Climate change is possibly the single biggest threat to life on Earth at the moment, and something really substantial is needed to tackle the problem once and for all, so thank God that scientists have finally found the cure – it's Razorlight.
Razorlight are just one of the groups who'll be playing the UK leg of the global Live Earth concerts at Wembley Stadium in July, along with Madonna, Snow Patrol, Damien Rice, James Blunt, Keane, David Gray and all sorts of other bands hoping to raise awareness about climate change by all flying to London in carbon-spewing planes in order to consume vast amounts of electricity lighting and amplifying themselves for the benefit of tens of thousands of fans who'll also drive their gas-guzzling cars to London for the occasion, not to mention the billions of viewers at home who'll be urged to leave their televisions on all day just to see a bunch of sappy bands play turgid songs. We can't wait.
As much as Live 8 was a pointless exercise in self-promotion for a bunch of elderly bands with one eye on their CD sales, at least we could sort of see the point in it – at heart it was a free event to guilt the world's politicians, gathered at Gleneagles, into dropping third world debt with what basically amounted to a mass demonstration. True, it was a mass demonstration that The Stereophonics took part in – which sort of numbed the power of the message somewhat – but it was a demonstration nonetheless.
But Live Earth is a trickier proposition to comprehend. Back in February, after being buoyed by the success of his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore announced the Live Earth concerts – a series of concerts around the world that would try and, uh, guilt, um, the sun, into, er, not melting the polar ice caps as fast as it has been. Or something. Anyway, today the initial line-up for the Wembley leg of Live Earth was announced, as BBC News reports:
Madonna, Genesis, James Blunt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be among the headliners at the London show of the global series of Live Earth concerts. They will be joined at Wembley Stadium by groups including Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol and Razorlight. Live Earth will take place on 7 July across seven continents, as a way of highlighting climate change. The diverse line-up include rap group The Beastie Boys, singer-songwriters David Gray and Damien Rice, and R&B pianist John Legend. Black Eyed Peas, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Keane and Paolo Nutini complete the bill so far.
Tickets for Live Earth will be chosen via a lottery system that opens on Friday at noon. Each Live Earth ticket will costs £55, of which proceeds will be given to the Alliance For Climate Protection, The Climate Group and Stop Climate Chaos, who promise to use the funds to send people onto TV shows in order to hector the public about how bad it is to leave their TV sets on standby with even more crushing regularity than normal.
Seriously, unless the money spent on Live Earth tickets gets stapled together and is used to cover up the hole in the ozone layer, it's hard to see what the point of the concerts actually is. If the politically showboating Live Earth organisers stopped massaging their own egos for long enough, they'd see that staging the concerts actually will actually do the environment more harm than good.
But at least we can't fault the Live Earth performers – it's good to know that the people reminding us to save the environment include a man who owns his own mountain, a woman who throws away toilet seats every time she does a shit and a boy who keeps jetting backwards and forwards to America to spend time with his weird-toothed girlfriend.
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Miguel says
I went to properties to check the Madonna pic and found this:
http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/madonna-kabbalah-nazi.jpg
alex sajkovic says
too bad you are so cynical about all this
it is simply about raising awareness – and these people reach have audiences and audiences listen and that means they can think, therefore they can
act, and maybe bring their own bags to the grocery store, and turn off lights, and drive less and in general just be aware so that also means not voting for
the military industrial complex promotion corporations, etc. , etc. , it goes on and on
so take a deep breath, stop complaining, get off your ass and get out there and do something with the rest of your body, pick up some trash on the street or inn
in a park or something – or write a song – or………..
Amos says
Agreed. Alex says it all. If you don’t care or don’t believe in planetary warming, then don’t write about it. There’s no need to be so cynical when there are so many people dedicating their lives to fight climate change.
nosebag says
Hey dipshits, can’t you read? Stuart seems to be all for prevention of climate change… he’s just pointing out that these Live Earth concerts are bound to damage the environment far more by happening than if they didn’t.
If you want to raise awareness for something, don’t do it by doing the exact opposite thing to what you’re preaching (ie blasting out tons of carbon via lighting, transport, television etc) … that’d be like an anti-rape charity raising awareness to its cause by fucking a load of women against their will.
Lenny says
Genius analogy Mr Nosebag. And I agree with the article, what a pointless concert.
bigmund says
Yet another “couldn’t care less” climate change denier taking cheap shots at a group of people who are actually trying to do something to raise awareness of the greatest threat to the earth we’ve ever faced.
I wish i could give you people your own private hell-planet where you could ignore your climate and self-destruct in double quick time, without troubling the rest of us, but unfortunately I can’t.
So since you have to share mine, perhaps you’d have the good grace to shut the fuck up till you have something constructive to say?
Thank you, on behalf of the world…
Paul H. says
“…a group of people who are actually trying to do something to raise awareness of the greatest threat to the earth we’ve ever faced.”
