ROGER WATERS LIVE EARTH ANSWER FOR LIVE 8 MASTERMIND GELDOF

When Al Gore’s Live Earth was ramping up, it first looked like Live 8 Executive producer Kevin Wall was going to try and duplicate what he did with Live 8 without that concert’s mastermind Bob Geldof. Members of The Who and Geldof have criticized Live Earth for not having focus, lacking a purpose for direct measurable action, and diluting the impact large concerts have on people’s will to act.

Former Pink Floyd bassist and the genius behind the band, Roger Waters, said that Geldof should re-examine his position on the show.

“I think they kind of got off the mark rather too quickly, Bob and [The Who’s] Roger [Daltrey]. I think maybe they should have waited to see what happened today, what effect it had, and how much feeling it generated.”

The event outlined a pledge for individuals, so that they can follow some guidelines to lessen their own impact on the environment. The show also was able to communicate the message effectively. The thing Waters wanted to see most is to help mobilize people to influence their politicians to do something about the climate crisis.

“Having said that, you know I’ve been watching TV and seeing people going, ‘Well you can turn the thermostat down a degree or not leave your cell phone charger plugged in when you’re not using it. I think this is a deeply political question. I know there has been a sort of move today at this rock show to not get political, and I have no intention of getting party political. But I think what you can do is vote. I think you make a very cogent point. These problems will not be solved until we, the electorate, make it quite clear to candidates running for office that we will not vote for them unless they have a clear policy on the environment in general and global warming in particular — and also we will not vote for them if they have a track record like this current administration does, you know.”

Waters performed second-to-last on the New Jersey show, followed only by The Police reunion. One thing that Gore and Wall couldn’t do is persuade Waters and Pink Floyd to reunite like they did for the Live 8 show. Live Earth was broadcast as a three hour special on NBC-TV, the shows are running either in full or in edited version on cable channels MSNBC and Bravo, and complete performance show clips are available at msn.com.