Bono effortlessly worked the crowd. Half a globe away, Bjork strutted the stage. Bill Gates was cheered like a rock star. And on the continent that inspired Saturday's unprecedented Live 8 extravaganza, Nelson Mandela outshone them all.
From Johannesburg to Philadelphia, Berlin to Tokyo, Rome to Moscow, hundreds of the world's top musicians and more than 1 million of their fans gathered for a music marathon designed to pressure the world's most powerful leaders into fighting African poverty.
Twenty years after he masterminded the legendary Live Aid concerts, rocker Bob Geldof delivered on his promise to deliver "the greatest concert ever," broadcast live around the world on television and the Internet. But his ultimate goal went far beyond music: to squeeze debt forgiveness, trade concessions and $25 billion in aid for Africa out of next week's Group of Eight summit meeting in Scotland.
The power to even attempt such things sprang from Saturday's "declaration of interdependence," actor Will Smith, host of the Philadelphia show, said on Independence Day weekend in the United States.
"Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together," Smith said. Via satellite, he led the global audience in snapping their fingers every three seconds, signifying the child death rate in Africa.
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