mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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Cheesy? Washed-up artists and has-beens? Boring and without any real chance of making a difference? Well, say what you want, but I enjoyed it. People often complain about artists today not taking stands and that they are only in it for the money. And that’s why it’s always so strange to find that the audience’s hypocrisy often is greater than the artists they are attacking. Because when somebody actually is trying to make a change he or she is immediately shot down by everybody. No matter if it is the media, the politicians, the colleagues, or the audience. What is so bad about wanting to stop people from starving to death, anyway? When Bob Geldof organized this thing, did he step on your toes? Did he make you feel bad about whining about the weather and the number of bad TV shows? There were plenty of acts I didn’t like. I thought A-Ha was painful, Die Toten Hosen was terrible and Annie Lennox still remains one of the most boring artists I’ve heard. But when gathering more than 100 artists you can’t expect all of them to please all the viewers. But you can expect some of the performers to please some of the viewers. You might say that it was only old guys playing, but remember that it’s been a long time since rock and roll was the music of the youth. The old ones still keep up with the younger talents and are able to deliver their music with feeling and a professionalism that the younger bands often lacks. That’s why I liked The Who’s set. Loud, angry, filled with emotion and a high level of musicianship. Age doesn’t matter if you believe in what you do and do it well. Roger Daltrey’s vocals hasn’t become worse just because he’s got money in the bank, has it? Pete Townshend's songs and guitar playing hardly became less enjoyable over the years just because he too got money. It doesn’t matter. The most famous musicians in the western world came together and turned the spotlight on people hidden and forgotten. People dying because they’re missing things we indirectly denies them. Sure, there might have been personal profits for the artists performing, but that doesn’t matter. Apparently people liked what they saw because the sales of Pink Floyd’s latest compilation increased with almost 1500%. That doesn’t matter either. In fact, that’s a good thing. People buying Pink Floyd albums is better than people buying Jessica Simpson albums. Because whilst rock critics complain about hearing so-called washed up artists playing, they reached a new, younger audience that never been exposed to these artists. And they aren’t washed up yet, anyway. The Who’s “Who Are You” rocked without mercy and the reunited Pink Floyd might very well have delivered the very best moment of the whole thing when doing “Comfortably Numb”. Also, the boring McCartney did some surprising choices. He has never been a stranger to similar events, but then he mostly played it safe with “Let It Be”, “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude”. This time we got a good version of “Get Back”, a terrific take on “Drive My Car” (featuring George Michael) and sadly a poor “The Long And Winding Road”. However, whilst “Get Back” and “Drive My Car” wouldn’t be among my first guesses, they’re not very surprising choices either given that he performed them on Super Bowl. But McCartney who is the very definition of a crowd pleaser finally showed the world that he is not merely the “cute one”, but a hard rocker as well. “Helter Skelter” must have reclaimed some of his legacy lost somewhere during the years with Wings and “Silly Love Songs”. It has been a live favorite of his since his last tour and now people who says The Beatles was all about Lennon at last got to see the cute one rock harder than his colleague. Actually Paul rocked Hyde Park just as hard as The Who did. And I loved every second of it. Robbie Williams proved himself as a great entertainer. His actual music may not have been as good as the very best performances that day, but he put on one hell of a show that would have made Freddie Mercury smile. There is no question about London having the most impressive line-up of artists. Sure, Philadelphia had Destiny’s Child, Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder. Berlin had Green Day and Brian Wilson. Toronto had... well, Bryan Adams. Tokyo had Björk. Hyde Park offered The Who, Coldplay, U2, R.E.M., Madonna, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, McCartney and so on. Hyde Park was definitely the place to be. About one million people saw the gig in Philadelphia, nearly 200 000 people attended Hyde Park and hundred and hundred of thousands saw the other seven shows taking place. They probably came to see the stars and not for Africa, but what’s so bad about trying to change the world and having a ball while doing it?
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