Reading - Rock Day

Metallica headlined the last day of Reading. I have a certain amount of respect for them although I don’t own any of their music and was flabbergasted that they were the band to do two hours of therapy on camera (see Some Kind of Monster). They put on an impressive live show and what blew me away is the kids in Metallica t-shirts at Reading looked just like the guys in my high school all those years ago who sported Metallica t-shirts. There is something timeless in their music that speaks to them for sure. --J

7-7-07

I feel like I shouldn't be making negative comments on the performances of Live Earth because it wasn't about the performer at all. It was really about spreading awareness. I have already started making notes as to what I can do locally to help out, but after HOURS of tv watching I couldn't help but get annoyed, get entertained, and often totally enjoy the hell out of watching a thousand and one broadcasts of performances! So here are some thoughts…

Firstly, the most hilarious performance was Snoop Dogg in Hamburg only because I have never seen so many white people arm pumping at one time.

Having to sit through performances by snoozers like John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae, Metallica was a most welcome performance. Let's face it, Metallica was made to to be big and loud and Wembley provided them with the perfect playground. When I heard the opening of Nothing Else Matters I stopped everything I was doing and sat glued to the television. Metallica blew Wembley's collective face off and the men in the crowd responded by head banging and wearing a "thank you god" look on their faces. James Hetfield told the crowd, "make some noize if you give a shit" They did.

Roger Waters performed a few songs from Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall while an inflatable pig hovered over the crowd in Giants Stadium with Save our Sausage graffiti'ed on its side. David Gilmour was not there.

Kasabian was underwhelming, but as usual looked as though they were quite proud of themselves.

Next to Metallica, I think Foo Fighters were the most energetic.

Leave it to Billy Corrigan to use the opportunity to promote his new album during his performance. OK, we all saw ya. You can sit down now.

RHCP were good, but I wish that Anthony Kiedis would figure out what he's doing with that hair.

Black Eyed Peas were just as annoying as they usually are.

Alicia Keys looked and sounded stunning. She was the only thing that made Keith Urban's Give Me Shelter stand out.

Bon Jovi has just become a performing machine, haven't they? It really bugs me because I can remember seeing them in Giants Stadium back in 1989 and they were on the verge of burning out, but hadn't just yet. Now it's like it's their civil duty to keep the band going and perform.

Katie Melua. Who is she? I love her song Nine Million Bicycles. Beautiful.

Did anyone catch the Antarctic explorers performing on top of the mountains? It was a great song but I can't for the life of me remember their name or the name of the song.

Anyway, it was an amazing broadcast and I took from it a lot of ideas for changing my own wasteful lifestyle because of it. -K