Stars lining up for Live Aid 2
2005-05-31 08:46
London - A who's who of popular music including Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna and Prince are scheduled to perform this July in a massive successor concert to the Live Aid charity event of 1985, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday.
The event is scheduled to be announced by Irish pop star-turned development activist Bob Geldof in London later on Tuesday, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.
It said that a series of stars had already been confirmed for the July 2 event, which will take place simultaneously in London, Philadelphia and, possibly, other countries worldwide.
Names already confirmed also include British girl group the Spice Girls, whose original five-member line up last performed together in 1998, and the classic line-up of veteran British rockers Pink Floyd, the paper said.
Although the concert is being seen as a successor to Live Aid, also organised by Geldof, which raised huge sums for African famine relief, the purpose of the new event is very different, the report said.
It will be called Live 8, and is timed to take place just before the July 6-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, of leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations' club.
Aligning itself with the Make Poverty History campaign, which is championing trade reform, debt relief and other development issues, the intention of the concert will be to raise awareness rather than money.
Last minute
As well as the main concerts in London's Hyde Park and in Philadelphia, there were rumours of satellite events in places including France, Germany and South Africa.
The event is being organised at the last minute, according to U2 singer Bono - also a noted campaigner on development issues - who is helping persuade acts to take part in the concert.
"Geldof has been telling me 'no' for two years (about organising a Live Aid successor) and only finally agreed to it six weeks ago," Bono said, complaining about the pressure this had placed him under.
"Now I have to spend every spare minute hitting the phones to try to drum up support. American stars tend to plan six months ahead, not six weeks. It has been incredibly difficult," he told the paper
In a separate report, the Daily Mirror said that the Spice Girls, whose return has been much predicted in recent months, had actually been turned down by Live 8 organisers.
Citing a source in the BBC, which is to broadcast the show, the paper said the group were seen as too manufactured and not in keeping with the event's serious purpose.