July 2, 2005 Hyde Park, London, ENG

The main Live 8 concert was held at Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom on 2 July 2005. The event is also referred to as Live 8 London or Live 8 UK.

In the United Kingdom, the BBC provided full television coverage, starting on BBC Two from 13:00 and continuing from 18:15 on BBC One, right up to the end of the concert at 00:00. The advertised changeover time was 16:15, disappointing many who had set video recorders accordingly. The coverage was presented by Steve Rider, Fearne Cotton, Jo Whiley and Graham Norton. 350 complaints were made to the BBC about swearing before the 21:00 watershed.

In the UK, there was radio coverage on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 Live and several local radio stations.

The Radio 1 coverage was presented by Chris Moyles, Scott Mills, Edith Bowman, Colin Murray, Sara Cox and Vernon Kay. While the Radio 2 presenters were Chris Evans, Davina McCall and Dermot O'Leary. Each station focussed on artists who matched the station's playlisting policy and target audience. The Radio 5 Live coverage was presented by Brian Alexander, Phil Williams and Aasmah Mir. The coverage also focused on the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh and the Wimbledon Women's Singles Final.

Most commercial radio stations in the UK took a programme produced by Capital FM for the day, presented by Ulrika Jonsson.

In Ireland, the concert was broadcast on RTÉ Two, whose coverage ran from 14:00 to 00:00 (except 17:00 to 18:00, when the coverage switched to RTÉ One). The coverage was presented by Dave Fanning and Laura Woods.

In the United States, MTV and VH1 provided intermittent and incomplete live and taped coverage, frequently breaking away mid-song for commercials or commentary by their VJs. This decision drew criticism from numerous viewers who viewed the commentary as being frivolous or inane and would have preferred to see the music acts themselves. However, AOL provided a full webcast of the entire show.

After the criticism of viewers, both VH1 and MTV showed highlights of the Live 8 concerts on 9 July 2005 for 5 hours each without commercial interruption.

In the US, XM Satellite Radio broadcast the concert in its entirety.

In Australia, the concert was broadcast on FOX8 (live) and the Nine Network (highlights).

Lineup

All times BST

Steve Rider (Introduction) (HP 14:00) Paul McCartney and U2 – "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (HP 14:03) U2 - "Beautiful Day"/"Blackbird", "Vertigo", "One"/"Unchained Melody" (HP 14:06) Coldplay – "In My Place/Rockin' All Over the World (chorus)", "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (with Richard Ashcroft), "Fix You" (HP 14:41) David Walliams and Matt Lucas as Lou and Andy (presenters) (HP 14:58) Elton John – "The Bitch Is Back", "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", "Children of the Revolution" (with Pete Doherty) (HP 15:01) Bob Geldof (Host) (HP 15:21) Bill Gates (presenter) (HP 15:25) Dido – "White Flag" (Solo), "Thank You" and "7 Seconds" (both with Youssou N'Dour) (HP 15:30) Stereophonics – "The Bartender and the Thief/Ace of Spades (chorus)", "Dakota", "Maybe Tomorrow", "Local Boy in the Photograph" (HP 15:50) Ricky Gervais (presenter) (HP 16:11) R.E.M. – "Imitation of Life", "Everybody Hurts", "Man on the Moon" (HP 16:15) Kofi Annan (presenter) (HP 16:35) Ms. Dynamite – "Dy-na-mi-tee", "Redemption Song" (HP 16:39) Keane – "Somewhere Only We Know", "Bedshaped" (HP 17:09) Will Smith (presenter) (HP 17:29) Travis – "Sing", "Side"/"Stayin' Alive", "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" (HP 17:49) Bob Geldof – "I Don't Like Mondays" (HP 18:09) Brad Pitt (presenter) (HP 18:19) Annie Lennox – "Why", "Little Bird", "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (HP 18:23) UB40 – "Food For Thought", "Who You Fighting For?", "Reasons" (with Hunterz & The Dhol Blasters), "Red Red Wine", "Can't Help Falling in Love" (HP 18:43) Snoop Dogg – "Ups & Downs", "Drop It Like It's Hot", "Signs", "The Next Episode", "Who Am I (What's My Name?)" (HP 19:03) Razorlight – "1913 Massacre"/"Somewhere Else", "Golden Touch", "In The City" (HP 19:23) Bob Geldof and Birhan Woldu (presenters) (HP 19:43) Madonna – "Like a Prayer", "Ray of Light", "Music" (HP 19:49) Snow Patrol – "Chocolate", "Run" (HP 20:19) The Killers – "All These Things That I've Done" (HP 20:39) Joss Stone – "Super Duper Love", "I Had a Dream", "Some Kind of Wonderful" (HP 20:49) Scissor Sisters – "Laura", "Take Your Mama", "Everybody Wants the Same Thing" (HP 21:09) Velvet Revolver – "Do It for the Kids", "Fall To Pieces", "Mountain Song/Slither" (HP 21:29) Lenny Henry (presenter) (HP 21:49) Sting – "Message in a Bottle", "Driven To Tears", "Every Breath You Take" (with alternative lyrics) (HP 21:45) Dawn French (presenter) (HP 22:05) Mariah Carey – "Make It Happen", "Hero" (with African Children's Choir), "We Belong Together" (HP 22:09) David Beckham (presenter) (HP 22:29) Robbie Williams – "We Will Rock You", "Let Me Entertain You", "Feel", "Angels" (HP 22:33) Peter Kay – presenter, comedy and a cappella performance of "Is This the Way to Amarillo" (HP 22:53) The Who – "Who Are You", "Won't Get Fooled Again" (HP 23:03) Pink Floyd – "Speak to Me"/"Breathe" segued with "Breathe (reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here", "Comfortably Numb" (HP 23:23) Paul McCartney – "Get Back", "Drive My Car" (with George Michael), "Helter Skelter", "The Long and Winding Road"/"Hey Jude [refrain]" (HP 00:00)

