World awaits as countdown to Live 8 starts

Eight global cities were in the last stages of preparation ahead of the biggest music event in decades on July 2.

Eight global cities were in the last stages of preparation on Tuesday ahead of the biggest music event in decades on July 2, when top artists will rock the planet to raise awareness of poverty in Africa.

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Live 8 looks set to draw hundreds of thousands of people to gigs in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Philadelphia, Toronto, Tokyo and Johannesburg to see a unique line-up of stars from Madonna and Bryan Adams to U2 and Green Day.

Millions more are expected to watch the concerts live on television in a massive global movement designed to pressure leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) most industrialised nations to strike a deal on debt, aid and trade for Africa at a summit in Scotland on July 6-8.

"This is without doubt a moment in history where ordinary people can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental and demand from the eight world leaders at the G8 an end to poverty," said Bob Geldof, the veteran rocker-turned-campaigner behind Live 8: The Long Walk to Justice.

The 52-year-old, who organised the original Live Aid charity concert in 1985, wants people to travel to Edinburgh after the gigs to take part in a series of rallies during the G8 summit at the nearby resort of Gleneagles.

"The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough," Geldof said in a statement on the Live 8 website.

Critics have argued, however, that Live 8 will simply serve to boost the profile and sales of the pop stars taking part and their record labels, while also knocking the relatively low number of black acts on the line-up list.

Earlier this month, singer Damon Albarn blasted the event for lacking black acts and urged artists to prove they were not simply involved for themselves.

The outburst prompted an angry response from the organisers who called it unjustified, noting the growing "urban" element, including Snoop Dogg and Ms Dynamite, who will be performing at Hyde Park in London, as well as Youssou N'Dour who will take to the stage in Paris.

In addition, the South African city of Johannesburg is one of three new host cities that were recently added to an original five locations announced when the concept on Live 8 was unveiled on May 31.

Twenty years after Live Aid, the latest spectacle is all about raising awareness rather than cash, though Geldof himself and other activists have expressed doubt about whether the G8 leaders will meet their demands.

Live 8 will take place one day after International White Band Day when people across the world will demonstrate against Africa's misery by wearing white wrist bands -- the symbol of the so-called Make Poverty History Campaign.

The concerts will also be in full swing as tens of thousands of people converge in Edinburgh for the first of the rallies to call for an end to poverty in the developing world.

"Altogether the impact is going to be an absolutely explicit and clear statement to these leaders that the world is demanding that they take action," said Matt Philips, a spokesman for Save the Children, one of the charities that is helping to organise the demonstrations in the Scottish capital.

"This is the biggest global mobilisation against extreme poverty," he said.

Through its cocktail of mega-stars, Live 8 alone is helping to introduce people to Africa's cause who otherwise may not have been bothered, Philips told AFP, dismissing any fears that fans might only be interested in attending the concerts because they were free and featured big-name bands.

"I am not worried at all because what they will go away with is a better understanding of the cause," he said.

"They will walk away, if they weren't aware of it already, with an introduction to more and better aid, trade justice and drop the debt."