That's enough concerts for good causes now. Did you see any of Live Earth? I must confess I only saw snippets and the Madonna bit at the end. But I saw enough to know it was a load of bollocks. Everyone whooping it up, middle class style. The whitest audience ever seen at a pop concert. The inevitable girl in bikini top on man's shoulders getting in the way, over-excited girls mouthing the words, 'fun' painted faces, middle-aged men punching the air and lots of embarrassing dancing to a succession of car coat rock bands whose music in every Vauxhall Corsa CD changer in the land.
But will it do any good for climate change?
No.
A few thousand people from the sticks at pop concerts worldwide is not going to make any difference. Here, apart from pop star pontificating, of which there was much, every time there was a message about the message the BBC cut back to Jonathan Ross doing yet another awkward interview with a succession of unsuitable guests who plainly couldn't care less about global warming or Edith Bowman desperately trying not to be Fearne Cotton. At least Ricky Gervais knew when to get off this time.
Doesn't everyone know about it already? It's China and India we've got to watch. Nothing will change until they do. So really, what's the point? If this changes anything, I'll eat my carbon neutral hat.
5 comments:
I loved Madonna on it, though. What a woman - and when she said 'waaaytin' in Hung Up in pure Estuary English, I felt quite proud. Snot Patrol (that was a typing error but I thought I 'd leave it in) were as dull as ever, and Keane were fab. And why did David Gray and Damien Rice sing Que Sera at a concert for climate CHANGE?
I shall continue to use public transport, recycle almost obsessively, and ignore what celebrities say.
I kind of agree about China and India, F-C – I've been to both in the last couple of years and polluted doesn't begin to describe them. In fact, most of the time in China (especially Beijing) my nose was totally blocked and streaming from the pollution. Having said that, environmental issues can't continue to be someone else's problem forever – I strongly believe we should all do our bit if we can. Just blaming developing countries is a very American attitude, and you know what I think of American attitudes (apart from those nice alt country bands I'm very fond of).
Speaking of good music, you've got that bit about Live Earth right: what a bunch of self-righteous c**ts they really are. Still, at least we had Madonna – curious Nazi-inspired dancing aside (did you SEE that Heil-Hitler-salutes-and-goosestepping routine?!?), at least she's a star. Apparently, the best they could get for the Shanghai gig was Sarah Brightman. Probably something to do with all that pollution...
Beijing's a nightmare. Even when I went 10 years ago you couldn't see down the end of the road. I got no feel for the city as a whole as an overview could not be found.
Shanghai was just as bad. You could seem knocking down the old right before your eyes, as one skyscraper after another sprang up in minutes, or so it seemed.
Stuart Maconie said something rather funny on his show on Saturday during the intro to his retro quiz, the Betamax Challenge: "Do you remember when spurious celeb love-ins at Wembley Stadium weren't a weekly event?"
I didn't watch it but I don't think that festivals and festival audiences are quite what they used to be.
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