Happy 4th of July everybody!

I was able to catch the Live 8 telecast last Saturday, they had a impressive musical lineup but they had lowsy coverage here in the States. MTV & VH1 simultaneously aired it, but they had the nerve to air commercials, cut to VJs while the artists were still performing, and they had to replay clips of previous performances instead of devoting more time to following up other concerts around the world (The original Live Aid only had 2 concerts in London and Philadelphia) . Thankfully, AOL managed to cover every event without any interruption.

Bob Geldof and company succeeded in driving home the message to end world poverty and provide more aid to Africa (unlike Live Aid, this wasn't for charity but for awareness). In conjunction with the Make Poverty History campaign, they launched an online petition signed by over 27 million names (so far) in support of their cause (I was one of those who signed), some of the names even appeared in the giant-screen TVs during concerts. Every 3 seconds of every minute of every hour of every day and night, a child somewhere in the world dies of poverty. Can you imagine that? Live 8 will definitely fulfill its purpose once the G8 leaders succeeds on a common agenda to not only help the African continent and alleviate poverty, but also forgive the debt of the world's poorest countries and promote fairer trade.

Some of the most noteworthy performances were from veteran musicians, some of whom performed in the original Live Aid. Here were some of the best in my opinion:

* In London, Paul McCartney opened with U2 performing the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". U2 then performed a couple of their songs, including a medley of their hit song "One" and the classic "Unchained Melody".

* The Verve's Richard Ashcroft was backed by Coldplay in singing his band's hit "Bittersweet Symphony".

* In Berlin, Green Day rocked the crowd with their songs as well as their rendition of Queen's "We Are the Champions" (which is fitting since Queen performed at Live Aid).

* Back in London, Madonna sang "Like A Prayer" while holding the hand of an Ethiopian famine survivor introduced by Geldof.

* In Philadelphia, The Black Eyed Peas performed Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" alongside his wife Rita and son Stephen, while Bjork and Good Charlotte wowed the crowd in Tokyo (Japan being the only Asian G8 member).

* Brian Wilson, fresh from the success of his dream project "Smile", gave Berlin some much-needed "Good Vibrations".

* As the night went on, The Who's 2 remaining members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend thrilled the London audience with their songs "Who Are You?" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

* The Who was later followed by the most anticipated event in Live 8: the much-awaited reunion of all 4 members of the British rock band Pink Floyd after their last concert in 1981. The band performed a set consisting of their best songs: "Breathe", "Money", "Wish You Were Here" (which they dedicated to Syd Barrett), and "Comfortably Numb".

* The event in London concluded with Paul McCartney performing "The Long and Winding Road" on the piano, and accompanied by all the artists that participated, did an impromptu rendition of "Hey Jude".