Now, don’t confuse that statement with me believing that global warming is not a problem with potentially catastrophic effects on the lives of our children and our children’s children. I do believe that more needs to be done to reduce our fossil fuel emissions and we need to pressure our government to help fund the research and development of cleaner alternative energy sources. But I don’t think a concert can do any of that.

I believe I’ve always been naturally cynical but I also believe that my job has amplified that cynicism by a factor of 5. And I may be being cynical but I do not believe that this concert will do anything but provide a full-day of decent music, maybe a few surprise collaborations that are semi-noteworthy and further ascend Al Gore to his role as a liberal deity.

My beefs with the concert start really at the most basic. First of all, there’s the name. Live Earth? Is that really the best they could do? I mean I know Al Gore isn’t a creative genius but I guess I expected something more from the man who invented the internet. If I were Bob Geldof, I would have been giving my lawyer a call. Stupid name.

Secondly, there’s the cause this concert is promoting. This is a cause that I believe most reasonable people are aware of. I doubt anyone is going to turn on Bravo at 9 a.m. tomorrow and have their brains blown out their ears because K.T. Tunstall is telling him that the polar ice caps are melting, a fact they were previously unaware of and needed it explained to them by a Scottish songstress. Secondly, I don’t think a concert has the ability to influence a global or even national policy change on this issue. I don’t think members of the Bush administration are going to see Fergie or UB40 on stage and go “You know, I think we’ve been wrong about this whole thing.”

Now this is not to say that I won’t watch some of tomorrow’s events because some of my favorite bands and acts (i.e. Bloc Party, Keane, Damien Rice, David Gray) will be performing and I’m mildly interested to see Smashing Pumpkins reunite but I don’t think this concert will do what it’s setting out to do. At its core, the concert is setting out to raise awareness about global climate change but who isn’t aware of that already? And if there are people who have no idea what global warming is, chances are (hopefully) they’re not in a position to make the kind of changes necessary anyway.

I am all for people trying to make a difference and doing as much as they can, as often as they can but this concert seems completely self-aggrandizing. Maybe not for the acts themselves, who may believe that they’re doing the right thing but certainly for Al Gore, who may or may not be eyeing another run at the presidency in ‘08.

I think we need to be very careful about the message we’re sending. Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders told NME that the reason the band passed on playing the UK gig was that the whole thing seemed “hypocritical.”

“We’re using enough power for ten houses just for lighting,” he explained. “It’d be a bit hypocritical [if we played Live Earth].”

So remember, going to a concert in New Jersey, doesn’t make you an environmental activist. Especially if you arrived there in an SUV your dad bought you.

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