Pop Culture Gems

Live 8 - Taped and edited? - Part 2 (shorter and nicer)

So in a shocking upset, I was about to give Madonna "performer of the day " recognition (home town advantage since she's a Brit, right?), but then came the amazing Pink Floyd reunion.

Full disclosure: I had the folded-up-from-the-album "Dark Side of the Moon" poster on my wall during high school and one "high"-light from my first weekend in college was seeing "The Wall" movie on the Syracuse quad. Further full disclosure, I thought I could probably go the rest of my life without hearing two Floyd songs in a row. As the day of enless commercials, inane VJ comments and lack of music went on, I was actually anticipating the reunion - mostly just to see the uncomfortable stage dynamics between band and Roger Waters. But then, from the first note of "Breathe" to the horrendous MTV cut-in on "Comfortably Numb," I was amazed at how good this was. Roger has the best vocal chops, the band can play, the light show remains trippy and the tunes are pretty awesome.

In the why can't we just get along category, I like the David Gilmour statement:
“Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It’s crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention then it’s got to be worthwhile.”

Another quick rant/question - did MTV broadcast Nelson Mandela from South Africa? Maybe I missed it, but I'm guessing the MTV producer didn't know who he was.

Other highlights are quick: Jay Z "Big Pimpin" with Linkin Park was rocking. How was Jay Z the only artist that I heard all day who mentioned politics - something smart about spending billions to kill people when we could be saving people. Audioslave had a catchy little number - (insert Beavis voice here) - Slash is cool. The Who and Sir Paul: good, but past their festival prime? Billy Joe and Green Day doing "We Are the Champions" was fun, but the real Live Aid tribute would have been a hilarious "Radio Ga Ga."

Finally, the concert should have ended (not started) with Sir Paul and U2 doing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Judge for yourself and support this cause (for £ 0.99) at: https://www.7digital.com/payment/credit.aspx?id=384

Give me a shout when this all comes out on DVD!
P.S. I am now inspired to host an entire Live Aid DVD viewing party at my house on Saturday, July 24 - All welcomed to attend, except MTV.

posted by Adam Zand @ 10:58 AM