Best Live 8 viewing to be found online

ANALYSIS

By David Bauder

updated 8:03 p.m. ET July 2, 2005

In Berlin, Green Day proclaimed its majesty with a cover of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” as R.E.M. performed “Man on the Moon” in London. And R.E.M. hadn’t left the stage before Tim McGraw began singing “Live Like You Were Dying” in Rome.

These were just a few thrilling musical moments from Live 8 that you couldn’t see on live television. For the ultimate viewing experience, you needed America Online.

Television seemed shockingly old-fashioned during Saturday’s worldwide concert for poverty relief. AOL’s coverage was so superior, it may one day serve as a historical marker in drawing people to computers instead of TV screens for big events.

Part of it was simply the way things were structured. Concerts held more or less simultaneously in 10 venues are next to impossible for television to get its arms around. Live Aid 20 years ago, with concerts only in London and Philadelphia, was much easier.

And part of it was also MTV’s failure to really try. There were as many commercial breaks as performances, and MTV’s stable of correspondents spent more time talking about what a fantastic event it was instead of showing it.

With a click of the mouse, AOL visitors could jump from a video feed of the London concert to one from Philadelphia, Berlin or Rome. The performances were shown in their entirety. AOL programming chief Bill Wilson claimed that 160,000 people were simultaneously viewing the video streams at any given time, and that more than 5 million people sampled the video at some point during the day.

While AOL could be faulted for failing to provide users with a comprehensive schedule ahead of time, it offered updates onscreen under an entry called “The Buzz.” People watching Kanye West in Philadelphia, for instance, were flashed a message: “Brian Wilson is performing ‘Good Vibrations’ in Berlin.” Or they were told Snoop Dogg was about to take the stage in London.

An addictive experience
It was utterly addictive. It tied the event together and gave fans a reason to stay glued to their computers.

AOL’s “global feed” feature offered a chance to catch up with performances that just took place, with little chatter or interruption.

Meanwhile, MTV was playing catch-up on a whole different level.

When Destiny’s Child took the stage in Philadelphia to sing “Survivor,” MTV was showing a tape of Coldplay from three hours earlier in London. MTV also suffered from a maddeningly short attention span: It missed the opening of a Black-Eyed Peas song because of an interview with fans, then cut off the end for a commercial.

Carolyn Kaster / AP TV viewers missed the start of the Black Eyed Peas' set in Philadelphia, but Internet viewers were able to see all the artists live.

MTV simply had too many elements — interviews, personalities who needed their “face time” and all those performances — to give its broadcast any sense of coherence.

Overall, the day’s events were magnificent in their sheer breadth and diversity. Organizer Bob Geldof promised to deliver “the greatest concert ever, and it was hard to prove him wrong. Most acts seized the moment with magnanimity, realizing it could well be the most-remembered moment from their careers.

After backing Paul McCartney on the concert-opening “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” U2 cemented its status as the world’s top rock band. It performed “Beautiful Day,” “Vertigo” and “One” with ease and power.

Green Day — whose crowd-pleasing leader Billie Joe Armstrong has a future in Vegas — had a powerful four-song set. And after being critically discounted in recent years, R.E.M. was intent on proving its strength.

Who was that masked man?
Carried out on a throne behind women spreading rose petals in his path, Will Smith gave a delightfully over-the-top show in his hometown of Philly. Madonna rose to the occasion with a stage full of singers and breakdancers all dressed in white.

The day’s oddest trend? Masks.

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe had an odd blue raccoon-like mask painted on his face, and Kanye West’s violin players looked like they had black masking tape over their eyes.

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP REM's Michael Stipe donned a blue painted mask during the band's performance in Hyde Park on Saturday.

By ending with the desultory “Fix It,” Coldplay missed a chance to make a powerful statement for itself; cameras were busy in Coldplay’s set with no less than three peeks at singer Chris Martin’s wife Gwyneth Paltrow and their baby in the front row.

Dido seemed to be swallowed up by the large stage, her voice not up to the challenge. Maroon 5 needlessly broke an unspoken rule by covering a song by an artist who performed later, with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Pictures of the G8 leaders flashed on video screens as Sting sang the “I’ll be watching you” refrain in “Every Breath You Take.” The Who used the same pictures behind “Who Are You.”

The day’s most anticipated musical event, a reunion by Pink Floyd, felt ragged and a little sad. One could only guess whether formerly feuding Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour wondered about their wasted years as they looked across the stage at one another.

The London concert wrapped up with Paul McCartney singing “The Long and Winding Road” — a fitting end for Live 8’s eclectic trip around the globe.

MORE FROM LIVE 8 CONCERTS

No bump in U.S. music sales from Live 8

No bump in U.S. music sales from Live 8 Group complains about Live 8 profanity Live 8 shows power of digital media Geldof, Bono praise G-8 for Africa aid Fans attend final Live 8 concert in Edinburgh Gilmour to donate Live 8 profits to charity Rock, rap, reunions at Live 8 concerts Will Smith welcomes world to Philly Playing for poverty in shadow of opulence Thousands rock out in Circus Maximus   Add Live 8 concerts headlines to your news reader: