JAPAN/AUSTRALIA: Musicians and fans together vow to fight global warming during a Live Earth concert in Tokyo

Sydneysiders were lining up outside the gates of the Sydney Live Earth music concert at Aussie stadium on Saturday (July 7) eager to see their favourite bands perform. Starting off in Sydney and travelling around the world, Live Earth's global concerts are expected to attract more than a million people to see over 100 musicians as part of a global campaign to raise awareness of climate change. Fans in the queue were wearing Live Earth memorabilia including t-shirts and headbands, and police were patrolling outside the stadium. Some concert goers said they were pleased to be doing something for the environment by attending Live Earth, while the message was lost on others who were just there to see the bands. "It's for the environment? said one girl. "I think that's a great cause for the rest of the world to stand up and take heed to, it's good, yeah," said another man, who had brought his whole family along to the concert. The concert organisers say they are trying to make the concert as green-friendly as possible, setting up recyling bins and using paper cups instead of plastic. 42,000 people are expected to turn out to the Sydney concert, which feature the bands Blue King Brown, Crowded House, Eskimo Joe, Ghostwriters, Jack Johnson, John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins, Paul Kelly, Sneaky Sound System, Toni Collette & The Finish and Wolfmother. Thousands of Japanese flocked to Makuhari Messe on the outskirts of Tokyo to attend the Live Earth Tokyo concert, one of nine being held across the globe on Saturday (July 7) aimed at persuading millions to go green. The 9,000 seat venue will feature mostly Japanese rock and pop stars, but also visiting performers such as Linkin Park and Rihanna. Many Japanese fans were enthusiastic about the idea of a concert to promote awareness of global warming. "I had thought Linkin Park and environment protection wouldn't come hand in hand, but this time I'm ready to get a green message from them,''said 25-year-old Rie Seki. ''I think it's a smart thing to get a message across through music because people in our generation love music," added Megumi Shibata. Tickets at the Tokyo venue were sold at 10,000 yen (81 U.S. dollars). Later in the day, a second Live Earth concert will kick off in Kyoto, the home of the Kyoto Protocol. Following in the footsteps of the Live Aid and Live 8 mega-gigs, Live Earth hopes to reach up to two billion people through radio, television and the Internet, and features acts including Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol and Snoop Dogg, among the more than 100 performers. Thousands of Japanese fans rocked to the rhythm of a virtual techno beat act as a global concert aimed at persuading millions of fans to go green for the environment moved onto a venue near Tokyo on Saturday (July 7). "I hope each audience was able to interpret the message I was trying to get across on the environment in their own way," said Japanese pop singer Ayaka after her performance at Makuhari Messe, east of Tokyo. Ayaka and 10 other artists, including twice-Grammy awarded Linkin Park and R&B singer from the Caribbean Rihanna, were expected to perform in Tokyo. "Yeah! For the next generation - That's what I'm doing this for," said Jesse, vocalist of Japanese band Rize. Next to the concert hall, a dozen environmental groups and other NGOs set up booths in a bid to raise the audiences' awareness on global warming and other environmental issues - by, for example, demonstrating how to separate recyclable materials. "Many people come here to watch live performances, but when they stop by these booths, they'd realize what each of them can do. So I think this event is effective in enhancing people's awareness on the environment," said Kamada Ikuko after she wrote a petition to save the environment in a piece of paper, folded it into an airplane and threw it at a miniature model of the Japanese parliament. Following in the footsteps of the Live Aid and Live 8 mega-gigs, Live Earth hopes to reach up to two billion people through radio, television and the Internet, and features acts including Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol and Snoop Dogg in nine concerts to be held around the globe. At the Tokyo venue, Lumi, the female vocal for Genki Rockets, appeared in an anime hologram and performed several numbers to the crowd -- expected to swell to around 10,000 -- that filled the Makuhari Messe hall just east of Tokyo. She then introduced organiser Al Gore, who also appeared in a hologram. "Now is the time to begin to heal the planet," the former U.S. vice president and environmentalist, told the crowd. Gore said the concerts, which kicked off in Australia earlier on Saturday and will end a t Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, were the start of a three- to five-year campaign to pro mote awareness of climate change. "Live Earth is all about answering the call," he said, adding that the planet was sending g out an "S.O.S" message on the need to curb emissions and slow global warming. Gore said he wanted Live Earth viewers to pressure leaders to sign a new treaty by 2009 that would cut global warming pollution by 90 percent in rich nations and more than half world-wide by 2050. After Sydney and Tokyo, the concert moves to Johannesburg, Shanghai, London, Hamburg, New Jersey, Washington and Rio de Janeiro.

ITN Source | July 7, 2007

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