The Philly Live 8 concert has officially become the tour's "urban show", now to include Kanye West. That likely won't assuage critics who have bashed the global lineup as too white, and at least one British journo will skip the concert altogether:
I simply do not think it is right that ex-pop star Bob Geldof should be the human catalyst for one of the biggest problems facing mankind - it is beyond the wisdom of Solomon, let alone Geldof. He is not up to the job.
He is making the same mistake in 2005 as he did in 1985 regarding black acts, surprising for someone so passionate about feeding Africans. His argument that the dominance of white faces among the Live 8 line-up reflects the need for big names ignores the importance of symbolism in mass spectacles like this.
I am very uncomfortable, for example, at the prospect of Celine Dion doling out spoonfuls of pop compassion to Africa's passive hungry.
I've said before that I don't necessarily have a quarrel with the lineup (Geldoff was looking for maximum audience, so he turned to the tried-and-true crowd bands), and that any attention paid to Africa is better than none (particularly with the emphasis shifted from dole to debt elimination). But I can see this bloke's point. A conert, even a really good one, will be a temporary blip on the world's radar, when what Africa really needs is extensive political and economic reform. There's also some reason to be skeptical about the idea of the world's rich countries really doing what it takes to help lift the continent out of its doldrums, given the magnitude of its debt (even with tremendous natural resources). Ironically, Geldoff himself has actually emerged as something of a conservative on these points, and essentially saying that concert or none, Africa will have to look inward to solve many of its problems.
Controversies aside, I give Geldof and Bono props for what they're calling their "final push" for Africa. |
