Live 8-y 6'd

Long Live Live 8!

(M)TV Casualty
Yesterday I was more thankful than usual that I live in Philadelphia. As the host city to Live 8 in the United States, I was able to actually hear and see the concert when MTV and VH1 dropped the ball and aired pointless VJ prattle and commercials instead of music.

Tuning in at noon, things got started nicely (from published schedules and TV coverage, you'd never know that the Kaiser Chiefs played before noon). Will Smith welcomed the world to Philadelphia, and reminded everyone that even though this was going to be a fun event, Live 8 was being held for a serious cause. MTV stuck with the broadcast for the first song by the Black Eyed Peas...and then it stopped. Cutting away from the music, MTV went to a commercial break. My jaw hit the fucking floor.

Instead of performances, they were showing commercials for The Real World and Smart Spin storage containers. WTF!!?? I feel bad for people living in other cities, towns, and states who expected through television to join the world in the fight against poverty and instead were given an interview with Jimmy fuckin' Fallon. Boo! Give us the music! Either you were on the Ben Franklin Parkway (or at one of the other concert sites) or you missed the music.* Fuck that!

I was able to walk to the Ben Franklin Parkway to catch the end of Kanye West's set on the JumboTron.

*AOL had live video of all the performances and they're still available online.

Return of the Native
Will Smith's entrance (carried on a throne to the Rocky theme and the Ali chant, "The Champ is Here") was only topped by his reunion with DJ Jazzy Jeff on the wheels of steel. Referencing Run DMC's "Run's House", Smith warmed the hometown crowd with "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It", "Summertime", and the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (plus "Switch" off his latest album). The man knows how to entertain.

We Have a Wiener!
Alicia Keys takes the prize for Performer Who Only Did the Bare Minimum to Raise Awareness. One song. That's it? It was a good song ("For All We Know"), and she prefaced it with remarks to support poverty relief, but c'mon, Alicia. All you could muster was one lousy song? Maybe she felt less would be more? I don't know.

No Surpises, Please
There weren't any huge surprises at Philly's Live 8. None of the rumored special guests appeared (Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen), and there were no duets to rival Live Aid's Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. London had several notable team-ups: Bono and Paul McCartney performing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", The Verve's Richard Ashcroft joining Coldplay for their version of his band's "Bittersweet Symphony". One surprise of note was a freestyle rap by Philly's Black Thought before Linkin Park took the stage. Jay-Z's performance (with Linkin Park) was the highlight of the day.

That's a Wrap
So, the biggest concert event in 20 years has drawn to a close, and by all reports it was an unmitigated success. Now the real test will be whether the G8 nations actually help Africa. How much do these leaders risk in bad press if they don't act (I'm not sure that Bush would care: he and his handlers can spin shit into victory)? Sign the petition at www.one.org or www.live8live.com