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Columbia RecordsBack in 2007, over 150 acts participated in a series of global concerts called Live Earth, which were designed to raise awareness of global warming. Those concerts were organized by former Vice President Al Gore, who’s now teaming with Pharrell Williams to stage a second round of Live Earth events on June 18.
The concerts, which will take place across all seven continents, were announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. So far, no artists or details have been revealed, but Pharrell, who’s acting as the Live Earth creative director, said the global event would be more than just a series of concerts. “Instead of just having people perform, we literally…are going to have humanity harmonize all at once,” he said. He also promised “interesting surprises.”
Pharrell said he had “a ball” at the original Live Earth, where he performed, but he added that the message ended up getting somewhat lost. “You would have pundits and comedians who didn’t understand global warming and so we were often ridiculed,” he said of the 2007 event. “But…after watching the news, I think you guys know how serious the global warming thing is, so for us, we’re taking it very seriously and so we wanted to do something very different this time.”
Organizer Kevin Wall, who was also involved in the first Live Earth event, said, “The power of music is unique, because it’s borderless. It’s without language. Pharrell…will use that power, and when you use music combined with a message, you can effect change.”
A video of the announcement states that there will be 100 artists performing in the seven shows, with each part of the event lasting four to six hours. “Major, major artists” are promised.
Paris, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Australia, China and South Africa are among the cities and countries hosting the events.
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