Sunday, April 5, 2015

Live Earth: Road to Paris - 2015 (and the Planet)'s Biggest Concert

We've been dropping references for weeks now to this year's special Live Earth: Road to Paris concert, set to take place on six continents on June 18th, and now it's time to turn our attention to the full details. 

This mega-event, organized in cooperation with the United Nations and Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, transcends the concerns of our simple music blog, intended as it is to draw attention to this December's climate talks in Paris, perhaps world leaders' last best chance to reach an international climate accord saving humanity from the worst effects of global warming. But the concert, also co-organized by super-connected musical bizzer Pharrell Williams and Live Nation, is also shaping up to be the biggest event of this or many years. 


The massive 24-hour concert spectacular will be "anchored" from New York (MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ) and Paris (Stade de France), but the event will span the globe, with additional concerts in Australia (Sydney's Allianz Stadium), Brazil (Rio's Copacabana Beach), China (Beijing National Stadium), South Africa (Cape Town Stadium), and even Antarctica, where a band of resident research scientists will perform via satellite.

The New York lineup looks like it will lean heavily on the biggest names in classic rock (and country and hiphop), targeted to a baby boomer American audience, while Paris looks set to feature more of a younger, global pop sound, potentially including a very big local name - Pharrell's friends in Daft Punk. 

Here are some of the names we expect to be featured as part of this very, very big show [Updated 5/17]:

New York - Alicia Keys, Amos Lee, Angelique Kidjo, Billy Joel, Brad Paisley? Bruce Springsteen? Crosby, Stills, Nash, and (but separately?) Young, David Gray, Garth Brooks, members of the Grateful Dead with John Mayer, Jimmy Buffett, John Fogerty? Jon Bon Jovi, Kings of Leon? Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Melissa Etheridge? Paul McCartney, Rascal Flatts? Robert Plant, the Rolling Stones, The Roots? Sheryl Crow, Snoop Dogg, U2, Van Morrison

Paris - Ariana Grande? The Black Keys? blur? Chic feat. Nile Rodgers, Daft Punk? Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Maroon 5, Of Monsters and Men, Paolo Nutini, Pet Shop Boys? Pharrell Williams, Robbie Williams? Royal Blood, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift? Youssou N'Dour

Cape Town - Dave Matthews Band, Hugh Masekela, Oliver Mtukudzi? OneRepublic? Vusi Mahlasela

Rio - Caetano Veloso? Gilberto Gil? Joss Stone

Likely but location uncertain (several in Sydney?) - Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Coldplay, The Eagles, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Metallica, No Doubt, Paul Simon, Sting, The Who

Some more possibilities - Arcade Fire, Axwell /\ Ingrosso (Paris?), Avicii (Paris?), Azealia Banks (Paris?), Bjork, the Black Eyed Peas, Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Common (New York?), Counting Crows (Paris), Deadmau5 (Paris), Drake (Paris), Ellie Goulding (Paris), Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell (Sydney), Fleetwood Mac (Paris), Florence and the Machine (Paris?), Huey Lewis and the News (New York), Jay-Z and/or Beyonce (New York?), Kylie Minogue (Paris), Lana del Rey, The Libertines (Paris), Los Lobos (New York), Madonna, John Mellencamp (New York), Mumford & Sons (New York), Nas (New York?), One Direction (Paris), Paloma Faith (Paris), Pink, Pitbull (Rio?), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rihanna, Roger Waters and/or David Gilmour, Santana, Shakira (Rio), Skrillex (Paris), Soundgarden, Steven Tyler, Stevie Wonder, TV on the Radio (Sydney), Usher

Expect details of this event to be announced within the month!

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