Backstage Pass

(The whole piece is pretty darn funny, but if you want to go directly to the Mayer incident, it starts with about 2:45 left.)

PHOTO: Alicia Keys at Giants Stadium by STAN HONDA, AFP/Getty Images

As superstar concerts go, Live Earth U.S.A. was remarkably tame and a bit unsure. Luckily, Alicia Keys didn't have that problem. Not only did she strike the right sentiment -- a collaborative spirit with Keith Urban, which provided one of the day's most surprising moments, and her virtuoso performance of "If I Ain't Got You," which was easily the best song of the entire eight-hour concert.

As people filter through the hours of Live Earth coverage online over the coming days, the buzz about Keys' performance will only grow. 

Watch the video here. 

ALSO: Long Island had its own Live Earth spin off as well, with Long Island Sounds Off.

BY GLENN GAMBOA
glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The American leg of Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis, like the other concerts on all seven continents, proved to be as complex as the issue it is trying to solve.

As the anointed launch of a social movement, Live Earth U.S.A. pushed and pulled a wide range of ideas - some political, some social, some as big as government policy change, some as small as changing a lightbulb - seemingly anxious to see what method may prove most effective. As a superstar concert, it was a bit more straightforward - with standout sets from Alicia Keys, Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson showing why they are A-list performers with high-energy, high-impact sets.

PHOTO: Madonna in London (Spencer Weiner / LAT)

BY RAFER GUZMÁN
rafer.guzman@newsday.com

More than 100 of music's biggest names performed in nine cities on seven continents during yesterday's Live Earth benefit concert, marking the biggest live musical event in history.

Featuring such acts as Madonna, Kanye West, Shakira, Metallica, Duran Duran and The Police, the concerts harnessed rock's hedonism to an altruistic cause, halting global warming. Proceeds will go to Alliance for Climate Protection, a consortium of environmental groups spearheaded by former Vice President Al Gore, who helped organize the event.

Broadcast on eight television channels, including NBC, Bravo and Telemundo, and through the Web site liveearth.msn.com, the concerts aimed to reach as many as 2 billion people.

Playing up the global theme, Gore spoke to a crowd in Washington, D.C., but also appeared at the Makuhari Messe venue in Tokyo - as a hologram. "Global warming is the greatest challenge facing our planet," Gore's likeness told the audience, "and the gravest we've ever faced."To squeeze the event into one 24-hour day, the first concert began around 9 p.m. Friday New York time in Sydney, Australia (headlined by the recently-reunited Crowded House). As the hours unfolded, other shows kicked off in other cities. Linkin Park, Rihanna and Xzibit performed in Tokyo; a broadcast from Kyoto featured the pioneering synth-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra. Classical singer Sarah Brightman performed in China. Hamburg played host to Shakira (from Colombia), Enrique Iglesias (Spain) and Americans Chris Cornell and Snoop Dogg.

PHOTO: Adam Lazzara and Matt Rubano at Giants Stadium by Mat Szwajkos/Getty Images

Even after taking the Giants Stadium stage to perform in front of what could be the biggest audience ever assembled, Taking Back Sunday said it still couldn't grasp the enormity of the accomplishment.

"It feels crazy," said singer Adam Lazzara. "It's like when you're playing make believe, this is what you dream about happening."

"It's beyond what we could've dreamt," added singer/guitarist Fred Mascherino.

During its Live Earth concert set, The Rockville Centre-based band ripped through four songs from its "Louder Now" album, with Lazzara whipping the microphone cord around his neck in his usual frenzy through the band's "What It Feels Like To Be a Ghost" from the "Transformers" soundtrack, and its latest single, "My Blue Heaven."

However, bassist Matt Rubano said the band couldn't really process what was happening. "All that was going through our heads while we were playing was, 'This is happening on six other continents and billions of people are going to be able to see and hear this,'" he said.

"And, 'Don't screw up,'" Lazzara added.

Their belief in the climate crisis issue made the event even more important to them, said Mascherino, who said the band and its crew were inspired to do even more a few years ago when they ran into former Vice President Al Gore in Oklahoma City while he was working on "An Inconvenient Truth."

Though the band tries not to push its beliefs on its fans, they do hope to lead by example, Rubano said. They point to everything from links on their Web site to the way they live their lives, including Mascherino's Volkswagen Rabbit that runs on used vegetable oil, and Rubano's use of a "manly sippy cup" to replace bottled water.

A recent Associated Press article pointed out that, for once, New Yorkers have reason to be jealous of East Rutherford, NJ, where Giants Stadium is playing host to the Live Earth concert. A few complainers predicted that, throughout the day, viewers everywhere would be duped into thinking New Jersey was actually New York. Turns out they were right. The hosts on Bravo have repeatedly gushed about "Live Earth New York," and even the event's Website refers to the Giants Stadium location as "USA - New York." And Akon's DJ just addressed the crowd as "New York City." How do you like them Big Apples?

Kenna looked cool onstage as he opened Live Earth U.S.A., but inside he was trying not to let his nerves get the best of him.

"It's Giants Stadium first of all -- then you add that it's something significant and historic on top of that," the Ethiopian native woh now hails from Virginia, told me backstage. "I was just trying to make it through."

 Kenna said he will spend the next six months promoting his upcoming "Make Sure They See My Face" (Interscope) album, which is more aggressive and guitar-driven than his debut.

