Live Earth

Although I taped 22 hours of coverage on the Sundance Channel, 12 hours on Bravo, and followed live coverage on MSN, I wasn’t really glued to the LIVE EARTH concerts yesterday. As a music critic, though, I felt obligated to check it out this morning, and here’s what I found:

Most of the participating stadiums across the globe were half-empty, further evidencing the diminishing power of the benefit concert genre. While the concerts bring in millions of dollars, normally it’s the emotional appeal of the musicians’ playing that makes the most impact. But the best part of Live Earth was the short films about climate change and global warming – which were all much more eye-opening and affecting with regards to the cause than the lip service of rock stars.

You have to visit http://liveearth.msn.com to check out the films, but I’ve placed some of my favorite music performances above. Overall, the Australian show was the best. I heard some great new music and really felt the spirit of the event (Aussie stadium was one of the few that was filled to capacity). Plus, it helped that Crowded House – one of my top five favorite bands of all time – played a powerful set.

Enjoy.

Sneaky Sound System

Missy Higgins

Eskimo Joe