Live 8 (2005)

Two decades years after Live Aid addressed the issue, lethally oppressive poverty in Africa remains a blight on the planet. Thus, in the Summer of 2005 activist Bob Geldof staged an even more ambitious series of continent-spanning concerts dedicated to raising funds and public consciousness about international debt relief. This expansive four-disc chronicles those shows in one of the most ambitious concert documents ever attempted, capturing all of the highlights (and a few complete artist sets) of concerts in London, Philadelphia, Toronto, Paris, Berlin and Moscow. Underscoring the events' sense of unity, the performances here span both generations and genres, offering veteran rock fans often muscular sets by Elton John (including a woozy take on T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution" with Baby Shambles' Pete Doherty), The Who, Sting (who sharply reprises a trio of Police favorites) and the ubiquitous Paul McCartney. But the highlight of the Jurassic set's contributions are a reunion of Roger Waters and his long-estranged Pink Floyd bandmates on a sonically flawless five-song whirl through highlights of Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall; footage of their rehearsal for the show is contained on the set's equally eclectic fourth disc of bonus materials. But there are highlights here for nearly every taste, be they a fine sampling of contemporary UK and Australian rockers ( Coldplay, Jet, Razorlight and especially blistering performances by Stereophonics and Kaiser Chiefs), a little hip-hop nostalgia (a joyous Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff leading what seems half of his Philly hometown in a goofy singalong of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme); showy turns by pop-meister Robbie Williams and chateuses Mariah Carey, a rousing set by Black Eyed Peas (featuring Rita and Stephen Marley on a cover of "Get Up Stand Up"). Other one-off duets include Coldplay and Richard Ashcroft doing a fine version of the latter's "Bittersweet Symphony," Stevie Wonder with Rob Thomas ("Higher Ground") and Adam Levine ("Signed Sealed Delivered"), a tender take on "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan and Josh Groban and McCartney and George Michael taking an upbeat turn via "Drive My Car," before Macca closes out the London show by leading its various participants in an obligatory singalong of "Hey Jude." Royalties from sales of the set will go to the Band Aid Trust for the relief of hunger and poverty in Africa. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Awesome transaction!

Great service from the seller! DVD and packaging in excellent shape. And, the content was much better than I expected. I bought this for the Pink Floyd reunion and got that and so much more. The quality of the DVD is amazing and the backstage footage is fun - it would be nice to have had more of that, though. It's a phenomonal collection and I'm really glad I purchased it. Thank you, Amazon! January 14, 2008

Amazing

Loved most of it...some of the acts don't do anything for me but the ones that do are great.
November 30, 2007

A decent release for what it is

This is a 4-DVD set, which takes some of the performances from most of the Live 8 venues. Performances by a number of the "big names" who performed at the nine Live 8 venues appear here (there's about 10 hours of material). This is a good set for a starter, to get a good cross-section of the artists and venues. However, DVDs have been issued for at least some of the individual venues; so if you're more interested in getting a whole DVD of one of the venues, it's worth checking to see if the venue you want has been issued individually. November 21, 2007

Hard to say about the result of this event, but a special moment...

20 years ago another act like this was made by Bob Geldof to bring new attitudes against one of the most biggest problem of mankind... Well, twenty years later we're seeing that the poverty is growing and now many countries have been "shoted" by this problem...

It's very hard to say if this act, to promove shows around the world against the poverty, using singers and famous groups it's the best thing to do... But I think we need to have a position about this subject using some kinds of "guns", and the music is good way to touch or even to send a message for the people and to the government...

Well, about the dvd what can I say? A great box with a lot of music... You'll have about 10 hours of music and shows.. I liked that they promoted this stuff including all the main languages on the subtitles, english, german, french, and portuguese (thanks god!)! Great sound and a great images from the shows around the world...

I can give an important value to this event to get the reunion of the Pink Floyd after so many fights and discussions through the years.. Well, if they could come back and play again, why we can't believe that the poverty can disappear?? : ))

Great show and package... Buy it.. You won't be disappointed... September 19, 2007

Very Good

I bought this dvd and I do not repent myself, a product of excellent quality. Congratulations Amazon.com because she was perfect in the delivery of the product.

September 10, 2007

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