Really? Wow! And there was me, thinking that they were just trying to raise awareness of their own ineffable greatness. Who’d’ve guessed that global temperatures are rising, were it not for pop concerts? I’d never heard anything about…. whaddya call it, “climate change”? Certainly not on the news, or in school or anything like that, anyway.
“I wish i could give you people your own private hell-planet where you could ignore your climate and self-destruct in double quick time, without troubling the rest of us, but unfortunately I can’t.”
What eloquence. Yours is truly the voice of reason against the howling mob.
“So since you have to share mine, perhaps you’d have the good grace to shut the fuck up till you have something constructive to say?”
Why, you latter-day Voltaire, you.
“Thank you, on behalf of the world…”
…but not on mine.
C J Davies says
Gosh, Bigmund, you’re right. We are a bunch of ‘climate change deniers’, aren’t we? Despite, y’know, the article going into great depth about what an urgent problem it is and how this concert is simply a damaging career-opportunist wankfest that will do far more damage than good.
Once again … sorry. Just being ‘cynical’ there, right? Who could forget the wonderful day after the ‘awareness-raising’ Live 8 concert, when every single African child awoke to find – right there in the middle of their decimated village – a magical well full of moondust and starbeams?
Thank you, Razorlight.
THANK YOU.
Eric Layne says
This article is brilliant and brutally honest.
Did the Concerts-for-AIDS thing work? No, people are still contracting AIDS.
Did the Feed Africa concerts work? No, people in Africa are still starving.
Unfortunately, Live Earth concerts won’t do a damn thing either.
ajit kumar says
The Madonna lip-synch jamboree is going to do its bit for Mother Earth. Why don’t these self-indulgent superstars try to downsize their own lives first
before they try to ‘ raise awareness ‘ on the ‘issues’. I say, drop the debt. On Bono’s fat head.
bigmund says
Well – looky here – I have only to write the comments above and four more deniers crawl out of the woodwork – they are everywhere. I’m tempted to say I rest my case…
But instead, lets get serious…
God knows now much these concerts stand to raise – anywhere upwards of $100m I expect – and contrary to the silly assertions above, the money will be placed directly into the hands of several expert organisations who really can make a difference by putting pressure on big corporations and governments around the world, and genuinely reduce ongoing emissions.
So, Mr Heritage, and you sanctimonious four above, who think you have the right to climb up on your high horses and knock their efforts because you were clever enough to turn off your TV standbys for the night a week last Tuesday or whatever – try thinkin about the balance sheet – sure, by the end of Live Earth they will have pumped a few more tons of Carbon, but i’ll wager they will prevent the pumping of a few million more.
What HAVE YOU done BTW?
C J Davies says
No-one’s ‘denying’ anything. Climate Change is happening. It needs to be dealt with. Simple.
Just not by a bunch of popstars. Because – let’s face it – if it’s actually necessary for people to seek Madonna’s thoughts on such urgent issues – rather than tackling climate change intelligently within a social, political or education-based arena – then I for one wait with mounting glee for the day the polar ice caps melt and wipe out our trivial redundant species in an orgy of floodwater.
I’ll pack the swimming trunks.
Euclid says
Sadly, I think you all are missing the point.
This climate situation is one of staggering breadth and complexity
and can ONLY be successfully addressed by harnessing
the titan twins of Over-earnestness and Self-righteousness;
thus we needs call upon or demi-gods, our appointed
popstars to channel these titanic forces, the sheer power of which
will doubtless for a few moments blot out the light of the evil sun
entirely, plunging our dear planet into total darkness and giving tired
Mother Earth a much needed respite from the ongoing
onslaught of my hourly trips to Taco Bell.
This is not a problem to be tackled with reason.
We need (pop)star power to stop the tyranny of the sun.
Fight fire with fire, yes? QED
tamara says
yeah, good one
bigmund says
CJD: I suspect you are a reasonable person, and i know you think you are joking, but you are more right than you imagine – not only do 90% of the worlds population know so little about global warming that they actually DO need to seek Madonna’s thoughts, even when they have them, 90% of the aware are still either totally unconcerned, or concerned but unwilling to act. You may well await this with “mounting glee”… And anyway, are you reading me mate? Its not about Madonna’s THOUGHTS – Its about MONEY – $$$$ Millions, which can be used to lobby politicians, CEO’s and others, who CAN make a difference. Leastways, if they can’t , no-one can.
Euclid, you and your ilk are the reason most interested people don’t post to threads like these, and why I rarely do.
kate says
Sorry but if there are people out there who have managed to miss the media onslaught on global warming than there is always the internet.
If there are people out there who are going to form there ideas on global warming by what Madonna or any crap poptartlet out there, than that is my idea of HELL PLANET!!!!!!
It would be interesting to know how much money from each ticket sold is actually getting donated, and I don’t mean to the artists either.
By the way – Al Gore is full of shit. Global warming is caused by the SUN, you know that big, bright, nuclear reacting, star??? Solar winds, sunspots all emit gas as well as HEAT. If you look back about 10 years ago when sunspots were peaking and fangling up telcom industry – did no one wonder what the after effects would be?
