An Inconvenient Groove

Click here to return to the issue 33 cover story home page.

You can blame Mick Jagger for getting the Smashing Pumpkins, Foo fighters, Bon Jovi, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, John Mayer and 150 other artists to all play for free for Live Earth, the 24-hour concert held on July 7. If the head Rolling Stone, who isn’t even playing the event, hadn’t told producer Kevin Wall at the end of the Stones’ 1978 tour that Wall drank too much, there would probably never have been a Live Earth concert to combat global warming. Wall, who supplied staging for the Stones, as well as George Harrison and Led Zeppelin, was so chagrined that he left the music business for 12 years. In the interim, he joined AA, got sober and realized he needed to do something to wipe away the taint of his messy past behaviors.

“When I came back to the business, it was at the time that HBO started producing music specials,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’ll do this commercially, but I want to also do stuff that I believe in, to pay back, sort of make amends.’”

Before he knew it, he was donating his technical expertise to Live Aid, the Freddie Mercury AIDS Awareness Day and the Free Nelson Mandela concert in 1988. That particular show was a watershed moment for the impresario. “From the opening of that show, when Sting was saying ‘Hello, world,’ and knowing that a billion people were watching, I got shivers. But never so much as when six months later, Nelson Mandela—who there wasn’t even a single photograph of for 25 years—was let out of prison. That’s the power of what we do. We get to bind music to message, and transfer the emotion.”

Three years ago, musician and Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof called asking for Wall’s help on Live 8, so he took on the gargantuan task of becoming executive producer of the fest, brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty and ended up winning an Emmy for his efforts. Pretty good for a man who started out as a production assistant for Pink floyd back in the dark ages of rock, which goes a long way toward explaining why Roger Waters is on the bill for Live Earth—but not why Geldof isn’t.

To be fair, global warming hasn’t been one the causes close to Sir Bob’s heart. The man who brought us “We Are The World” has been less than charitable about Live Earth. “It sounds like Live 8. … We’re getting lots of responses from people who think we are organizing this,” the former Boomtown Rat complained to Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. Even worse, he thinks the concert lacks specific goals.

“But why is [Gore] actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody’s known about that problem for years. We are all f—ing conscious of global warming,” he said, adding, “I would only organize if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, congress or major corporations. They haven’t got those guarantees, so it’s just an enormous pop concert, or the umpteenth time that, say, Madonna or Coldplay can get on stage.”

Even without Geldof, Live Earth promises to be a behemoth. It has attracted “celebrities and thought leaders,” according to one if its press releases, and will span nine major cities on seven continents. Yes, even Antarctica, where some lucky entertainer—Snow Patrol, perhaps—will be performing at the South Pole, where the temperature will be hovering around -56 degrees come July 7. But the one thing that’s important to remember is that these concerts are not about raising money for the science to reverse global warming, but rather just to raise awareness.

“Our show is not a fundraiser,” explains Wall. “It’s a major launch of a messaging campaign and a behavioral change. Trying to raise money in a show like this—no matter how successful it is, it’s more important to just move the consumer in a behavioral change. And if you can get them to make a change, only that will move government. That’s who has to pay for it.”

But there will be money, since over 1 million tickets have been sold already. “That will fund the Alliance for Climate Protection,” said Wall. “It was set up by Al Gore, and it will continue to put out this exact same message for the next three to five years.”

But how did Al Gore get involved? Because Kevin Wall asked him. Although, it was certainly a no-brainer for the man—whom George Bush Sr. called “The Ozone Man” during the 1992 election—to head up a concert to staunch global warming. “I walked out of seeing Al’s movie [Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth] in a state of bewilderment—very emotionally charged up. I knew I had to do something. I thought, ‘What I know how to do is pull this together, create one day, put together 2 billion eyeballs and give Al Gore the microphone.’ So the light bulb went off [ed.: a florescent light bulb, no doubt], and I answered the call.”

And then he made one to Al Gore. The next afternoon, the two of them were having lunch. By the weekend, he was sitting in the kitchen nook at Al and Tipper’s house outside of Nashville, poring over long lists of bands they wanted to perform and a set of rules for the concert that they wanted to implement—things as simple as printers having to use 100 percent recycled paper, electricians using bio-fuel as opposed to diesel, toilet suppliers using environmentally sound detergents. “We aimed for bands that were published in some sort of social consciousness to start, or bands that were in the environmental area,” explained Wall.

