Millions of music lovers rocked out at Live Earth concerts across the globe yesterday – but the message may have been lost in translation.
“I’m here to, you know, save the Earth, one beer at a time,” said Zoe Delohery, a Pennsylvania college student tailgating in the parking lot of Giants Stadium.
Another Meadowlands concertgoer, Brian Yano, 31, of Manhattan, said before the show, “I’m probably the least ‘green’ person I know. Hopefully there won’t be too much propaganda and it will just be fun.”
Live Earth – the biggest musical event ever and a creation of former Vice President Al Gore, who got a standing ovation when he thanked the stadium audience for helping “launch this global effort” – was meant to call attention to the planet’s “climate in crisis.”
Besides New Jersey, there were seven other major shows: in London, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney. Performers included Madonna, Bon Jovi, Shakira, Genesis, The Police, Dave Matthews Band, Duran Duran, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas and the Beastie Boys.
A late show was added in Washington, D.C., with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. There was even a show in Antarctica to make sure every continent was covered. Nunatak, a band of scientists, rocked the Rothera Research Station.
The shows – which were broadcast online to an estimated 2 billion people – went off without a hitch, except for a brief power outage in Australia and a near-cancellation in Rio, where a judge permitted the concert at the last minute despite safety concerns.
Earlier, Gore showed up at another environmental event held in conjunction with Live Earth – the Mother Earth concert in Washington. He hopped a train to get to the Jersey show, which had other celebrity presenters like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jane Goodall.
Millions attended the concerts, cheering environmental activism, recycling their trash in special bins at the various venues, buying veggie burgers and hot dogs and receiving free seeds to plant trees.
There was some controversy in the days before the concerts, as critics said artists were taking private jets to the venues.
In New Jersey, as two planes circled over the stadium toting anti-Gore messages, David Spinall, 30, of England, said that he flew all the way here because he couldn’t get tickets to the London concert.
“Our carbon emissions probably aren’t going to be offset by any donation we’d make,” he admitted.