Top bands head climate change event
Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Razorlight are among the acts taking to the stage for a star-studded concert at the new Wembley Stadium to highlight the threat of climate change.
They will be joined by Keane, Snow Patrol, Duran Duran, the Black Eyed Peas and Genesis for the London leg of the global series of Live Earth concerts which take place on July 7.
London is just one of the cities taking part in the event across the globe, along with Shanghai, Johannesburg and Sydney, while there will also be concerts in Japan, Brazil and the US. The full line-up globally will feature more than 100 acts.
An audience of 2 billion
Promoters hope the concerts will engage an audience of more than 2 billion people through a combination of concert attendance and the massive global reach of MSN. (Microsoft is the owner of MSN and news.uk.MSN.com and the publisher of MSN News) That audience, and the proceeds from the concerts, will create the foundation for a new, multi-year global effort to combat the climate crisis led by The Alliance for Climate Protection and its Chair, Al Gore.
Announcing the details of the concert, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall said: "This monster line-up will ensure Live Earth meets our goal of bringing together people from around the world to combat the climate crisis.
"Live Earth will not only span all seven continents, but the musicians who have answered our call span multiple genres and generations."
The concerts are forming part of a global publicity drive on climate change, tagged SOS (Save Our Selves), headed by former US vice president Al Gore.
Mr Gore said: "By attracting an audience of billions we hope Live Earth will launch a global campaign giving a critical mass of people around the world the tools they need to help solve the climate crisis. But ultimately, corporations and governments must become global leaders taking decisive action to stop global warming."
Proceeds from the concerts will create a foundation to combat climate change led by The Alliance for Climate Protection, currently chaired by Mr Gore.