Live & Death
‘HAND up who went to Live 8.
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| Rock until your TV drops |
Put your hands down, you fools – and put that lighter out. I cant see you. What youre looking at is some just some kind of glorified TV.
Yes, thats right, it is a little like the one you watched Madonna perform on, although its not in the open air – unless youre from Cyprus and have positioned the TV set on the crazy paving, next to the outdoor fridge and last years Christmas tree.
And this TV is closer to a toilet. And when you reach for a smoke, no-one asks you if they can have one.
And you dont have to pretend to dance to U2, especially not in that knowing muso way of folding your arms, nodding your head and clapping in the middle of songs.
Of course, TV cannot yet give you the full effect, say you. Theres no way you can fully experience what it is to have been there when the revolution – the one televised by the BBC and supported by the Government – rocked the planet.
And you are right. You cant beat being there. Being at home is a poor substitute for being at the beating heart of global change.
But I at least tried to recapture the thrill – as did my television, which as soon as Madonna leapt onto the stage flashed a bright red.
Good set, thought I. Much of the world is in the red, so quite right that Madonna should paint the stage the livid colour of poverty, and Kabbalah string.
But what of the strange whining, hissing sound? Madonna? Perhaps. But what of the lines dancing across the screen?
The TV was dead, and that meant replacing it with an alternative. I needed to hurry, lest I lay myself open for accusations of not having done my bit to make poverty history.
The new telly happened to be 14 inches of white plastic. No NICAM. No FASTTEXT. No PLASMA. This was Live 8 on the televisual equivalent of scratchy vinyl.
Tonight I was gonna party like it was 1985.
Only this year, I was at home, and there was no need to call my mum to come and pick me up…
Paul Sorene’
Posted: 4th, July 2005 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
