I’m sure everyone is tired of me talking about Live Earth. It’s over now so, this should be the last of it. Earlier, I said that I thought the event would not be successful. Actually, I said it was going to tank. I was thinking about that remark this morning and I considered that I might have been a little harsh. I don’t want to wish failure on anyone. I figured out though, that’s exactly what bugs me about Live Earth. How do you judge whether the event was successful or not?
If it were a normal show, it’s cut and dried. If the gate and merchandise sales exceed the expenses, the show is a winner. Or, in some cases, a show might not make money but be hugely successful from an artistic standpoint.
Live Earth, however, was not a normal show. The alleged goal of this event was to stir up environmental activism and make a difference. This is from a My Way piece.
“Put all of this energy in your heart and help us solve the climate crisis,” said former Vice President Al Gore, appearing onstage at the end of the final concert, staged at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
I find that kind of statement to be arrogant especially when the execution of the show involves logging hundreds of thousands of air miles to place performers at the stage door. Even more so, when those performers and Mr. Gore have lifestyles that are far more environmentally detrimental than you or I could conceive.
Arrogance aside, Gore seems to be saying that real issue is the “crisis”, not the showbiz. If that’s the case, then the cost of production, the gate and the integrity of the performance don’t matter. What matters then, are peoples perception of the shows and if they are then inspired to tackle the larger issue, global warming. What is the public perception of the shows? For starters, here are some headlines from around the world.
Earth underwhelmed by environment pop extravaganza
Live Earth fails to pack large-scale punch
Fifty bucks for a beer? Livid Earth in Sydney
Johannesburg low turnout blamed on cold and snow
To be fair, I have heard some positive things as well. AOL reported a record number of streams. I have also read some good reports of individual performances. On the whole, it appears that attendance was, at best, spotty. The free show in Rio drew closer to 100,000 than the expected million. Folks in Sydney were leaving in droves because of the beer issue. The Johannesburg show didn’t draw well even after moving the event to a higher profile venue (Do you really want to blame the low attendance of your global warming event on snow?) Add to all of that the cancellation of the Istanbul show due to lack of interest and it doesn’t look good.
All along the promoters have been saying that they would set a standard by putting on the shows as “green” as possible. The fact is, regardless of a possible new standard of greenness, Live Earth simply was not necessary. I don’t care how many carbon offsets they buy, how many trees they plant; the event was exorbitant. It is a case of activists taking the bait of a Hollywood/rock star aesthetic and that is shameful.
Ironically, Chris Rock may have summed it up best at Live Earth, London.
“I pray that this event ends global warming the same way that Live Aid ended world hunger.”
Related posts
Tags: Al Gore, Live Earth
Pat wrote,
“How do you judge whether the event was successful or not?”
To understand consciousness and its evolution, we need to ask the right questions.
:for example: I would ask this question: “Do you mean Live Earth, or Rare Earth?”
And discussion would be something like this, for instance: “The group gained a bit of notoriety when it was mentioned dismissively in the lyrics to Gil Scott-Heron’s landmark 1970 poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” which included the line, “The theme song [to the revolution] will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or the Rare Earth.” (Why Iki Peed Ya; Rare Earth Liner notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_Earth_(band) )
And Gil Bridges might have been heard saying: “Live Earth… I’m gonna sue those guys. Who came up with that label? Its too much like mine.” ( http://www.rareearth.com/ )
To which Pribek.net adds: “If it were a normal show, it’s cut and dried. If the gate and merchandise sales exceed the expenses, the show is a winner. Or, in some cases, a show might not make money but be hugely successful from an artistic standpoint.”
Okay this event is a loss leader. Cut, dried, and wrapped. Art fatale — one, successful segment marketing — Zero, litigations — un-countable,
Thanks again for posting against the wind. >pd
Pat’s last blog post..Comment Two on UFO at Pribek.net
Link | February 6th, 2008 at 12:34 pm