Live Earth concerts - hopefully Philly?

This one's been on my mind for the past few weeks, but I've had so little time and so much to blog about, and more urgent things came up that I wanted to blog about first.

On February 15, Al Gore (above, center), along with Cameron Diaz (left) and Live 8 Producer Kevin Wall (right), along with Pharrell Williams, Maná, Cameron Diaz, and the MSN Network, announced the creation of Save Our Selves (SOS), a movement designed to raise awareness of the global warming crisis. SOS will reach people all over the planet through through various media, highlighted by a 24-hour concert, Live Earth, on July 7, across all seven continents. The shows will feature more than 100 top musical acts. Live Earth's Website states that the concerts alone will reach an audience of more than 2 billion people between concert goers and broadcasts. 'Way cool.

This event is the best of both worlds for me, combining two of my biggest passions - global warming and summertime concerts.

I'm pretty jacked about the whole thing, but my first thought was "Where is the U.S. show?" Evidently, Gore and Wall will keep us waiting for a bit. So far, SOS has announced the following locations:

Shanghai, China; Sydney, Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, England; Brazil - TBD; Japan - TBD; Antarctica - TBD; and the United States - TBD.

First, how cool is it that the show will be in Antarctica? You go, Gore. But of course, where I really have my eye is the U.S. show. I really, REEEEEALLLLY hope the show comes to Philly. Having a concert of this magnitude in the City of Brotherly Love is not without precedent - Live AID in 1985 (Right, at the demolished JFK Stadium), and most recently Live 8 in 2005 were both held here, to great fanfare and success. Third time's the charm - let's give the organizers lots of shouts to let them know we want the U.S. show here in Philly.

What's more, our local friends are all invited come to our place to see it! For those of you who have been to our condo, you know the great view we have, and we are about a 2-minute walk from the Art Museum. If they elected to have it on Ben Franklin Parkway, like Live 8 (below left), I would be excited beyond words.

Live 8, along with the Dave Matthews Band's 2003 Central Park concert in New York City, will always be the two concerts that I missed. (Okay, and also Woodstock '99, my generation's lame attempt to emulate the original Woodstock concert in 1969.)

Live 8 was a particular disappointment, since we live so close to the Art Museum. We were away to attend my friend Tim's wedding. Of all the weekends he had to pick to get married! Oh well, I can't blame him - he picked the date long before the concert was announced, but still, he owes me one for missing that show.

Anyway, we need to contact the organizers of Live Earth to tell them to bring the U.S. show to Philadelphia. E-mail the organizers here at: info@liveearth.org.

Here is a little more information about the shows...

There will be over 100 acts at all seven concerts, and so far, here are the announced performers (and the Website says that there with many more announced in the near future):

Pharrell
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
Snoop Dogg
Lenny Kravitz
Bon Jovi
Paolo Nutini
Sheryl Crow
AFI
Melissa Etheridge
John Mayer
Damien Rice
Corinne Bailey Rae
Duran Duran
Snow Patrol
John Legend
Black Eyed Peas
Akon
Enrique Iglesias
Fall Out Boy
Maná
Keane
Kelly Clarkson
Korn
Faith Hill w/ Tim McGraw
Bloc Party

Anyway, let's do all we can to try to bring the Live Earth concert to Philadelphia. Don't forget to drop the organizers a quick line at info@liveearth.org, and let's keep our fingers crossed!