“I recruited the Red Hot Chili Peppers,” Gore told Billboard in April. “They told me yes when they came onstage at the Grammys. I’ve talked to a lot of them, and I haven’t gotten turned down yet.”

But the Red Hot Chili Peppers are far better known for their nefarious habits than their social conscience. “We didn’t say everybody was socially conscious. We just aimed for that,” says Wall. “It’s a black art on how to build the texture of a global show like this, because you have pop, and you have to have legacy artists, and you have to have global appeal. And there’s not a map, so it’s something that’s done sort of by feel. But we’ve had an overwhelming response. It was unbelievable, and it’s resulted in this lineup that we have.”

Continuing down that bumpy road, Geldof isn’t the only one railing at the inclusion of Madonna, who not only agreed to headline the London show but wrote a song entitled “Hey You,” available for free download at the Live Earth site.

Green campaigners pointed out that last year Madonna flew as many as 100 technicians, dancers, backing singers, managers and family members on a 56-date world tour in private jets and commercial airliners, as well as a cadre of fuel-guzzling cars, including a Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, Audi A8s and a MINI Cooper S. Yet she will headline the London concert to combat the climate crisis.

“Madonna’s Confessions Tour produced 440 tons of CO2 in four months of last year,” says John Buckley, the managing director of the British-based CarbonFootprint.com. “And that was just the flights between the countries, not taking into account the truckloads of equipment needed, the power to stage such a show and the transport of all the thousands of fans getting to the gigs.”

And Madonna isn’t the only one environmentalists have in their sights. Al Gore has been chastised for his extraordinary personal energy usage—air conditioning his 10,000 square-foot Tennessee home—by telling critics that he maintains a “carbon neutral” lifestyle by buying carbon offsets,” meaning he tries to offset any energy usage, including plane flights and automobile trips by purchasing verifiable reductions in CO2 elsewhere. The only trouble is he pays off his big carbon footprints through Generation Invest Management, a London-based company with offices in Washington, D.C., of which he’s the chairman.

But to be fair, Gore has signed up for 100-percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy-saving technology in his home.

Buckley also excoriates Gore’s recruits, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for their inattention to the health of the planet. “The Red Hot Chili Peppers produced 220 tons of CO2 with their private jet alone over six months on their last world tour, which was 42 dates.”

“It’s great for the celebrities to come out and support the cause, but they then have to follow it up in their own lifestyles,” Buckley added. “We should now keep a close eye on whether Madonna and the others makes any changes to their own lifestyle.”

Perhaps they should take a tip from John Mayer, the Live Earth participant who has unapologetically proposed a less radical approach to the Climate Crisis, something he calls Light Green, perfect for the man who regaled us with the song “Another Kind of Green,” back in 2005. “It seems to me that when it comes to this issue, we’ve been given only two sides to pick from: Side one says the future of global warming does not present a doomsday scenario, almost chucking the matter aside. Side two says it is a dire issue, which it is, and then goes on to inundate side one with so many separate nakedly scientific points that they make naiveté seem cozy by comparison.

“So here I am, introducing a third side. A laid-back, panic-free approach to environmentalism. One that believes the message of An Inconvenient Truth is sound, but that it’s an incredibly un-fun name for a movie. A side free from the cry of hypocrisy, for it doesn’t make sweeping promises. A side that drives an SUV on the way to the grocery store but then produces nylon mesh bags at the checkout line. A side that believes in bringing a change of perspective to our government, but letting Karl Rove finish his meal first. [A reference to Sheryl Crow’s infamous ambush of Rove at a Washington dinner this Spring, where the official hissed at her, ‘Don’t touch me.’] Ladies and gentlemen, fans and friends, I submit to you a third way: Light Green.

“No thinking about ‘offsetting your carbon footprint.’ No rallies. No browbeating people who think the Earth just has a fever. Pick one thing to change this year, and keep the rest of your life the same. … And to anybody ready to cut me down for this, here’s my full disclosure: I drive a Porsche SUV, I still drink lots of bottled water, and I will be flying private charter several times during my summer tour. However, my bus has been converted to Bio-Diesel, and I’ll be coming up with even more ways to adapt to the Light Green mentality before I set out for the summer.”

