a Bottle with the Police was only exciting for the first 30 seconds he was on stage. But it was Carson Daly’s backstage interviews with celebrities that really pissed me off. You could smell the smugness a mile away. Am I supposed to give Kevin Bacon a prize because he raised his kids with cloth diapers, or congratulate Cameron Diaz for shaving her legs with the water turned off? The South Park smug cloud comes to mind, and I believe it covered the entire world on 07/07/07.
At best interesting but unmoving.
I caught about 5 minutes of the official NBC primetime coverage tonight before I left for the Tortoise show and definitely got a staler taste in my mouth from that. The earlier coverage I saw still had those celebrity PSAs, but the music performances were mostly uncut and there was no Carson Daly (thank fucking god)…
I can see you getting that smugness a bit, but on some level I dont think the intent of those PSAs were to show off or an act of self-congratulation. I think there are still WAY too many people in the US who know nothing about climate change or still have no idea how they can make a change.
That said, I think the celebrity involvement helps reach those people and those little ‘tips’ they deliver are nothing more than simple ideas that the mainstream can easily digest.
I will admit most of the performances sided on the safely mainstream and downright boring at times but Gore to his credit, did bring out the stars to help deliver his message. Imagine ‘Average Joe American’ in fucking Deluth Minnesota turning on his telly for this “Live Earth Thing” to find some obscure band (from their point of view) like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I think having the big music stars gives some weight and even a bit of authority to the cause…they are by far the richest in the industry so in theory they should have more power to be heard behind their voices. Just a thought.
From what I’ve read some of the highlights were The Police, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins and Alicia Keyes…love them or hate them, I do have to respect the cause and hope that if nothing else, it all helps bring about more and more discussion and solutions.
Just a few years ago climate change was still for the most part being debated as to whether it even existed even in our own government…now it seems there is no denying its out there and I sense some real momentum since Gore’s film in people accepting it and trying to force a change.
The best highlight by far was when Duran Duran (I think) triumphantly asked everyone in the crowd who DIDN’T fly in on a private plane to raise their hands (obviously so they could prove they came in a commercial airliner). Smugness aside, overall awareness is important. If only we could latch onto the same sentiment that existed for about 6 months in the early 90’s when can/paper recycling and elimination of styrofoam in fast food restaurants came into fashion. Does anyone remember the 1990 Earth Day special where Bette Midler played Mother Earth and was dying from pollution?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255132/
Now that was a real eye opener, and it dumbed down our problems to short, understandable segments from our favorite TV shows. This was probably more effective than listening to the Black Eyed Peas sing careless songs about “getting retarded” (but also remember to care about the environment y’all). Still a good idea, but I doubt it made any great impact on the industries and countries who pollute the most. People are wasteful, but regulation of consumption does not stem from action of the individual.
Just watched the performance of “Message in a Bottle” where John Mayer and Kanye sat in. Mayer at least knew the guitar part, which shows at least he knows not to fuck up a song.
Wish I could say same about Kanye, totally obliterates his contributions by essentially yelling “yeah yeah put your hands in the air” and clumsily rapping the lyrics “message in a bottle…we can save the world…yeah!” (so creative that one). Sometimes I think these super star guest appearances should really never be okayed. Sigh.