Performance notes

U2 and Paul McCartney opened the London concert, playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Later, Bono added a couple of lines of The Beatles' "Blackbird" to the end of "Beautiful Day". It had been said that Paul McCartney and U2's Bono would wear Sgt. Pepper costumes during their performance together. However, when the show took place, the costumes were worn by a four-piece French horn section of free-lance London area players, Richard Steggall, Adam Walters, Joe Walters, and Matt Gunner.

Chris Martin included the chorus of Status Quo's song "Rockin' All Over the World" in the bridge of Coldplay's song "In My Place". Status Quo had opened the 1985 Wembley Live Aid concert with that song. In addition, Coldplay were joined by Richard Ashcroft to perform "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

Pete Doherty joined Elton John for a version of T.Rex's hit "Children of the Revolution".

Using much of the musical equipment used by rock band Travis, who had just left the stage, Bob Geldof told the audience that he "couldn't resist playing on this stage" and played the Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays". He had earlier said that he did not deserve to play alongside the scheduled acts.

Before Madonna's set, Geldof introduced Birhan Woldu, who was the famous starving child in the CBC News report which prompted Geldof to organise Live Aid. She held hands with Madonna while the singer performed the first verses of "Like a Prayer". Geldof had asked Woldu whom she wanted to appear on stage with, with Woldu choosing Madonna as she was the only artist she'd heard of.

All the songs performed by Sting were sung twenty years before at Live Aid.

Robbie Williams began his set with a cover of Queen's "We Will Rock You". Williams stated in an interview that he "wanted to bring a bit of Freddie back from the original Live Aid". Williams had often performed the same section of "We Will Rock You" during his own concerts.

The classic line-up of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd (Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason) played together on stage for the first time in 24 years. The band performed the songs "Speak to Me", "Breathe / Breathe (Reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". They were the only band not to be verbally introduced. This would be the final performance by the full Pink Floyd lineup, as Syd Barrett & Richard Wright would pass away of cancer in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and Waters declined to accompany Gilmour & Mason for The Endless River in 2014.

Some artists already had shows planned for 2 July which they performed after their performances at Live 8. Accordingly, they were not present for the "Hey Jude" grand finale.

Both The Cure and Muse were originally listed on the Live 8 website as appearing at the Live 8 London concert. During a BBC TV documentary called The Live 8 Story, the names of both acts are visible on a provisional running order compiled during a production meeting between Geldof, Richard Curtis, Harvey Goldsmith and various other parties. In the end, both acts played the Paris Live 8 concert.

Originally scheduled to close at 21:30 the concert overran and went on until about 00:30, leaving many in the audience with no means of returning home.

As he had done at Live Aid 20 years previously, Harvey Goldsmith appeared on stage to thank the audience for their patience with the late-running event and to make a closing appeal for people to leave slowly to avoid crushes.

Notable non-performing personalities backstage and in the audience included:

Alan Green Boris Becker Victoria Beckham Sanjeev Bhaskar Michael Buerk David Cameron Jimmy Carr Jeremy Clarkson Phil Daniels Peter Drury Faye Dunaway David Frost Simon Fuller Jane Goldman Sabrina Guinness Jerry Hall Josh Hartnett Paris Hilton Jools Holland Mike Ingham Katherine Jenkins Scarlett Johansson Tessa Jowell Ronan Keating Ross Kemp Robert Kilroy-Silk Peter Mandelson Andrew Marr Theresa May Stella McCartney John McEnroe Ian McKellen Roger Moore Neil Morrissey Jonathan Overend Gwyneth Paltrow Mike Smith Steve Rider Midge Ure Murray Walker Ruby Wax

The BBC also had live coverage on big screens across the UK.

England London – south part of Hyde Park Manchester – Exchange Square Birmingham – Chamberlain Square Birmingham – Cannon Hill Park Liverpool – Clayton Square Hull – Queen Victoria Square Leeds – Millennium Square Gateshead – Gateshead International Stadium Bournemouth – Meyrick Park Plymouth – Armada Way Wales Cardiff – Cooper's Field, Bute Park Wrexham – Queens Square Northern Ireland Belfast – Custom House Square Scotland Inverness – Caledonian Stadium Channel Islands St. Helier, Jersey – Peoples Park Guernsey – L'Eree