Live Earth - Music Review

I'm not going to even bother trying to describe the event just the music. Might do the event at a later date. Watched the event back on TV on Sunday was interesting how different some of the bands sounded on telly which I will mention when relevant.

Genesis
Sound is quite muddy, Musicianship is polished, but not all that exciting. Phil Collins inexplicably provides the first "Fuck" of the day at 11am. Sounded a lot better on TV.

Razorlight
Jonny Borrel flounces around in a girls top and makeup plays two hit singles and has the crowd on his side and then flounces about complaining about the sound before playing an obscure album track which looses the crowd totally.

Snow Patrol
First two tracks are pretty decent then they play Chasing Cars and for the first time hands fly into the air and people start singing along. Gary Lightbody looks stunned and overwhelmed by the volume of Wembley singing back at him. Didn't come across as well on TV.

Damian Rice David Grey
Not my cup of tea, but David Grey come across as pretty charismatic.

Kasabian
Best band so far, absolutely blow the roof off. Tom stomps about like the stadium belongs to him and the audience seem to agree. Set finishes in style with a wicked drum solo and lots of feedback

Paulo Nutini
I have some time for his records, but as when I saw the Glasto coverage of him he hunches his back like he has spinal problems and mumbles into his shoes in a weird Golum type voice. Played far too many songs considering much better artists played less. The biggest low point so far.

Black Eyes Peas
Not my cup of tea but get a great response getting everyone moving and sound powerful

John Legend
Generic soul ballad. I find my attention waning and then discovering the song has finished.

Duran Duran
Gamely soldier on despite technical hitches but sound indistinct and all over the place. A band I was looking forward to but proved to be a bit disappointing.

RHCP
After a really long break band come on sans Kleidis and jam for a bit. The he comes on and they play a song talk in jokey nonsense and have long off mike conversations on stage. Rhythm section are predictably awesome, but not as good as I was expecting.

Bloc Party
Very good sound tight and funky, get a good response

Corrinne Bailey Rae
Missed most of it cos I was having a wee, but sounded pleasant enough.

Keane
I'll freely admit that I don't like Keanes music, but Tom has got some pretty awesome pipes on him and is looking loads healthier since he stopped being a bit drug dustbin. They play it like a real stadium rock band and it is one of the pleasant surprises of the day.

Metallica
Everything steps up a gear. Metallica play like bastards, crowd go apeshit, moshing breaks out everyone knows all of the words. You can really tell that this is a band who play Stadiums this size every day of the week.
Much better than the last time I saw them when they were really off form.

Spinal Tap
So awesome to get the chance to see the tap. Stone Henge is hilarious, middle song a bit rubbish, but then "Big Bottom" featuring bass players from every single band so far is an awesome experience not to mention a kick ass song.

James Blunt
Inexplicable scheduling strikes as James blunt breaks up the rock section of the evening with his piss pour whining. Gets lots of boos really dull, by the end several members of the audience have blood spurting out of their eyes and resort to eating their own children (I'm exaggerating, but not much).

Beastie Boys
Awesome from start to finish. Start off MCing over Mix Master Mikes turntable awesomeness then bring the house down playing as a band with Sabotage which can only be understood by imagining tens of thousands of people all shouting "LISTEN ALLA YALL IT'S SABOTAGE!!!" as loud as they can.

Pussy Cat Dolls
Once again inexplicably scheduled really late in the day for a band that ain't all that famous and are playing in the middle of a load of rock bands. Warble along to a tape while prancing around. The set seems to be much longer than anyone else's. Most of the crowd seem to go from the Beasties jump fest to standing about with arms folded looking pissed off with the occasional "Get Yer Tits Out" yelled out. All of the songs at some point switch into eurodisco and the girls do jiggly aerobics to disguise the fact that all their songs are shit. I was surprised that an act based on girls in lingerie could be this rubbish.

Foo Fighters

SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOODDDD!!

Played it like they were headlining their own show rather than being a turn at a bigger show. People go predictably nuts. Manage to out do Metalica at the stadium rock thing which is no mean feat. Best act of the night by far.
Many exhausted people don't even stick around for Madonna.

Madonna
First song is a rubbish new Live Earth tribute thing which features a school choir and sucks ass in a horrible way.
With that done we get Ray Of Light rocked up with Madonna rocking out on a Les Paul and having a good swear. Isla Bonita with an inspired cameo, by Gypsy Punks Gogol Bordello and finally a body popping version of Hung Up.
I would never play £150 for a ticket to one of her shows, but seeing this I now know why people do.