All Together Now
The Rockers of Live Earth Lift Their Voices in Support of a Greener Globe

By J. Freedom du Lac and Joshua Zumbrun
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 8, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., July 7 So this is what it sounds like when a rock star among environmental crusaders cranks it up to 11.

Al Gore tried his hand at concert promoting Saturday, hoping to get the world to hear him loud and clear (but especially loud). The former vice president's message, repeated over and over by artists at Live Earth concerts here and on every other continent around the world? The climate is in a state of emergency! Act now! Rock and ROLL!! !

Or, as hip-hop singer Akon yelped from the Giants Stadium stage: "Support global warming, baby!" (Oops. But point taken.) Thus did art and message mix, and sometimes collide, at the U.S. leg of the worldwide concert series, which drew headliners from across the spectrum of contemporary music.

Other shows took place in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro, all intended to raise awareness of global warming. And, just so it could be said that all continents were represented, a little band of scientists boogied at a research station in Antarctica and sent their tunes to the world via satellite.

As for Washington, it was represented by a brief -- but mighty rare nowadays -- appearance by retired country star Garth Brooks, who dropped in to sing a song with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, at a previously scheduled event on the Mall.

Plenty of scoffers have questioned whether a bunch of musicians can change popular behavior by running through a short set and shouting a few slogans. In fact, a bunch of musicians have questioned it, let alone the people who doubt the existence of global warming, or who doubt that humankind can do much to reverse it.

But those folks were not much in evidence Saturday at Giants Stadium, where the spirit of recycling extended all the way to the napkin dispensers on the concourse. "Giants Stadium is doing its part to make Live Earth a greener place by using EcoLogo certified napkins," posted signs read.

There was recycling on the set lists, too. Goth-punk band AFI did an appropriately glammy cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust." Country guitar-slinger Keith Urban performed a fiery version of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" with the young soulstress Alicia Keys. (The surprise duet, a rather unlikely pairing, was meant to make the special event a little more so, though Keys sounded somewhat flat.) Performing her own set later, Keys -- in a slinky, fuchsia cocktail dress that could cause global warming -- tore into a spirited medley of soul classics: The O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me."

The Smashing Pumpkins were among the few acts to push their own product, with Billy Corgan pointing out the recently reunited alternative-rock band has a new album coming out on Tuesday. Corgan then joked about whether people were more likely to buy the album or illegally download it. (Contrast that with Roger Waters, who barely addressed the crowd during his Pink Floyd-heavy set of soaring prog-rock that concluded with "The Wall" -- complete with a children's chorus and, of course, an inflatable pig that flew across the stadium.)

The concert began under a broiling sun at 2:15, and while the event was sold out -- 52,000 tickets, according to the local promoter, Live Nation -- the stadium wasn't even one-third full as the first act took the stage. Perhaps that was because so many people were seeking refuge on the shaded concourse or in the cool tunnels leading to the stadium floor -- which, organizers proudly pointed out, was covered with environmentally friendly Bravo Mats instead of plywood.

Artists took dramatically different approaches to addressing the issue of the day. AFI's Davey Havok urged people to act on a personal level and noted that his band is vegetarian. Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara suggested picking up some reading material on global warming. And then there was Ludacris. After being introduced with a bad pun about "environmental ludicrousness," the rap star asked the audience to answer his own call (and response): "When I say, 'Luda,' you say, 'Cris!' " he barked. (He also sent a shout-out to "all the independent ladies.")

There was no real unifying artistic thread tying the New Jersey lineup together. Just popularity. In trying to reach as many eyes and ears as possible, the talent booker aimed big and wound up with a who's-who of the Billboard Top 40, not to mention some of the biggest touring artists on the circuit. How else to explain Akon and Fall Out Boy sharing the stage with the Police and the Dave Matthews Band? Artists performed truncated sets, usually 20 minutes each.

Still, the acts didn't skimp. Kelly Clarkson, wearing a raccoonish amount of eyeliner, showed up with a nine-piece band that swelled to 14 when the "American Idol" winner was joined by a string section for two songs. Kanye West brought a deejay, two backing vocalists and a 14-piece orchestra.

A particularly galvanizing moment was Melissa Etheridge's impassioned and epic performance of "I Need to Wake Up," a protest song in which she wondered, in a bluesy wail, "What happens tomorrow? WHAT HAPPENS TOMORROW?" There were more popular performers and better-known songs, but none fit the spirit of the concert better than Etheridge and her riff on the troubled state of the world. No surprise there, since the song served as the Oscar-winning theme to Gore's Oscar-winning enviro-documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

There was at least one real rock star with a higher "Q" rating than Gore's. At dusk, as the former vice president spoke from the stage for the third time, a roar rolled through the stadium: Jon Bon Jovi had emerged from the wings. His band broke out some of its most rousing arena-rock anthems -- "It's My Life," "Living on a Prayer," "Wanted (Dead or Alive)" -- all of which seemed to send a surge through the crowd. It was the power ballad as sustainable energy source, and a most difficult act to follow. (A task that fell to the Smashing Pumpkins, who gamely responded with layers of guitar squalor -- and a distorted snatch of "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- while Corgan brayed repeatedly about revolution.)

