A Look Back at Live 8
Did Madonna and Jake Shears share outfits at the Live 8 concert in London? It sure looks like it. In any case, most agree that Madonna was the showstopper with her performances of Like a Prayer, Ray of Light, and Music. If there were any acts you wanted to catch, you can download streaming versions here from all the concerts around the world.
Finally, via Frank, a blogger whom I met on Cape Cod this past week, comes this site featuring the Live 8 boys of Philadelphia. Obviously, someone lost interest in Jars of Clay and Maroon 5 and found the crowd a bit more appealing. It must have been hot in Philly.
Posted Jul. 12,2005 at 2:15 PM EST by Andy Towle in Music | Permalink
I was actually of the opinion that the Madonna performance fell flat. She sounded like she was pleading to the audience to enjoy themselves. Certainly not the Madonna of years past. IMHO, anyway.
Posted by: RDiggy | Jul 12, 2005 3:21:48 PM
To my great relief, I thought SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) performed rather brilliantly.
Yes, she did seem to plead to the audience at first w/Like a Prayer, but me thinks it was to wake them up from the previous act - a rather ballady set.
But, all that said, what the hell do I know anyway?
Posted by: mark | Jul 12, 2005 3:30:59 PM
Wow, a lot of bad tattoos in Philly........
Posted by: timothy | Jul 12, 2005 3:51:57 PM
I don't know about y'all,but I would find it so creepy if I saw some random guy taking photographs of men in a public place. In some of the pictures, it seemed that the photographer was hiding, making sure he got the best abs/crotch shot without anyone noticing. I guess I am not an exhibitionist like others.
Posted by: chris | Jul 12, 2005 4:36:12 PM
I think the pics are smoking hot but give credit where credit is due- Richard over at 'Proceed At Your Own Risk' had these linked practically the instant they were developed (days before your buddy). I think he has a sixth sense for detecting eye candy!
www.rjr10036.typepad.com
Posted by: Greg | Jul 12, 2005 5:10:51 PM
As much as I love Madonna, I too found her performances to be mediocore-- nowhere near the level of her Drowned World Tour.
IMHO Coldplay, Robbie Williams and Mariah were shined far brighter than Madge.
Posted by: Jason | Jul 12, 2005 6:10:37 PM
i would like to make this kind of photography into a full time job for myself.
Posted by: bmw | Jul 12, 2005 7:44:09 PM
The level of The Drowned World Tour?! LOL, thank God! That tour was a bland, pretentious snooze-fest that she ripped off uncleverly from J.G. Ballard! Madonna's a pop star. Leave that underground avant-garde schtick to Björk and Goldfrapp! Visit even the most sycophantic Madonna forums and you'll find most fans complain about that tour or act like that dreadful tour never even happened.
And LOL @ Mariah! That LOCAL STAR Mimi should've performed in Philly instead because she's a complete non-entity in the UK and Europe. Not even the CHAVS in the crowd were feeling her ghetto-trash set. Even Ms Dynamite got a better reception than Mimi.
Madonna's Live8 performance was great and a lot of fun. Especially "Music". The crowd was so dead in all of the performances preceding her that day and she really woke them up. Only Robbie Williams got a better crowd reaction than her in Hyde Park that day. She got a lot of press and praise in the international media for her performance. -link-
Posted by: Michelle Budd, Madonna's #1 Fan | Jul 12, 2005 9:26:23 PM
Actually I think it's pretty creepy and lascivious to be photographing guys like that incognito. But I still looked......
Posted by: timothy | Jul 12, 2005 9:59:14 PM
Isn't that Mr. Julia Roberts in the last photo?
Posted by: arg | Jul 12, 2005 10:20:07 PM
That “Like a Prayer” piece was completely odd. Madonna spent the entire song flinging around that poor woman who looked like she had no idea what was happening. Think about that poor woman’s odd fate: once emaciated and then nourished by the west, she is plumped up (not too plump) and given corn rows and some makeup and presto is unveiled as the new glam icon for how we as westerners are making a difference for the poor and starving of the world by making them pretty and putting them on stage (with Madonna no less). It is so high concept and dense with metaphor that I don’t know what to think. I feel as if I should be offended but maybe it’s just because I want to dance.
Posted by: dasduke | Jul 12, 2005 11:52:47 PM
Michelle,
I actually liked The Drowned World Tour, and found it to be very inventive and a total feast for the eyes.
Madonna has never been the strongest vocalist, but her energy and dancing usually make up for that.
I agree with Dasduke that the poor woman who was with Madonna during Like A Prayer didn't look like she had a clue as to what was going on.
Oh, and as for Mariah... say what you want about her but she can sing like nobody's business. Shes 1000x as talented as most of the losers masquerading as singers today (Ashlee Simpson anyone?!) and has proven time and time again (especially recently with her 3x platinum album) that she is a true star in addition to being a vocal prodigy.
Ciao
Jason
PS- Those Chavs didn't buy her "ghetto trash set" b/c :
1) I don't think anything about her performance was "ghetto" to begin with.
2) Chavs are a sad, baffling and depressing bunch of British youth who are (hysterically) imitating the current hip hop culture in America.
The funniest part about the whole Chav phenomena is that they are a bunch of white bread British punks and any "gangsta" here in America would probably shoot their ass for mocking their culture.
-- end rant!
Ciao
Jason
Posted by: Jason | Jul 13, 2005 12:17:05 AM
Your updates make me way too happy.
Posted by: Donnie | Jul 13, 2005 12:36:26 AM
Madonna was the main reason I watched the concert, and she did not disappoint me. I just wished she could have sung more. I do agree that the poor woman who was with her on stage during Like A Prayer looked like she was very confused, to say the least.
As for the comment on the DROWNED WORLD TOUR, I can only say that I loved it and so did many of the people whose opinion I respect.
Curiously, I must add, that some gay men I know who are in, or entering their 30s, are surprisingly hateful whenever the name Madonna comes up. Most of them used to love her and now all of a sudden consider her an old hag. They are now all about the teen queens. Some of those teens are really talented, but c'mon... most of us know what is happening here. I am not even going to try to explain it.
Posted by: Rickie | Jul 13, 2005 10:13:13 AM