Lastly, I am in NYC and it 7C here – global warming is BULL SHIT
Adam Gade says
bigmund…
Step 1: Remove headphones blaring Milli Vanilli.
Step 2: Reread article.
Step 3: Reread comments other than yours.
Step 4: Realize you are well and truly a boob.
Paul H. says
“I have only to write the comments above and four more deniers crawl out of the woodwork – they are everywhere.”
Interesting. I’m a “denier”, am I? Where exactly did I give you reason to suppose this? You remember reason, do you, Mister Scientific Objectivity?
“contrary to the silly assertions above, the money will be placed directly into the hands of several expert organisations who really can make a difference by putting pressure on big corporations and governments around the world, and genuinely reduce ongoing emissions.”
The faith, the earnestness. So touching. Hey, maybe pop stars really *can* save us all.
“…you sanctimonious four above…”
Might want to check the definition of that one — we were what’s known as sarcastic. You were sanctimonious.
“…think you have the right to climb up on your high horses and knock their efforts because you were clever enough to turn off your TV standbys for the night a week last Tuesday or whatever – try thinkin about the balance sheet – sure, by the end of Live Earth they will have pumped a few more tons of Carbon, but i’ll wager they will prevent the pumping of a few million more.”
I’d bet you would. I’ve got some magic beans, by the way. Would you like to buy some?
“What HAVE YOU done BTW?”
Well, aside from having belonged to Greenpeace for fifteen years and written letters for Actionpoint, lobbying various people in various countries around the world to reduce their emissions, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that nobody really knows conclusively what’s driving the observed global temperature rise. The IPCC’s actions haven’t helped, and posturing pop stars offering simple, fashionable messages don’t help us get to the bottom of it, either, strangely enough.
Paul H. says
Oh, and I just loved this one…
“90% of the worlds population know so little about global warming that they actually DO need to seek Madonna’s thoughts”
Five and a half billion people “need to seek” the wisdom of a depraved exhibitionist? As Kate says, that’s a vision of Hell.
“even when they have them, 90% of the aware are still either totally unconcerned, or concerned but unwilling to act.”
But why should knowledge of a celebrity’s thoughts influence one at all? Don’t you trust the people of the world to make up their own minds?
Nah. ‘Course you don’t.
David Hasslehoff says
Does anyone really think the celebs give a toss about global warming, they are all jumping on the concert to make lots of money from record sales.
It was the same with Live 8, the only act to give there extra slaes to charity was Pink Floyd.
I’m just as worried about the future of our planet as Al Gore, but throwing a party is not my idea of making a difference.
So all you idiots who want to shag Madonna should get a life and get some energy saving light bulbs.
Plus I’m only jealous cos I have not been asked to play.
bigmund says
Almost none of us will really do anything meaningful . But never mind….Don’t worry – its Ok – its caused by the sun changing its radiance. So we don’t need to do anything… Anyway, all those poor people in the 3rd world won’t really die – its all a storm in a teacup.
But really – we are lost, arent we?
Matthew Laidlow says
Maybe we can send Razorlight up in to space to do the opposite of what happened in the film Sunshine. Instead of chucking a big fuck off bomb at the sun, to warm it up, we can throw mass quantities of liquid nitrogen at the sun to cool it down. And for the hell of it, throw Razorlight in too.
Where do we collect our nobel prize for solving the worlds problems?
Marcy says
Al Gore is a big Earth activist nowadays. He knows what he is doing – get people to be involved, give them music. And I do hope Al wins the Nobel for Peace. It would be appropriate.
Paul H. says
“Al Gore is a big Earth activist nowadays. He knows what he is doing.”
He sure does… Whether he (or any other celebrity “activist”) has any meaningful grasp of the science is a different matter. Still, it’s raised his flagging profile no end.
“I do hope Al wins the Nobel for Peace. It would be appropriate.”
Appropriate, yes — given the sort of people who end up as nominees these days.
Oli Brown says
Bollocks to climate change, I say good idea – Chili’s, Foos, Paulo Nutini. !
I’m going, and I’m going to take the Range Rover too.
Paul says
‘A Rock concert to raise awareness?’
Just think how stupid that statement sounds… I am personally disgusted, patronised and outraged that the organisers of this pointless back-slapping exercise think that I, and everyone, are to stupid to find things out for myself and that I need Celebrities and Rock Stars to keep me ‘aware’
Do they honestly believe that I am going to see this concert and think… ‘Oh my god… it’s like the road to Damascus… I am AWARE of a problem that has been around, and discussed, since I was a child.’
If you want to make people aware, write books, discuss it and explain… Do not patronise me.
alex sajkovic says
Stuart, you aren’t griping much lately, this article says what I was trying to say a bit better, cheers: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/07/09/forget_hypocrisy_live_earth_brought_message_to_billions/?page=2