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OFFICIAL LIVE 8 POST


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Hey I just found this article online:

Will Smith Urges G8 to End 'Tragedy' By JAKE COYLE, Associated Press Writer

10 minutes ago

PHILADELPHIA - If U2, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and Coldplay made London the rock capital of the world on Saturday, Philly was were hip-hop represented.

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Kanye West, Jay-Z, the Black-Eyed Peas and host Will Smith led the U.S. edition of the Live 8 concert series before a sun-drenched crowd that stretched a mile down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

After British rockers the Kaiser Chiefs kicked things off with their hit "I Predict a Riot," hometown boy Smith took the stage to begin hosting duties.

"Right now you're watching the biggest concert event in the history of the world," Smith said. Pleading for leaders of the G-8 summit to "end this daily tragedy" of African poverty, Smith was beamed around the world by satellite as he led the global audience in snapping their fingers every three seconds, signifying the child death rate in Africa.

"Today, we are here to declare our interdependence," said Smith in the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed. "Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together."

Later, the rapper-turned-movie star returned for the most theatrical performance of the day. He was carried onto the stage on a throne, with women spreading rose petals in his path. The theme from "Rocky" played just yards from the steps that Sylvester Stallone famously climbed in "Rocky."

That segued into a repeated sample of "the champ is here!" line that Smith delivered in the movie "Ali." Smith then introduced his old sidekick, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and they performed "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" before launching down memory lane with the theme from Smith's early '90s sitcom, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and his classic hit "Summertime."

Smith's star power was only matched by Stevie Wonder, who closed the show by effectively turning Smith's finger snaps into handclaps. Backed by a dapper 11-piece band, Wonder proved he wasn't too old for a good funk groove on "Higher Ground" and "What the Fuss" — which had the blind singer strutting out in front of his keyboards.

The final tune of the night was Wonder's classic "Superstition." One concertgoer, Paula Abdul, couldn't resist the beat, dancing enthusiastically on the side of the stage and, by extension, on the jumbo screens.

"The meaning of being an artist is to really do these kinds of things," Wonder said backstage. "We cannot stop now. The only way we can end this is to give more love."

Earlier, Kanye West performed "Jesus Walks" in front of an all-female string section outfitted in black skirts and dark stripe-like masks over their eyes. He delivered some of the harshest words of the day, lamenting "politicians who drive home in their Bentleys every night and watch thousands of Africans die."

Backstage, he told The Associated Press, "I'm not into politics, I'm into people. I know that these people are dying. My people. This is an event that will go down in history."

After Linkin Park started their set, Jay-Z came out for a mash-up with the rock-rap group. Jigga had the crowd chanting "Hova," his smooth cool in sharp contrast to Linkin Park's vein-popping fervor. The combination made for one of the days most popular performances, especially on Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'."

One of the first acts, the Black-Eyed Peas, took the stage with their usual energy and frenetic weaving, performing "Let's Get it Started." The rap group also pulled out a Bob Marley classic as they sang with obvious symbolism, "Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight."

Of course, there was much more than hip-hop.

Dave Matthews, who hails from South Africa, began his performance by thanking organizer Bob Geldof "for throwing a party to make a better world."

As to whether Live 8 would have any effect on the G-8 leaders, Matthews said backstage, "I think they're aware of what's going on, and judging from President's Bush's speech, he's moving in the right direction. We want him ... to move a little bit further," he said.

Introducing it as especially appropriate, Maroon 5 played a version of "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" by Neil Young, who was to conclude the Canada concert.

Country singer Keith Urban also played the cover card, performing Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise," while the not-exactly-current Def Leppard were sure to play their old favorite, "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

The day's acts were punctuated by celebrities (including Natalie Portman, Jennifer Connelly and Richard Gere) who further reminded the audience of the cause with statistics and ways to petition.

"Today's gathering is not about charity, it's about humanity," said "Rush Hour" actor Chris Tucker.

Also in attendance were celebrities ranging from the Rev. Al Sharpton to Anna Nicole Smith, plus performers Alicia Keys, Destiny's Child, Toby Keith, Sarah McLachlan, Jars of Clay and Rob Thomas.

Fans stormed down the parkway just before 6 a.m. and pressed as far forward as possible, but only those closest to the front were able to see the stage. The less fortunate were treated to giant screen broadcasts of the concert, along with clips from the other cities.

