Live Earth a review

The other day I wrote about how I felt about Al Gore's Live Earth and how I felt about big benefit shows, well today I'm going to critique the New York portion of the Live Earth shows since that was the only portion that I listened too.

The New York/New Jersey line up was pretty meh at best. There were some surprisingly good performances and some really bad performances!

John Mayer was the first set that I heard. And I know people like him and I'm told by musician friends that if I heard his more bluesy stuff that I would have a whole new respect for him, but honestly I just don't get it!! To me his music sounds like it's music made for really preppy people and soccer moms!! All though when I see him interviewed he seems like a really cool guy, but I just don't get his music and what the big deal is about it!! His set on saturday was kinda boring!!

I didn't hear Kayne West's set, but I did hear the presenters on Sirius talking right before Kayne's set saying how Kayne West demanded that his set be longer then anyone else's on the NY/NJ Earth First bill or else he wasn't going to do the show. I like "Jesus Walks" and "Diamonds" and I think "Gold digger" is a really funny song but from all that I have read and seen of him, Kayne West just comes across as the biggest psychotic most arrogant prick!! A few months ago on youtube.com I saw a clip of him from the MTV Euro awards going off on, (on stage mind you) on the band that beat him out for video of the year, going on and on about how brilliant he is. But then again I loved his "George Bush doesn't care about black people" rant at that Hurricane Katrina fundraiser, that was such a punk moment!! The look on Mike Myers face at that moment that Kayne says those words is just priceless!!

I heard Alica Keys' set and I'm sorry but I think she is soooo overrated!! She along with Sheryl Crowe, The Black Eyed Peas, Shakiara, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd or one of the members of Pink Floyd, The Who, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Wyclef and Madonna always seem to be on the bills for these big benefit shows!! I know the Who are on tour in Europe right now and couldn't do the Earth First show and I was surprised that Sheryl Crowe didn't do the Earth First show, cause I know the environment is her big cause. Maybe she did but I wasn't aware. Back to Alica...I didn't hear her do "Gimme Shelter" with Keith Urban, but even the most jaded of music writers on some of the music sites that I go on said that their version was actually pretty good and one of the highlights of the NY/NJ show.

Heard Fall Out Boy and the All American Rejects and their sets just proved why I'm not a big fan of either band!

One person that really surprised me was Kelly Clarkson, I've always liked her voice and I think she's got some great pop tunes. She is now doing more rock type material and usually when someone in the pop genre tries to go rock or says that they are rock (hellooooo Ashlee Simpson and Fefe Dobson!), it's like no honey there is nothing rock about you or your music, Kelly with her new stuff is proving that she always was a hard core rocker chick!! Her new sound kinda reminds me of old school Pat Benetar but edgier!! I really think with her new sound that Kelly can fill that void of Pat Benetar/Ann Wilson tough but glam rocker chick! She had a great set on saturday and I will now download her new album from itunes.

Okay I'm biased I know cause I'm such a fan, but I thought Roger Waters had the best set of the night! And apparently I'm not alone a lot of the critics thought he was the best part of the New York show!! I thought the Bleeding Hearts Band sounded really tight and I thought old Rog sounded great vocally and looked great as well!! I loved the fact that Roger has been using the Lower East Side Boys club choir to sing the chorus of "Another Brick in the Wall", means Rog fancies himself a New Yorker! Maybe we'll see him hanging out at Arlene's and drinking at Motor City soon!!

The other really good set of the night I felt was the reunited Smashing Pumpkins, even though it's just Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, I thought Billy sounded great vocally and they were just on saturday night!! I loved the new song that they did.

Bon Jovi played, while I'm not a fan of Jon or the band at all, I think its great that they are still around and on top and making music people still wanna hear and selling out arenas after twenty years..bless them for that!! For all you fans of the Jovi and Bruce Springsteen can I ask you why does both Jon and Bruce sound like they come from the Mississippi Delta when they speak?? I didn't know that people who grew up in central New Jersey, twenty minutes from Manhattan speak with hard core southern accents! From what I've read they both still live in Jersey, it's not like they both moved to Tupelo Mississippi!! But I guess that's like a certain someone who grew up in a small Michigan town and who now speaks with a British accent!! I had no idea people who grew up in tiny Michigan towns speak with English accents!! Jon and the boys seemed to have the crowd up and on their feet and having a good time during their set saturday night!!

The Police closed the show and they weren't great, but they weren't awful! And it was kinda lame when they brought out John Mayer and Kayne West to do "Message in a Bottle", I wished they would have killed Kayne's mike after a certain point cause all he kept saying was "YEAH YEAH YEAH UHH UHH" over and over again over Sting's vocals thought the duration of the song and it got really annoying! John Mayer looked petrified to be out on stage with the Police.

Roger Waters should have closed the show!!

As cliched as this is I always love it at these benefit shows when everyone comes out and jams together, I'm surprised they didn't do that at this show and I'm surprised there weren't more collaborations at this show. I always like that too when different artists on the bill do something together. It would have been cool to have seen a Roger Waters/Smashing Pumpkins collaboration.

I didn't hear or watch any of the other shows that were taking place around the world, but I did hear that in London The Beastie Boys, Spinal Tap and Kasabian were the best parts of the London show. While Madonna and Genesis didn't give the greatest performances.

I was just on myspace checking out a friend who is a musician myspace profile, I was on his picture pages and I was reading some of the comments about his pictures. Not to sound like an old fuddy duddy but I was generally disturbed by the profile pictures and comments about my friend made by girls who are fourteen and fifteen. In their profile pics these girls have faces full of make up and are making Paris Hilton come hither type poses and the comments they gave to my friend are like "I'd hit that, but then you would go to jail", "UR SOOOO HOTTT" and "Hunk" and "I <} U".

While I was discovering music when I was that age, at the same time I was still pretending I was Leisel in "The Sound of Music" and Maria in "West Side Story" up in my bedroom by lipsynching to "I'm Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "I Feel Pretty". And if I did have a crush it was on the guy who was either a junior or senior who played in the local band and even then I couldn't imagine being that sexually forward at that age with that guy and I really couldn't imagine being that sexually forward to someone who was in their twenties or thirties at that age!

I was talking to another friend who manages a performer and she was telling me that this performer always gets suggestive messages sent by fourteen year olds on myspace all the time! She says that he gets messages like "Hi Hottie, holla back at me" all the time!

But I guess this is something that has been going since rock started! It all started with Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his thirteen year old cousin!! At the moment I'm reading the new Pamela DesBares book "Let's Spend the Night Together" (fantastic read by the way), in her new book Miss Pamela speaks to various women who were muses for famous rock stars and groupies! One of the women that she speaks with is a woman by the name of Lori Maddox, who became a groupie at thirteen, lost her virginity to David Bowie at thirteen and started dating Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame at fourteen!! Lori Maddox was part of a group of teenage girls in LA who in the 70's when they were still in junior high partied with all the major rock stars who passed through LA at that time! There was also a magazine at the time dedicated to this group of underage girls called "Star Magazine"!!

I understand having music speak to you when you are a kid, but I just don't get being so sexually forward with a musician who is a good fifteen years older then you when you are fourteen!! Discover music!! If you are that into it pick up an instrument, learn to sing, start to promote local bands at your school or blog about music!!