Geldof at Live 8 DVD launch
The DVD of the momentous Live 8 concerts was being launched at a red carpet event in London tonight.
Bob Geldof is attending the screening with his four daughters and some of the other performers from the night.
Every artist who appeared at London’s Hyde Park and Philadelphia’s Museum of Art concerts appears on the DVD.
Other performers from the nine simultaneous concerts, which also took place in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Toronto, Moscow, Johannesburg and Tokyo, also feature.
Highlights on the London stage included Pink Floyd reuniting, Sir Paul McCartney’s rendition of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and acclaimed performances from Madonna, U2 and Robbie Williams.
Other artists on the night included The Who, Sting, Snow Patrol, Joss Stone, Coldplay, The Killers, and Pete Doherty duetting with Sir Elton John.
Tonight’s event will be attended by Annie Lennox and Razorlight, who both sang in London, and Placebo, who took part in the Paris event.
The July 2 concerts were designed to put pressure on G8 leaders gathering in Scotland to thrash out a deal on poverty.
Leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations agreed to double aid to poor countries by 2010, and cancel the debts of 18 countries.
But the agreement received a mixed reaction from aid campaigners, while environmental groups said little was achieved on the issue.
There was disappointment that agreement had not been reached on trade, and a deadline for eliminating agricultural export subsidies which damage poor countries.
Aid campaigners also argued that the 25 billion boost in aid to Africa by 2010 was too little, too late.
They believe that the 25 billion is needed now, with another 50 billion in 2010, if poverty targets in Africa are to be met.
Campaigners hope awareness raised by the historic concerts will help mobilise future battles trade, aid, and climate change.
Geldof said he wants the DVD, which will see a royalty from sales go to the Band Aid Trust, to become “the biggest-selling DVD of all time.”
He said: “It deserves to be. More importantly perhaps, it should be, for it will help us to achieve our goal of changing the lives of the extreme poor for the better and making our generation the one that helped end the disgrace of poverty.”
The DVD is being released on November 7.
