‘Touches of megalomania’
The 50-year-old’s invitations to the pope, Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela have some wondering if Geldof’s succumbed to “slight touches of megalomania.”

Live 8 “is in danger of being a media circus for him,” Lord David Steel, a former leader of the Liberal Party, wrote in a letter to The Times this week.

Criticism has steadily mounted against the singer’s campaign.

Geldof’s rallying cries for a march on Edinburgh, and a flotilla to bring protestors from France to Britain landed him in hot water with police and authorities.

Meantime, the original London line-up was criticized for not including Africans, or any black people for that matter, save the mixed-race American pop singer Mariah Carey. And Geldof has been accused of perpetuating the image of the African continent as a sickly, backward place.

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Scottish police warned that the influx of a million visitors on a city with fewer than half a million residents would be “potentially dangerous,” and teachers condemned Geldof’s call to skip school for the event.

Pop star Midge Ure, one of the organizers of the original Live Aid event, sought to quell fears in an interview with the Scottish Associated Press, saying “it’s purely symbolic, it’s just Bob being Bob. We try to rein him in but you can’t control him.”

Further adding to border patrol fears, Geldof told BBC News he wanted British boat owners to launch a Sail 8 campaign to recreate Dunkirk by crossing the English channel to pick up their “French cousins,” so they could join the "Long March to Freedom" converging on Edinburgh.

Despite his apparent success at enlisting record-breaking yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur for the mission, authorities have voiced concern that illegal immigrants will use the opportunity to sneak into Britain.

‘Failing, ill’ continent
Meantime, black rights groups chastised the Hyde Park line-up for having only one ethnic minority artist among its 22 performers.

Following the backlash, Snoop Dogg, British R&B star Ms. Dynamite, and Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour were added to the bill. But, despite Live 8’s Africa-centric mission, N’Dour is still the only major African artist expected to perform at any of the five concerts.

Even Geldof admitted this week that he expected the Live 8 protests to be “a glorious failure” because the leaders of rich nations were unlikely to agree to all his demands on African poverty.

Despite all the controversy, some fans still saw a positive side.

"I think that even if it's only one in a hundred people that it affects, it'll help Africa," said 26-year-old Annalea Doyle, who was wearing a "Making Poverty History" armband and intended to join the Long March to Freedom.

Unlike most of her peers, 15-year-old Gaby D'Annunzio stood up for that one percent, saying she was more interested in the cause than the concert.

"I think it's really important," she said, adding that she had not entered the Live 8 ticket competition, but would like to join the protest march.

"For my GAP year [a break between high school and college] I'm going to Africa to help people with AIDS and stuff. I don't know where yet 'cause I'm not old enough, but I'm looking into it."

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