Green was everywhere. There were green shirts, hats, sundresses, bandanas. There were also beach balls done up as planet Earth -- in green, of course.

Just inside the stadium gates, the electronics company Philips set up a booth to promote the cause -- and its energy-efficient light bulbs. To power one of the bulbs, three female models in bike shorts took turns riding a stationary bike that was rigged up to a manually powered generator. Flanking the light bulb: two flat-panel TVs showing Philips ads on a continuous video loop. The TVs were not powered by the bike, alas.

There were signs of hypocrisy -- well, let's say paradox-- if you were looking for them. Just a few feet from one of the many smart cars set up around the stadium, a refrigerated truck had its "ThermoKing" engine running. There were more than a few oversize SUVs parked around the venue, too.

Still, organizers noted that the electricity powering the event was being supplied by bio-diesel generators or purchased through the grid from renewable sources. Trash bins were emblazoned with the message: "Waste collected here will be sorted with the goal of diverting 90 percent of waste from the landfill." And sure enough, behind the scenes volunteers picked through the garbage, recyclables in one bin, biodegradables -- including some seriously yucky stuff -- in another.

On a stage that stretched from sideline to sideline (and was to be recycled following the concert), Virginia artist Kenna opened the show with a blast of pulsating electro-rock. "All this pressure's building up, and there's a chance it's gonna explode," he sang over washes of synthesizer.

Celebrities were brought in to hammer the salient points home. Leonardo DiCaprio spoke of a "tipping point in our history." Kevin Bacon bounded onstage and asked: "Are you ready to answer the call?" (Bacon also said, hyperbolically, that Live Earth "is the largest global event ever." Then again, using that goofy six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon math, perhaps it really was. Organizers stuck to their claim that the concert series -- and, thus, the message -- was reaching 2 billion people worldwide, counting those who watched television coverage or followed the events on Msn.com.)

To keep the show moving, producers used a rotating stage on which one artist could perform while roadies set up the next band's gear. So: Kenna exits stage right, 2:29. Stage rotates, taking Kenna's gear with it, 2:30. Kevin Bacon being Kevin Bacon, 2:31. And then -- voila -- moments later, here comes KT Tunstall, wearing a tank top that read "Save the Future."

The entrancing Scottish folktronica singer performed her best-known songs -- and jokingly (we hope) implored the audience to "you know, eat more soil or something!" The show's announcer occasionally leavened the proceedings with humor, too. In introducing an emo-punk band, he said, from his hidden spot in the stadium: "All the way from Long Island -- I hope they carpooled! -- welcome Taking Back Sunday."

Tunstall, by the way, is among those who apparently are walking the walk. She said backstage that she runs her tour bus with bio-diesel fuel, is renovating her London residence with solar panels and environmentally friendly materials, and offsets carbon emissions from her tours and CDs through extensive tree-planting.

Other performers are newly converted. "I just realized today what the meaning of 'green' was," said Akon. "I wanted to educate myself to understand what the whole global warming thing was. That's why I wanted to be a part of this."

Live Earth organizers were quick to emphasize that their purpose was not to raise money, but to change behavior. "It's not a fundraiser," said Lily Sobhani, the global head of events for Live Earth. "We see this as a launch event for an ongoing campaign."

After the concerts have been paid for -- Sobhani estimates an approximate overall budget for Live Earth of $15 million to $20 million -- any remaining proceeds will be donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection, an environmental foundation launched by Gore last year.

At every concert, attendees were asked to agree to a seven-point pledge that combines personal and civic commitments. (Examples: To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just and prosperous world for the 21st century; to take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become "carbon neutral.")

All day, Gore was never far from the action, appearing via satellite at concerts in other countries and in person here and at the Washington event, which drew Garth Brooks to the National Museum of the American Indian's Mother Earth event.

Brooks, the king of country music (in sales, at least) throughout the 1990s, came out of retirement for about five minutes to perform, with Yearwood, "We Shall Be Free," off Brooks's 1992 album, "The Chase." The song's heal-the-world message seemed custom-made for the day's theme: "When the skies and the oceans are clean again / Then we shall be free."

Brooks wore a cowboy hat and a denim shirt and sat in front of a huge screen that played video clips of oceans and forests.

A crowd of about 500 people crammed onto the museum's plaza and hundreds more watched videos of the performance nearby.

Mary Phillips, who is of Omaha and Laguna Pueblo descent, waved a sign that said, "For indigenous peoples, every day is Earth Day." She said that she appreciated the celebrity appearances at Mother Earth, a daylong festival that was planned long before Gore, Brooks and Yearwood decided to attend.

"It creates more momentum for something we were already planning on doing," she said.

In the end, the global affair wound down with this: The Police, joined onstage at Giants Stadium by John Mayer and Kanye West, "sending out an S.O.S. to the world" on an appropriately jittery version of "Message in a Bottle." And then, one final message from Gore. "Put all this energy in your heart," he said, making his encore, "and help us solve the climate crisis."

Contributing to this story were the Associated Press and staff writer Rachel Beckman, reporting from Washington.