Spring Break
We could all live without Live Earth
Mega-concert preaches consumerism, not conservation
By: Andrew Austin
Issue date: 7/11/07 Section: Opinions
Would somebody please get Bon Jovi out of my face? While you're at it, get rid of this whole Live Earth thing, too.
If you were lucky and missed Saturday's worldwide mega-concert, Live Earth, the event was intended to raise awareness for global climate change. Featuring eight major concerts broadcast on television, satellite radio and the Internet, the event was billed as our generation's call to action.
According to host Carson Daly, Live Earth was supposed be this generation's Woodstock or Live Aid and "a symbol for our generation's idealized hope for the future."
Whoa, hold the phone.
First off, Carson Daly, you're not our spokesman. You're a 34-year-old hack who hosts a struggling late-night talk show. Second, who decided that this concert was a defining moment for us, akin to Woodstock or Live Aid?
Woodstock was a free festival that spawned from the counterculture of the '60s, nothing like Live Earth, with its $175 tickets and corporate sponsors.
1985's Live Aid, which was intended to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was a mismanaged failure. The concert raised millions of dollars, much of which ended up in the hands of Ethiopia's dictatorship, which was responsible for displacing 3 million people and killing nearly 100,000 more. And last I checked, Ethiopia was still the poster child for world hunger.
Does our generation really need its own Live Aid?
If organizers were going to make bold predictions about the grandeur of Live Earth, they could have at least gotten some musicians we can relate to.
Headliners for event included Bon Jovi, Madonna, Duran Duran, Metallica, Genesis and The Police. I'm sorry, this concert lineup could barely cut it in the '90s, let alone anytime this decade. They're supposed to be our generation's call to action?
To us, Madonna is someone our moms listen to (her first single came out before most of us were born), Metallica enlists a bunch of sellouts who tried to end file-sharing and Genesis is an old video-game system made by Sega, not a lame prog-rock band featuring Phil Collins.
If you were lucky and missed Saturday's worldwide mega-concert, Live Earth, the event was intended to raise awareness for global climate change. Featuring eight major concerts broadcast on television, satellite radio and the Internet, the event was billed as our generation's call to action.
According to host Carson Daly, Live Earth was supposed be this generation's Woodstock or Live Aid and "a symbol for our generation's idealized hope for the future."
Whoa, hold the phone.
First off, Carson Daly, you're not our spokesman. You're a 34-year-old hack who hosts a struggling late-night talk show. Second, who decided that this concert was a defining moment for us, akin to Woodstock or Live Aid?
Woodstock was a free festival that spawned from the counterculture of the '60s, nothing like Live Earth, with its $175 tickets and corporate sponsors.
1985's Live Aid, which was intended to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was a mismanaged failure. The concert raised millions of dollars, much of which ended up in the hands of Ethiopia's dictatorship, which was responsible for displacing 3 million people and killing nearly 100,000 more. And last I checked, Ethiopia was still the poster child for world hunger.
Does our generation really need its own Live Aid?
If organizers were going to make bold predictions about the grandeur of Live Earth, they could have at least gotten some musicians we can relate to.
Headliners for event included Bon Jovi, Madonna, Duran Duran, Metallica, Genesis and The Police. I'm sorry, this concert lineup could barely cut it in the '90s, let alone anytime this decade. They're supposed to be our generation's call to action?
To us, Madonna is someone our moms listen to (her first single came out before most of us were born), Metallica enlists a bunch of sellouts who tried to end file-sharing and Genesis is an old video-game system made by Sega, not a lame prog-rock band featuring Phil Collins.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 84
Jenni
posted 7/11/07 @ 3:02 AM PST
You don't speak for me, or anybody I know.
Live Earth attempted to do good, and plenty of people worldwide supported & enjoyed it.
This was not aimed at "your generation", it was aimed at the world as a whole. (Continued…)
derek
posted 7/11/07 @ 9:44 AM PST
[QUOTE id="a51bbad5-773a-4b4c-80d8-f5676866bea4"]Live Earth attempted to do good, and plenty of people worldwide supported & enjoyed it.[/quote]
hey hitler thought the holocaust was a good idea and plenty of people supported that too. (Continued…)
Joel
posted 7/11/07 @ 1:59 PM PST
Great article. I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thought the entire concept of this global concert to "raise awareness" was nothing more than a giant marketing campaign. (Continued…)
Pat
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:01 PM PST
Excellent article - you managed to hit virtually every point of the event's hypocrisies.
Kim
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:13 PM PST
So the internet feed had Zune ads and the TV commercials i watche had iPod ads. Looks like the corporate side of the event couldn't get their act together either. (Continued…)
Miguel Farah
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:20 PM PST
Thank you, Andrew!
Back when *I* was a teen I had to suffer through the same
crap with Live Aid, and thought pretty much the same you
do now, but I wasn't eloquent enough to put it in words. (Continued…)
Katie
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:21 PM PST
Woodstock wasn't free. Tickets were initially sold for about $18 (about $95 today) but folks without tickets started showing up. They eventually tore down a fence to get in and there were too many of them for coordinators and security to handle. (Continued…)
Money in the Bank
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:37 PM PST
hey hitler thought the holocaust was a good idea and plenty of people supported that too.
hahaha! BEST - COMMENT - EVER!
too bad that anyone who supports such an awful event
probably doesnt even get the joke. (Continued…)
Dana Gioia
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:46 PM PST
We should focus more on the Arts. Art education is the real problem in America. When kids grow up without a full appreciation of Shakespeare or jazz, we have failed as a culture. (Continued…)
stevenback7
posted 7/11/07 @ 2:51 PM PST
UMMM yeah you don't speak for me.
This was not a concert meant for only our generation. It was meant for the entire world. This was clearly seen if you watched Live Earth instead of just reading about it by the people in the audience. (Continued…)
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