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Biggest Names in Music Perform to Eliminate Poverty in Africa
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(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=E12AC1:3919ACA

Former Beatle Paul McCartney kicked off London's version of concert in
Hyde Park with "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"





Paul McCartney, center, and members of U2, perform at Live 8 concert
in Hyde Park, London, Saturday

The Live 8 concerts are under way as hundreds of the top names in
popular music appear in nine countries to draw attention to the plight
of the poor in Africa.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney and U2 frontman and human rights
campaigner, Bono, kicked off London's version of the concert Saturday,
in Hyde Park with "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Bono, telling the crowd "this is our time," called on the estimated
150-thousand in attendance to stand up for what is right.

The concerts began in Tokyo Saturday, with Icelandic singer Bjork and
U.S. rockers Good Charlotte. During the day, some 150 of the most
accomplished entertainers will perform in cities on four continents.
Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, Johannesburg and
Philadelphia. There also are performances in Cornwall in England and
the Canadian town of Barrie, north of Toronto.

Live 8 was not planned to raise money. The concert was timed ahead of
next week's G8 summit to press leaders of the world's seven top
industrial nations and Russia to contribute more to the elimination of
poverty in Africa.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.


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