Sir Bob Geldof, live 8

Quote: TOKYO (Reuters) - What has been billed as the greatest music show ever kicked off in Tokyo on Saturday, as the first in a galaxy of rock stars took to the stage in a global event aimed at pushing world leaders to do more to help the poor. Live 8, an expanded version of the Live Aid sensation 20 years ago, will take in 10 cities and four continents, starting in Tokyo in the east and ending in North America in the west. "We're here today to make poverty history," singer Tom Fletcher of boy band McFly told the audience as he stepped on to the stage in a conference centre outside of Tokyo. "This is the most important show that we'll ever play and this is the most important show that you'll ever see." Many in the crowd of several thousand said they were there only to see the headline act, Icelandic pop singer Bjork, who will give her first live performance in two years later in the day. In London, boasting arguably the strongest line-up of the 10 concerts planned, Paul McCartney and U2 frontman Bono are due to open proceedings before more than 200,000 fans with a rendition of "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Unlike 1985, when an estimated 1.5 billion television viewers tuned in to watch Live Aid and donated over $100 million (56 million pounds) for Ethiopia's famine victims, organisers have the Internet and mobile phones to help them reach an even bigger audience. Organiser Bob Geldof wants the event to be about people power, not money. His aim is to force leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialised nations meeting in Scotland next week to do more to alleviate poverty, particularly in Africa. "Ten concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, two billion viewers, and one message ... to get those eight men, in that one room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty," the Live 8 Web site said. In a letter to the leaders published on Saturday, the Live 8 organisers said: "Just as people demanded an end to slavery, demanded women's suffrage, demanded the end of apartheid -- we now call for an end to the unjust absurdity of extreme poverty." Specifically Geldof wants a doubling of aid to poor countries, cancellation of debt to nations struggling to make ends meet and fairer international trade rules. CRITICISM AND UNCERTAINTY Geldof has faced criticism in the build-up to Live 8, particularly for his handling of African artists who were largely excluded from the main concert line-ups. Musician Peter Gabriel stepped in with a separate, smaller gig for African performers, and Johannesburg has been added to the list of venues, but that has not been enough to prevent Geldof's detractors from accusing him of "cultural apartheid". In South Africa the success of the gig is uncertain, with promoters apparently doing little to publicise the event. And those who plan to attend a concert featuring mostly local acts and few big names are sceptical about whether it will change anything. "I've got hope the concert tomorrow will bring nice things to Africa but they keep promising things and they don't happen," said Bafana Konyama, who sells fake designer trainers from his street stall in the centre of Johannesburg. There are also question marks over how smoothly Live 8 will run. Organisers say they have had eight weeks to plan a show on a par with the Olympic Games in terms of the complexity of the technology and size of the potential audience. Though a lack of publicity in Japan, the world's second-largest aid donor, may have restricted the size of the audience, fans at the Tokyo concert said they sympathised with its aims. "I've heard about how hard life is in Africa," said 27-year-old Tsunenori Sakai. "If Japan doesn't help Africa with its debt, really try and help the African people and do something about AIDS...I don't think Africa can really move ahead," he said. The initiative, costing around 25 million pounds to stage, has been widely praised by aid groups, and Geldof can point to a recent $40 billion debt forgiveness deal and U.S. pledges to double aid to Africa as signs of progress. "We're on the way," he said. "It's incredible to think after 20 years we're almost there." London, at least, looks set to be a sell-out. More than 200,000 people are expected in Hyde Park to hear a cast including Elton John, Madonna and Pink Floyd. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. More Top News World's pop stars go global against poverty Crowd of 200,000 in Scotland urges poverty action Enduring Venus wins third title Blair ######### for Saudi Arabia