So I'm blogging Live 8...
...might as well admit it. ;) In the future, I'll know exactly where I was and what I was doing, unlike with Live Aid. Heh. Don't worry, friends list; I'll try to keep updating this post for the rest of the day, rather than making a million posts.
If you want to see the BBC's pictures from the event in London, click here.
***
1pm EST update
So now I'm watching he AOL streams, but when I clicked on the Philly link... I got a friggin' commercial that's still playing, a whole minute later... this should be commercial-free, but it's AOL so I should've known better than to expect altruism.
***
1:07pm
None of the other countries' streams have given me an ad yet. When I went back to Philly a second time, there was no ad. *shrug*
Destiny's Child are all wearing white. I wonder if that's because of the ONE campaign? I know a lot of people from the U2.com forums were planning to wear all-white today in a show of support.
***
1:36pm
I love UB40 so much. They really make me happy. :)
Brian Wilson was on in Berlin and the crowd loved him.
Snoop Dogg is doing "Drop It Like It's Hot" in London right now. Heh. I hope he'll do something from his early days before he leaves the stage (unless he already did, and I missed it). They just showed Posh & Becks watching from what looked like somewhere in the wings.
***
1:45pm
Snoop Dogg is just finishing up "What's My Name" -- yee! :)
***
2:05pm
People from the U.S. on u2.com's forums are having kittens over the chopped-up, commercial-heavy, VJ-infested coverage on VH-1. Most of them are pissed off about the lack of U2 coverage and the preponderance of hip-hop. Well, they live in a country where hip-hop is quite popular, so I'm not sure what they expected. (I'm also pretty tired of all the dismissive attitudes toward anything that isn't three-chord rock & roll... did these same people hate Zooropa? Probably.)
I do agree that there shouldn't be so much interruption from the VJs and commercials. Apparently, they cut away from a band to show a Jimmy Fallon interview. Double-you tee eff? (I'm starting to hate Jimmy Fallon, incidentally. He's like a smart-ass high school kid who never matured.) I turned off my TV to watch the feeds, but it's still recording; maybe I'll get to see sometihng I missed from earlier today. If they're online with a high-speed connection, I don't see why they don't find an online feed (hey, even just an audio feed) instead of getting frustrated with the poor coverage from VH-1.
Bob's back!
***
2:35pm
Bob showed a clip from the documentary that inspired him to do Live Aid, then he brought out a girl who was featured in that documentary... a girl whose life was saved thanks to the money from Live Aid. Then Madonna came on and started with "Like A Prayer". I cried a bit during that whole segment.
a-ha is on now in Berlin!
***
3pm
a-ha did "Hunting High & Low" (As gorgeous as ever! The music wasn't bad either... *grin*), "Take On Me", and -- after some technical difficulties with Morten's in-ear monitor -- "Summer Moved On". Those guys are just amazing; Morten can still hit the high notes. I wish more people in the U.S. knew that they're not just the band who did "Take On Me". I'd buy a Live 8 DVD *just* for a-ha, let alone U2, Bob Geldof, and all the other performances I'm enjoying today.
Deep Purple is just wrapping up "Smoke on the Water" in Toronto.
***
4:17pm
Not much has been worth reporting. I hope I haven't missed Roxy Music in Berlin! It looks like it isn't over yet, because the feed still shows the crowd standing around, but the blurb at the top of the AOLmusic.com page indicates that Berlin's show is over. I didn't click away from Berlin's feed long enough to have missed an entire set, though, so I think the information at the top of the page must be wrong. It's been kind of off all day, after all.
***
4:45pm
I managed to see Roxy, but the feed kept buffering over and over again, so I missed most of the first two songs -- "Virginia Plain" and "Love is the Drug"! -- and only got it to play smoothly on the last two songs -- "Do the Strand" and a cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (!!!).
Bob just told people that they shouldn't all leave Hyde Park at once, because the trains couldn't handle it. How practical of him. ;) He then turned it over to Dawn French, who gave a hilarious introduction to Mariah Carey.
Have the Cure gone onstage in Paris yet? I'm so confused.
Waiting for the Pink Floyd and the Who...
***
5:35pm
Here comes the Who!
***
5:50pm
I missed the beginning of the Cure's set because of the Who, but that's okay. The Who did only two songs: "Who Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". Roger Daltrey still does that spine-tingling scream after the, er, break (interlude?) in "Won't Get Fooled Again". They didn't really interact with the crowd, but after all the losses they've been through, I have a lot of admiration for them just for soldiering on.
***
6:30pm
Pink Floyd: fucking WOW. "Breathe > "Money" > "Wish You Were Here" > "Comfortably Numb". I started crying at the beginning of "Wish You Were Here". They were as smooth as if they'd never parted ways. At the end, they all came to the front, arms around each other, to take a bow. I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I wish that the Who, the Cure, and Pink Floyd hadn't overlapped, because I had to miss parts of the Cure and the beginning of Pink Floyd. The Cure is still going! This is the longest set I've seen today.
***
6:47pm
George Michael joins Paul McCartney onstage for "Drive My Car"!
***
7:13pm
Following an all-star rendition of "Hey Jude", Live 8 London is over. Given that the feeds are all starting with daylight footage when I click them now (meaning they've restarted), it looks like all the other cities' shows have shut down as well, although I'm not sure about Rome. Unlike all the other feeds, the Rome feed wasn't showing me any non-stage shots when I last checked, so I don't know if it was a daytime performance. It would be appropriate for all the other shows to end by the time the London show does, I think.
And so I'll call it a day with my Live 8 blogging.
If you want to see the BBC's pictures from the event in London, click here.
***
1pm EST update
So now I'm watching he AOL streams, but when I clicked on the Philly link... I got a friggin' commercial that's still playing, a whole minute later... this should be commercial-free, but it's AOL so I should've known better than to expect altruism.
***
1:07pm
None of the other countries' streams have given me an ad yet. When I went back to Philly a second time, there was no ad. *shrug*
Destiny's Child are all wearing white. I wonder if that's because of the ONE campaign? I know a lot of people from the U2.com forums were planning to wear all-white today in a show of support.
***
1:36pm
I love UB40 so much. They really make me happy. :)
Brian Wilson was on in Berlin and the crowd loved him.
Snoop Dogg is doing "Drop It Like It's Hot" in London right now. Heh. I hope he'll do something from his early days before he leaves the stage (unless he already did, and I missed it). They just showed Posh & Becks watching from what looked like somewhere in the wings.
***
1:45pm
Snoop Dogg is just finishing up "What's My Name" -- yee! :)
***
2:05pm
People from the U.S. on u2.com's forums are having kittens over the chopped-up, commercial-heavy, VJ-infested coverage on VH-1. Most of them are pissed off about the lack of U2 coverage and the preponderance of hip-hop. Well, they live in a country where hip-hop is quite popular, so I'm not sure what they expected. (I'm also pretty tired of all the dismissive attitudes toward anything that isn't three-chord rock & roll... did these same people hate Zooropa? Probably.)
I do agree that there shouldn't be so much interruption from the VJs and commercials. Apparently, they cut away from a band to show a Jimmy Fallon interview. Double-you tee eff? (I'm starting to hate Jimmy Fallon, incidentally. He's like a smart-ass high school kid who never matured.) I turned off my TV to watch the feeds, but it's still recording; maybe I'll get to see sometihng I missed from earlier today. If they're online with a high-speed connection, I don't see why they don't find an online feed (hey, even just an audio feed) instead of getting frustrated with the poor coverage from VH-1.
Bob's back!
***
2:35pm
Bob showed a clip from the documentary that inspired him to do Live Aid, then he brought out a girl who was featured in that documentary... a girl whose life was saved thanks to the money from Live Aid. Then Madonna came on and started with "Like A Prayer". I cried a bit during that whole segment.
a-ha is on now in Berlin!
***
3pm
a-ha did "Hunting High & Low" (As gorgeous as ever! The music wasn't bad either... *grin*), "Take On Me", and -- after some technical difficulties with Morten's in-ear monitor -- "Summer Moved On". Those guys are just amazing; Morten can still hit the high notes. I wish more people in the U.S. knew that they're not just the band who did "Take On Me". I'd buy a Live 8 DVD *just* for a-ha, let alone U2, Bob Geldof, and all the other performances I'm enjoying today.
Deep Purple is just wrapping up "Smoke on the Water" in Toronto.
***
4:17pm
Not much has been worth reporting. I hope I haven't missed Roxy Music in Berlin! It looks like it isn't over yet, because the feed still shows the crowd standing around, but the blurb at the top of the AOLmusic.com page indicates that Berlin's show is over. I didn't click away from Berlin's feed long enough to have missed an entire set, though, so I think the information at the top of the page must be wrong. It's been kind of off all day, after all.
***
4:45pm
I managed to see Roxy, but the feed kept buffering over and over again, so I missed most of the first two songs -- "Virginia Plain" and "Love is the Drug"! -- and only got it to play smoothly on the last two songs -- "Do the Strand" and a cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (!!!).
Bob just told people that they shouldn't all leave Hyde Park at once, because the trains couldn't handle it. How practical of him. ;) He then turned it over to Dawn French, who gave a hilarious introduction to Mariah Carey.
Have the Cure gone onstage in Paris yet? I'm so confused.
Waiting for the Pink Floyd and the Who...
***
5:35pm
Here comes the Who!
***
5:50pm
I missed the beginning of the Cure's set because of the Who, but that's okay. The Who did only two songs: "Who Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". Roger Daltrey still does that spine-tingling scream after the, er, break (interlude?) in "Won't Get Fooled Again". They didn't really interact with the crowd, but after all the losses they've been through, I have a lot of admiration for them just for soldiering on.
***
6:30pm
Pink Floyd: fucking WOW. "Breathe > "Money" > "Wish You Were Here" > "Comfortably Numb". I started crying at the beginning of "Wish You Were Here". They were as smooth as if they'd never parted ways. At the end, they all came to the front, arms around each other, to take a bow. I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I wish that the Who, the Cure, and Pink Floyd hadn't overlapped, because I had to miss parts of the Cure and the beginning of Pink Floyd. The Cure is still going! This is the longest set I've seen today.
***
6:47pm
George Michael joins Paul McCartney onstage for "Drive My Car"!
***
7:13pm
Following an all-star rendition of "Hey Jude", Live 8 London is over. Given that the feeds are all starting with daylight footage when I click them now (meaning they've restarted), it looks like all the other cities' shows have shut down as well, although I'm not sure about Rome. Unlike all the other feeds, the Rome feed wasn't showing me any non-stage shots when I last checked, so I don't know if it was a daytime performance. It would be appropriate for all the other shows to end by the time the London show does, I think.
And so I'll call it a day with my Live 8 blogging.