EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Live Earth, the confederacy of musicians who performed Saturday on all seven continents to highlight the issues of global climate change, featured superstars such as Madonna and the Police entertaining crowds in packed stadiums, but also parka-wearing scientists at an Antarctic research station whose audience included wandering penguins.
Live Earth used the now-familiar template of concerts-for-causes shaped largely by Live Aid, the 1985 famine relief shows. But the 24 hours of music circling the globe Saturday used the Internet and high-definition camera technologies to create a uniquely 21st century event.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday July 10, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 35 words Type of Material: Correction
Leonardo DiCaprio: An article in Section A on Sunday about the Live Earth concerts referred to Leonardo DiCaprio as an "Oscar-winning actor." DiCaprio has been nominated for Academy Awards three times but has never won.
Leading up to Saturday, though, Live Earth was also criticized by some for being too vague in its cause or for being a promotional tool for its cofounder, environmental activist Al Gore, the former vice president.
The politician was given a rock star's welcome at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, where he was introduced by Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In London, the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am premiered a new pro-Earth song that he said he recorded after an inspirational encounter with Gore at the Grammy Awards in February. One of the lines: "We got a new terror threat: the weather."
The other Live Earth concerts Saturday were in Hamburg, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg. Many "unofficial" events borrowed the name and cause, such as the Viva Earth show, an R&B and hip-hop concert Saturday night at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Live Earth organizers also registered viewing parties and tie-in events in a reported 131 countries.
"This is unprecedented, and we believe it has the chance to become a real tipping point in the consciousness of the world, the beginning a focused effort to deal with the very real dangers of climate change," said Kevin Wall, the other Live Earth cofounder who also was a key figure in last year's Live 8 concerts addressing global poverty.
Wall and Gore have come under fire, though, by critics such as British rock star Bob Geldolf, the key architect of the Live Aid and Live 8 shows, who said this latest concert-for-a-cause was unfocused and unwieldy. Other rock stars, including Roger Daltrey of the Who and Matthew Bellamy of Muse, have mocked the show for its hazy mission or for using celebrities who travel in private jets and perform with huge amplifiers to educate the world about reasonable energy consumption.