So two months into it, what is he really doing in his effort to get Light Green off the ground besides becoming one of the headliners at Giants Stadium for the U.S. portion of Live Earth’s seven-continent concerts? “I’m switching to more efficient light bulbs. I plug all my chargers into one surge protector and then I unplug it from the wall,” says the musician on the phone from an apartment in Manhattan, where he is forced to use the air conditioning on a steamy spring afternoon. “I know, I know, I’ll turn it down when I get off the phone,” he laughs.

But Mayer refuses to be ashamed of his stance—which is strangely refreshing, and so unlike his superstar brethren, who often will don the common-man garb like a dirty pair of black-denim work pants and lyrically sympathize with the plight of the downtrodden, cannibalizing on their pain to sell more units. Mayer may be full of bombast, but he’s as pragmatic as he is candid.

“When you make a lot of money and you jet around the world, like I do—I’m in the top tax bracket, and most of my problems have been eliminated by money. And what happens when most of your problems are eliminated by money? Of course you still have to have problems. The human condition still has to focus on some kind of a struggle. Global warming has, in the last six months, become the problem that plagues you once you have no other problem. Just because I make a lot of money a year, and I can book a jet, fly and go see The Police play and fly back if I want to, doesn’t give me a right to forget about the infinitely more people who still have to worry about problems that really impact them. Even if you tell somebody, ‘If we keep going this direction we may lose all the polar bears in 10 years,’ what’s happening when people are reading that? They’re saying, ‘If I don’t get my shit together in my life, I may lose my job in the next two months.’ How much do you think they care about global warming then?”

So how much does Mayer care? Enough to dine quite often with Laurie David (the producer of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and wife of comedian Larry David), who has argued with Mayer over his views, and dragged him to hear leading environmentalists speak. “She is very forceful,” he laughs. So forceful she insisted that he come on board for the Giants Stadium concert.

A few disgruntled stars are also making themselves heard. Those who didn’t get asked have been rather vocal about their exclusion. Last January, KT Tunstall lamented, “I’m trying to find out why I’m not on the list. It’s not as if I’d be busy off-roading in my Range Rover.” After finding out how much Tunstall wanted to be on the bill, the former vice president had someone extend an invitation. The winsome singer who wrote the haunting “Under the Weather” after 9/11 has been since added to the Wembley Show, and she certainly fits the profile of their dream participant.

“I’ve been involved with something like Live Earth before,” she says. “I played in Trafalgar Square in London at Stop Climate Chaos’ iCount rally. It was a brilliant day, apart from the fact that I attempted to sit on a chair that wasn’t actually there and fell on my arse in front of Razorlight.” In addition, Tunstall does her best to limit her use of electricity, especially her blow dryer. “Clean hair is very overrated. It’s just not rock, either,” she laughs.

James Blunt, who will also be on the bill in London, has firm opinions on what a musician can or should do. “It’s not an artist’s responsibility to make the world a better place,” explains the former British soldier. “They should only do so if they believe in something. Something like climate change is different, though. All of us are responsible for the damage we are causing to planet Earth, and so we must all take responsibility to reverse this damage.”

Dave Matthews is just happy that the Live Earth show is giving everyone a chance to think globally, and sees it more as a catalyst than a doomsday prophecy. “Thomas Jefferson said that the world requires a revolution every 20 years, and I agree,” says the musician from his Seattle home, where he’s just finished a bike ride. “How is that for conserving energy?” he asks. “But then you have to buy a bike helmet and then you’re back to square one. …

“Any time I can be involved in some way, where people can have a common voice, I am gratified. Although there may be people there because they want to be seen, it doesn’t matter why you do things for other people for the general good, as long as you do them. Whether it’s so you can look like an angel or because you can’t help yourself doesn’t matter.

“But I think just as many people as stand up and say, ‘We need to work together,’ then [there’s] the possibility of more people standing up and saying, ‘We need to work together’ the next time. And so, for me, that’s the biggest thing—to have the voice of the people—I mean us, made louder, so that the voices of the machine, whether you call it corporatism or the military complex, people as pawns or people as tools. I think we as people have to stand up and—again and again—say something. Say anything. We need to wake those things up all the time, the idea of turning over and looking again at what we’ve become. Live Earth gives us that opportunity."

For more information, visit LiveEarth.org.