There is a very interesting argument on BBC Local Southern Counties Radio at the moment, and it's AMAZING how many people just do not have a clue about Live8 and what it represents. Tommy Boyd, the host has really tried to get the point across, but some people are so ignorant of it, that they end up just swearing at him. It's unbelievable.
Just a short comment on the swearing issue - in these days of extreme political correctness it is fantastic that the BBC let a programme go out 100% live without editing and without apology.
Yes, there were a couple of acts who swore more than neccessary - but in the scheme of things it doesn't matter.
I would hope any child that questioned their parents about the bad language would also question their parents about the reason behind the concerts - and pull at their heartstrings just to do a little bit more!
Back to the concert - a great watch. I didn't intend to watch much of it - I got quite annoyed at being told it be the biggest event ever before it happened - but I tuned in and decided just to watch the bands I liked. I found myself watching about 75% of the line up. Personally, I didn't like having three old-timers complete the line-up - I think something more modern should have been thrown in alongside The Who and Pink Floyd at the end.
The US and Canadian concerts both seemed to end before the UK concert, which was a bit of a shame. It says alot that they aren't even being broadcast live on network TV in the US - as let's face it, they are for George Bush's benefit!
Presentation wise - the graphics were nothing special. The audio from Toronto (and their stage) was terrible.
One thing I found odd was the US concert was being broadcast in widescreen, as was the London gig - but everytime the US feed showed something from London, it switched to 4:3.
Also, the Interactive service could have been a bit better. The multi-screen options were fine, but they could have added in the running order and the website/text details for signing the Live 8 list.
( http://www.live8live.com if you haven't already! ) Also, on BBCi Text the page highlights who was performing where was just blank!
I'm also quite surprised BBC4 didn't get in on the act and broadcast the Eden Project gig (which was on BBCi).
Someone seemed to think the same as me and did start pumping the crowd noise into the studio eventually! Gave it a better atmosphere IMO.
If you are talking about the Jonathan Ross bubble - then I don't think that was "piped" it was acoustic - I think the crowd just started making a bit more noise... Throughout the day the noise from the stage has been very audible in the bubble - it is so close it couldn't not be...
People saying it's better live, how do we know it is live, it may be 10 seconds delayed but they chose not to employ anyone to censor anything. The radio style time signal beeping 2pm at about 2.03pm was a bit strange as well!
I think it is VERY likely that the Hyde Park stuff was live - why bother to make life more complex by delaying it for no reason.
As for the opening at 1403 - I think the simple answer is that the "Pips" were part of the opening VT - which ran later than 1400?
Sorry to drag out something from pages earlier in the thread, but what did Richard Curtis say about Ricky Gervais? I'm not quite sure what Richard was expecting - Ricky was always going to play it along the lines that he did, he wasn't ever going to be the type who would come on and say "Let's be serious for a moment".
