Live Earth!
Posted by Rose Quintiliano on Jul 22, 2007 - 2:23:00 PM
A world of music took place on July 7, 2007. Live Earth was the environmental extravaganza that featured about 150 artists in a 24-hour, seven continent series of televised concerts aimed to bring awareness to the climate crisis, bringing attention to the threat of global warming.
The force behind Live Earth was former Vice President Al Gore, who was present at Giants Stadium, in New Jersey enduring the steamy, hot, humid weather. The event was produced by Emmy-winning concert producer Kevin Wall, who produced Live 8 and founded Live Earth. Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth," was the inspiration for Wall’s involvement. New Jersey’s star-studded lineup included: Kenna; Akon; Keith Urban; Alicia Keys; Dave Matthews Band; Kelly Clarkson; Kanye West; Bon Jovi; Smashing Pumpkins; Roger Waters; The Police; and Ludacris. Some of the A-list celebrities that added that special Hollywood glamour were Cameron Diaz, Leo DiCaprio, and Ben Affleck.
The stage at the Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey featured a backdrop of recycled tires filled with blinking lights inside. My personal favorite highlight of the show was the duet of Keith Urban and Alicia Keys fiery duet rendition of the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”. The interaction between artist and music fans goes to Akon, who jumped down from the stage to the audience to shake their hands. The message came loud and clear from Melissa Etheridge, whose performance was dynamic and unforgettable. Jersey’s own Bon Jovi’s performance was memorable and never disappoints. The screams, cheers and applause from the 50,000 fans in the stadium reinforces why their latest CD “Lost Highway” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, last month.
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In London at the Wembley Stadium, Madonna performed “Hey You," which she penned for London’s star-studded line-up, which also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran and Genesis. The Hamburg event featured Shakira, and the handsome Enrique Iglesias, there were smaller shows held in Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Antarctica and Rio de Janeiro(which featured Lenny Kravitz). The global event was missing one band that would have rocked and shocked the world, and that was Guns N’ Roses. In a press release posted on the band’s website, Axl Rose wrote that he was asked to perform individually with Lenny Kravitz by the promoters and Mr. Gore. As we were working this out, Lenny unfortunately became injured and temporarily canceled his involvement from the event. According to the promoters, by the time they had reconfirmed Lenny’s performance, there wasn’t enough time to arrange flights for myself to Brazil and then to Japan for our upcoming shows. There were only two things that came to my mind, when I read this. The promoters probably never heard of Qantas Airlines, which fly from Australia to Rio with a connection in Honolulu, or they were trying to spare the front man jet-lag, since he would have flown another ten hours to Japan for his sold-out concerts. The artists that did perform donated their time and the proceeds went to Gore’s non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection.
Rose’s Scoop: Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's book titled “Momentos," has been released and is written in Portuguese by journalist Manuela Brandao. The English version, is due sometime this summer. Speaking of writers, beware: Five citizens of the French village of Lussaud in the Auvergne mountains were found guilty of assaulting author Pierre Jourde over his book “Pays Perdu," according to Page Six.
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