Organizers and performers said as many as one million fans were there, but that was impossible to verify and seemed overblown, with several hundred thousand seeming more accurate. Police declined to provide an estimate.

Bon Jovi performed "Living on a Prayer" after being introduced by actor Don Cheadle as hailing from "the most exotic of locales" — New Jersey.

"An amazing event," Cheadle said backstage. "Hopefully it will light a fuse that will continue to go for years and years."

___

Associated Press Writer Deborah Yao contributed to this report

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I can't believe some people are moaning at will's performance, just be happy he and jeff were at the greatest concert ever

anyway, it's coming up to 3 am here, i just finished watching the philly highlights on bbc, i decided to watch the london concert first the whole way through.

Anyway it was the most amazing day ever, I watched the whole thing from 1pm till about 2:30 am.

Snoop and Mariah Carey's performances were awsome, Madonna certainly still has what it takes even though see's been doing it so long

Also i don't think there is any better way to end a concert than Paul McCartney and the crowd singing the end to 'Hey Jude' together

I don't know what other awards or honours to give to Bob Geldof, but he certainly deserves every one.

It's now up the G8 to do the right thing.

Also rumor has is Nelson Mandela will be at the scotland gig this week, i hope it's true his appearance would really and momentum to the whole campaign, even though he already gave a speach at the Live 8 concert in South Africa.

Edited by JamesUK
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WOW. Will Smiths performance was off the charts. That should have been the best entrance ever!!! It was great to see the audience show so much love to Will during FPOBA performance. But unfortunately, they cut us the Summertime performance. :thumbsdown:

And for me the other two best performances were Madonna and Velvet Revolver. Damn, Madonna stole the London show completely. :lolsign: She was awesome considering she's now in her mid-forties. She has still got it to rock the crowd. And Slash ripped the riffs all over the world!!!!! Scott and Slash were mindblowing to watch!!! :2thumbs:

Other nice performances were Duran Duran, Dido and Youssou N'Dour, R.E.M, Annie Lenox, A-Ha and ofcourse, our very own Doggfather. :haha:

Oh, and Mariah was looking really hot in that skimpy tight outfit. :wink: But I think the hottest performer at Live 8 has to be Stacie Ferguson, hands down. When she was jumping up and down and gyrating all over the stage, DAMN, I just wanted to grab her and fu............nevermind. :1-say-yes:

Overall, one hell of a concert series. :2thumbs:

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I don't care what anybody says I liked it. Will's speech was amazing. He had me snapping my fingers. I like his n JJ performance :thumbsup2:

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His speech was really good.

His performance was not solid but good. Started bad, ended wonderful.

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His speech was really good.

His performance was not solid but good. Started bad, ended wonderful.

How can you say that the show started bad? Didn't you hear the crowd scream "Will's House!"...How dope was that? Will did his thing...It was a dope performance...

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What a show, i got lucky cos i got home about 12:30 and Will was on soon after that here in the UK. I got it taped anyway.

What a day on a whole, U2 were amazing, so was Sting. I havent seen much of the Philly concert yet but will do soon.

Anyways off on my holidays today, so see y'all in a week.

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His speech was really good.

His performance was not solid but good. Started bad, ended wonderful.

How can you say that the show started bad? Didn't you hear the crowd scream "Will's House!"...How dope was that? Will did his thing...It was a dope performance...

PERFORMANCE... He was plain bad on gettin jiggy with it. Sounded like he didn't even wanna do it. The crowd was good. But Gettin jiggy with it and the start of switch was just pretty bad. He turned it up a notch though, dunno what happenned, he got into sswitch more and he got amazing with the fpoba thing.

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I don't see how you can be hating on the performance...Getting Jiggy Wit It was dope...so was Swich....He got the crowd with him and he did two verses of Getting Jiggy Wit It...I think the point here it that we might get tired of seeing him do the same songs over and over again...but it was still a good performance!

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If half of the population is watching the concert, it's GREAT, not just good

A GREAT way showing of your new album.

I know it's for a good cause and all, but still you got 10+ minutes of performance time and it could have been a mega boost for his album if he, for example, just did the songs of his new album, and said I'm gonna do some songs from my new album etc. and started with mary j blige TELL ME WHY, would be the THING, then do a remix of switch and then I wish I made that etc. to party starter.

This would have been a MEGA BOOST for his album, ah well.

For me it was a good show I enjoyed it, but if you think about will's music career,

it would have been better to show off the potential of the new album.

Just my thoughts

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