Live Earth Comes to Washington Live Earth adds 9th show to global event Live Earth got a traditional Aboriginal welcome in Australia and a high-tech virtual one in Japan, as the 24-hour global concert series to raise awareness about climate change kicked off Saturday. Al Gore made appearances at both - as a hologram in Tokyo and via live video link with Sydney - urging rock fans to join the fight against global warming. Madonna, Metallica, the Police and Kanye West are among the top billed of more than 150 acts due to appear in the nine-concert series.
The biggest names will be at Live Earth concerts in London and New Jersey, with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts at the other venues. After Sydney and Tokyo, concerts will be held in Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Hamburg, Germany; London; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and New Jersey and Washington. Aboriginal tribal leaders with white-painted bodies and shaking eucalyptus fronds were the first to take the stage at the Australian event, singing and dancing a traditional welcome to crowd that grew quickly from a few hundred midmorning to several thousand by around lunchtime.
Gore then invited the crowd to take Live Earth's seven-point pledge to reduce their personal environmental impact and support policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "Thank you for coming today and thank you for being the very first to launch this movement to help solve the climate crisis," Gore said. "Enjoy the show.
" Australian actress Toni Collette, taking a break from Hollywood to try her hand at a singing career, dedicated a song called "Cowboy Games" to world political leaders. Her band, the Finnish, ended their set with a grinding guitar-driven version of the 1970s T-Rex hit "Children of the Revolution." "It's heartwarming to see so many people here today for the cause of going green," said Collette, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in "The Sixth Sense.
" "I take my hat off to you all." The Tokyo concert kicked off with a high-tech, laser- and light-drenched performance by virtual-reality act Genki Rockets. Gore got into the spirit, appearing as a hologram to deliver his message.
"With Live Earth, we hope to connect people through the power of music and engage them with a simple universal message: SOS. Answer the call," Gore said. Popular Japanese vocalist Ayaka said small actions can have an impact.
"I started to carry my own eco-bag so I don't have to use plastic grocery bags, and use my own chopsticks instead of disposable ones." Problems and changes to the series continued right down to the last minute, with a ninth concert - in Washington - added on Friday and a court battle continuing in Brazil to decide whether the show there could go ahead as planned. Critics say Live Earth lacks achievable goals, and that bringing in jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling airliners to plug in to amplifier stacks and cranking up the sound may send mixed messages about energy conservation.
"The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper. Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say.
Organizers were predicting live broadcasts on cable television and the Internet could reach up to 2 billion people. Scores of short films and public service announcements will be aired giving the audience tips about how to conserve energy and reduce their environmental impact.
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