So Live Earth has been and gone. What was it meant to be about ... well, apart from an exercise in raising Al Gore's global awareness?
Let's face it. Live Earth really is about global warming. That is, warming the globe to the idea of Al's impending run for presidency. And if there isn't enough warmth, then Al won't run. It's pretty easy to read between the lines in this one.How ironic that Gore is using the energy of music to "fuel" his re-entry into politics. Wasn't this the guy whose wife Tipper in 1985 mounted a campaign against the music industry as a founding member of the Parents Music Resource Center? Al is on record as supporting the movement. John Denver, yes harmless John Denver, stood in court and argued against the Gore's because people like them tried to have his innocent lyrics for 'Rocky Mountain High' banned because they considered it a drug reference.
John Denver thought the Gore's were dangerous. John friggen Denver!
So here we are 22 years later (a long time in politics) and Al is using the same music industry he tried to destroy to raise his profile.
I can't believe the artists who have fallen for it. Well maybe we can believe Madonna. She'd appear at the opening of a fridge door if there were a photo op in it. Roger Waters? What was he doing there? Is this the same Roger Waters who wrote 'The Wall' or is an impostor doing the rounds in his name.
It's a shame Peter Garrett put his name to this. The former Midnight Oil singer, now an Australian Member of Parliament has always been honourable in his fight for the environment. I believe he was there with best intentions. His track record proves his sincerity. What a shame about his placement on this one.
You'd expect all the bands with current "product" to do it for the publicity. Hey, good on Smashing Pumpkins, Crowded House and Bon Jovi. If they did it just for the publicity because they all have new albums, then good luck to them. Kelly Clarkson? Wow, we've come a long way from the gut wrenched protest rock of John Lennon, haven't we? All we are saying is give us a break.
The event is probably better recorded by the bands who didn't do it. There was no U2 and there was no Bob Geldof. The Who also passed. Geldof was highly critical of the event, calling it "a waste of time."
"I would only organize Live Earth if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations," he told Holland's De Volkskrant. "They haven't got those guarantees, so it's just an enormous pop concert or the umpteenth time that, say, Madonna or Coldplay get up on stage.
"I hope they're a success. But why is Gore actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody's known about that problem for years. We are all conscious of global warming."
So who needs to learn about global warming? Well, Al Gore for a start. Fronting an event like Live Earth is pure hypocrisy. His house in Nashville is reported to use as much energy in one month as the average US home uses in two years.
And that's an inconvenient truth.
