Live8 Setlists
Echoes of Live8 and Bob Marley
Two days after Live8, there are a few songs I can't get out of my head. Destiny's Child's "Survivor", Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and The Black Eyed Peas covering "Get Up, Stand Up" with a couple special guests. When they announced who was joining them, I missed the woman's name and only heard them say Stephen Marley (son of Bob) was joining them. The performance was fantastic and is still ringing in my ears.
Today when I was looking over some of the coverage of Live8 Philly I found out that the woman was Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife. Wow. She converted to Rasta before he did and was a backup singer in The Wailers. She was also shot in the head in the famous pre-election attack on their home that kept them from playing a free concert to support the Jamaican prime minister. I wish I had heard them more clearly two days ago. What an incredible person to have join you on stage for a Bob Marley song!
Stevie Wonder closes Live8 Philly
Stevie Wonder opened with Masterblaster (Jammin') and was joined by Rob Thomas on Higher Ground, his cover of an old Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Then he did two slow songs I didn't know. I'm told one of them is popular at weddings. Then he did Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours and basically let the singer for Maroon 5 take over the vocals. It was better than anything Maroon 5 did and Maroon 5's set was great.
On the next song we were sure we heard Stevie and his backup band dropping the f-bomb about 50 times. Found out later on that the song was called "What The Fuss". Minor disappointment there.
He ended the set with Superstition. He was not joined by Will Smith. He was not joined by Destiny's Child. He did not play harmonica. The only interesting thing I can mention is that Paula Abdul spent the last few songs dancing on stage right. When I saw her there I was really hoping that the grand finale might be Paula Abdul and MC Scat Cat reuniting for Opposites Attract, but that was it. End of show. Good night, Philly.


Rob Thomas at Live8 Philly
Just like in his sound check (photo from that below), Rob Thomas played a bunch of songs off of his new solo album. The one exception today was a slow version of 3AM, probably the biggest hit of Matchbox 20's first album. During the middle of the song -- which was slowed down to funeral speed like the Unplugged version of Layla -- he started singing, "Some people call me the space cowboy. Some call me the gangster of love." The guy next to me said, "I didn't know he wrote that song." Word. This guy writes for everyone!
Only two disappointments: Santana did not come out on stage and join him for their giant hit Smooth and he didn't invite his Matchbox 20 bandmates to come out and share in the big Live8 spotlight. On the bright side, Matchbox 20 did perform at the original Live Aid twenty years ago, so it's not like they haven't had this chance before.

Will Smith gets Jiggy with Philly
Will Smith was just listed as a presenter, but our early morning whiteboard had him down as a performer and perform he did. He came out with Gettin' Jiggy Wit It and followed that up with his latest hit Switch, where he talks about people forgetting that this movie star started out as a rap star.

Then he asked if his hometown Philly crowd had any true fans in it. It did. He sang the opening line to Fresh Prince of Bel Air and the audience took over for just about the entire song. It was a trip back in time. He ended it with Summertime and a giant hug and photo op for DJ Jazzy Jeff and himself.

Don Cheadle and me
When we were walking back to our camp from the back of the library, we spied Don Cheadle heading to the back of the stage. Maybe he's announcing some artist or making a short speech.
As I was getting my picture taken with him, I told him that my wife gets tired of hearing me talk about how talented I think he is. "Hey, that movie has Don Cheadle. He's such a great actor. Have you ever seen a better performance on television than Don Cheadle on ER? Hey, this other movie has Don Cheadle. He's amazing. Let's go see that one too. Have I told you what a great actor Don Cheadle is?"
Somebody owes me bigtime for taking this picture on the worst possible resolution. I could draw a better picture of Don and me. I might have to track him down again...
Maroon 5 at Live8 Philly
Maroon 5 rocked the crowd with Harder To Breathe and This Love. Then they made the crowd sway with She Will Be Loved. Then they rocked us again with Neil Young's "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World". Fantastic choice. It was a perfect match for them vocally, but they didn't move around enough. They really needed to break something on stage or dive into the crowd during that one.



Def Leppard does Badfinger
When we were walking up to scout out the Philly Live8 location yesterday, we could hear Def Leppard from about 10 blocks away. Cool, I thought, Rock Of Ages. Then I saw a WYSP van in the distance. They're the local hard rock station that has Howard Stern in the mornings. A little disappointed I figured we were probably just hearing music blasting from the van. Then I heard Badfinger's "No Matter What". Definitely the van? Nope, it was Dep Leppard. They did Rock Of Ages, No Matter What and Pour Some Sugar On Me as their sound check set.
I figured the Badfinger song was just something they did in warm-ups. Wrong again. They did the same three songs today. It wasn't like this was a great cover, so I didn't really understand the choice. Before I posted this I did a quick check of Amazon and found the song on their double CD greatest hits package Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection which was released May 17, 2005. Interesting.

Cops love Def Leppard, too
Hey Karina, cops don't only love Paula Abdul. This officer was singing along to Rock of Ages and capturing the moment forever with the magic of high-resolution cell phone photography.

Jay-Z is done, the show is over, you can all go home now
Even though Def Leppard is playing Rock Of Ages now, it's hot and we got what we came for.

Jay-Z and Linkin Park
Linkin Park got the crowd on their feet, but when they introduced Jay-Z the crowd really went insane!


You can check out more pictures after the break.
Introducing Dave Matthews
We saw Natalie Portman come out again -- this time to introduce Johannesburg, South Africa's own Dave Matthews and his band (the Dave Matthews Band). Okay, when he was two he moved to Westchester County, NY, where I live, but that's not the point we're making here today. When Natalie left the stage, there was about a ten minute delay before the band came out on stage. Then they spent another ten minutes pacing, tuning their instruments and maybe trying to decide which song they would open with...
Destiny's Child at Live8 Philly
I was lucky enough to see them do Survivor in Denver at the NBA all-star game and this was even more amazing. They did Survivor today. Then they did Say My Name and during that song the big screen behind them was showing the names of all of the people who signed up for Live8's online petition. They closed with Girl from 2004's Destiny Fulfilled.



Bathroom break
There was a big guy at the very front of the crowd and he was leaning over to get a cop's attention. "I need to go to the bathroom! Can I just climb over the rail?" Nope. He was told that if he wanted to use the bathroom he'd have to go to the back of the crowd and lose his place on the front rail. It wasn't even 1pm yep. Good luck!








