The issue is global warming but the event isn’t generating quite as much heat as hoped.
That’s despite the lineup of Madonna, the Police, Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Bon Jovie, Alicia Keyes,  and more than 100 others on stages in eight cities around the world, including East Rutherford, New Jersey; London; Johannesburg, South Africa, Sydney and Antarctica.

The Johannesburg concert has been scaled back after tepid ticket sales, and a show planned for Istanbul was canceled altogether . In Rio de Janeiro, government official are nervous about packing a million people onto Copacabana beach for a free concert.

 Live Earth doesn’t have a final goal,”said  Bob Geldof who organized Live Aid and Live 8. “I would only organize [this type of event] 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 get up on stage.” Roger Daltrey of the Who, which is not a participant, moaned: “The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert.”

 Will be interesting to see if Al Gore pulls this off.  He believes there is a potential audience of 2 billion people who will attend a show or listen in via television, radio or the Internet.  We shall see.  Hype?  Do people really care?  Is any  celebrity really giving up their private plane?