Climate changes became a popular issue in the context of humanitarian concerts. About 20 years ago, hunger was “in fashion”, later on human rights, and now the time has come for global warming. But, the question is if these are real humanitarian concerts of somewhat rusty musicians trying to revive their old splendor through the story of humanness and the promotion of what is good. Live Aid in 1985, its descendant Live 8 in 2005 and today’s Live Earth are examples of very non-stable ideas accompanied by powerful media reactions.

LIVE EARTH  

The latest “humanitarian” festival is Live Earth, dedicated to global warming. Concern for the environment and the future of man kind on Earth are very current issues with a large potential for good ticket sales. Seven concerts will be held on seven continents on July 7 this year (two thousand and seven), all with the goal of preventing future climate changes. Or at least it appears so. One of the concerts was supposed to be held in Washington, before Capitol Hill, but senator James Inhofe prevented this, largest opponent of the global warming theory, which is the greatest lie ever presented to the Americans, according to him. Among confirmed performers are Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, The Police, Smashing Pumpkins and the rest great names, but the one that stands out most is Al Gore, appearing in a role of an activist and partner to the mother organisation “Save Ourselves”. Therefore, decide for yourselves how much concern there will be about the environment and how much about the advertisements.

LIVE AID 1985

This concert is in most text-books, and in Croatia, children get to know of it in primary school already. The pivotal character is Bob Geldof, and the endangered groups are hungry Ethiopians. The whole idea boiled down to raising money for the exhausted Africans, but the outcome, no matter how positive it looks, drew negative reactions of the public and the media. The concert was simultaneously held at the London Wembley and JFK stadium in Philadelphia. Around 160,000 people attended it live, while the number of spectators via satellite broadcast climbed to 1.5 million in over 100 countries. All these people were under the influence of Bob Geldof`s statements like “Give us money now!”, with a result of gathered 150 million pounds.

During the concert itself, Bob Dylan somewhat ruined the concept by saying he hoped that at least one or two millions of the raised money would end up in the hands of American farmers who were going through a crisis at that time.

Group Chumbawamba still condemn Live Aid musicians for personal advertisement, on their 1986 album ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records''. They claim most performers concentrated on record sales at this concert, and not raising money for the ones who truly need it.

Fox News host Bill O`Reilly criticised the concert organisers because there were doubts that a lot of the collected money ended up on the hands of the then Ethiopia president Megistu Haile Mariam and his army. Also, other critics claim it was donated to Ethiopian non-governmental organisations which were under the direct influence of Dergo`s hunta, famous for the execution of at least 50,000 people.

LIVE 8

''Live 8'' is the name of a line of concerts held in 2005, also under the leadership of Bob Geldof, this time with the goal of raising awareness of the G8 membering countries, which were planning their 31^st summit at that time, with the theme, among other things, the economic development of Africa. Ten concerts were held in total with the motto “We do not want your money, we want your vote”, which means there was no fund raising, but the concerts were held in order to create a critical mass of people to raise their voices and sign a petition for the pardon of debts of the poorest countries and the implementation of fair trade rules.

Main objections to these concerts were those of an unclear goal. Concerning the circumstances, the entire “Live 8” was reduced to few good concerts which were of no special use to anyone, and the mentioned critical mass was never created. Television and radio host Andy Kershaw wondered if this was actually Geldof`s affectation and proving he can influence word statesmen. Also, he was accused of exploiting the African situation with the goal of advertising the careers if already forgotten musicians.

Let us mention the fact that individual concert performers in Philadelphia received presents in stead of a performance fee, like Gibson guitars or Hugo Boss suits, which still lessens their humanitarian intention, and increases their property by at least 3,000 dollars.