"You gotta come with something new," he said. "I'd hate to put out the same album twice." 

 Kenna said he knew he was being considered for a Live Earth slot for weeks, but he wasn't sure whether he was heading to Sydney, London or East Rutherford until last week.

"I was just excited to be a part of the event," he said. 

PHOTO:  Kenna opens Live Earth U.S.A. by Mat Szwajkos, Getty Images

"It's a good thing I'm not a preacher," Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara said, after telling fans, “Please leave here with some kind of literature. This is not a debatable issue we’re up against.”

Though Lazzara was rocking the three-piece black suit in the 90 degree heat, guitarist-singer Fred Mascherino made the boldest fashion choice: A black satin "Synchronicity" tour jacket from The Police.

SETLIST: What It Feels Like To Be a Ghost / Liar (It Takes One To Know One) / My Blue Heaven / MakeDamnSure 

Some interesting tidbits from backstage:

-- Live Earth U.S.A. is the largest green event ever, with nearly everything being used, including the stage, and the planks covering the field, set to be recycled.

-- Organizers are putting all their energy into getting people to sign the 7-point pledge online or at the concerts. "We want to create pressure in national capitols around the world so that elected officials know that they have the support of the people to make this transition and make it quickly," said Cathy Zoi, the CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, the group that will receive the donations from today's event.

-- The Live Earth USA show is a sell-out, with 52,000 filling Giants Stadium. 

During Red Hot Chili Peppers' energetic set at Wembley Stadium, bassist Flea took a moment between "Dani California" and "So Much I" to recite an oddball rap. "Space-age couple," he shouted, "why do you hustle 'n' bustle? Why don't you cultivate the ground? You're the only ones around." Classic rock fans might know that the lines were borrowed (and slightly modified) from Captain Beefheart's "Space-Age Couple." Flea didn't recite all the lyrics, but they happen to end with this environmentally-oriented couplet: "Scooped up a little of the sky and it ain't blue no more / What's on the leaves ain't dew no more."

For those of you who want to plan your day around the Live Earth USA schedule (you know who you are) here's the most recent running order I've managed to snag backstage at Giants Stadium. The times are approximate, of course, this is still rock and roll, kinda.

Kenna (2:20)

KT Tunstall (2:41)

Taking Back Sunday (2:59)

Keith Urban (3:21)

Ludacris (3:48)

AFI (4:13)

Fall Out Boy (4:38)

Akon (5:01)

John Mayer (5:30)

Melissa Etheridge (5:59)

Alicia Keys (6:27)

Dave Matthews Band (6:57)

Kelly Clarkson (7:28)

Kanye West (8:00)

Bon Jovi (8:28)

Smashing Pumpkins (9:00)

Roger Waters (9:34)

The Police (10:07) 

What is it about England that causes musicians to loosen their tongues? That's where Natalie Maines of Dixie Chicks got in trouble for bashing Bush, and now The Black Eyed Peas are courting controversy there as well. Their recent hit "Let's Get Retarded" had been changed to the more politically correct "Let's Get It Started," but they lapsed back into the original at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. It was no slip of the tongue: Rapper will.i.am enunciated the word quite clearly as "re-tarr-ded."

Whatever it will take politically and economically for Live Earth to be considered a success will be up to someone else to sort out. But musically, Live Earth's future reputation will be built on moments like Damien Rice's stunning version of "The Blower's Daughter" and his reworking with David Gray of "Que Sera Sera," both elegantly simple and poignant without being sappy.

PHOTO: Damien Rice by Robbie Fry

Snoop Dogg's in Hamburg doing "Who Am I (What's My Name)" and Genesis is in London doing "Invisible Touch."

Yeah, bow-wow-wow-yippee-yo-yippee yay!

Even in the Hamburg rain, Shakira steams things up with "Hips Don't Lie" dressed down in a tank top and jeans and without her usual curly mane of blond locks. The idea of a Latin singer speaking in English to communicate to her German audience is a pretty good argument for the global reach of not just Live Earth, but music in general.

Wow, it seems my blogged and telepathic complaints to the aura of Robert Redford have been answered. The Rihanna set has just started on Sundance Channel, though, in reality, she's cruising towards her inevitable "Umbrella-ella-ella" end. Ay! Ay! Ay!

Maybe I should complain about something a little more important next. Hmm. 

Oh, and to complicate matters, Shakira is about to start in Germany. 

UPDATE: Sundance has run a film and is now doing Crowded House on tape instead of going forward in the Rihanna set. So, um, I've resumed the telepathic complaints.

OK, Sundance Channel, let's get it together. Right now, Rihanna is rocking out in Tokyo, but I've now sat through Wolfmother (on tape) and a slew of these pro-environment videos and Robert Redford commercials. Why aren't you live with her? She's closing out Tokyo, which will leave China as the only running show, so there will be plenty of time to fill soon.

[Man, "Breaking Dishes" is even better live than on record.]

While we're on the complaining tip, why can't the individual sets run without commercial interruption? Or at least without breaks between every song? There's no way a set can build up any steam. I'm hoping this isn't the way it will work the rest of the day or on the rest of the NBC/Universal family of cable networks.

[Rihanna is now sweetly covering Bob Marley's "Is This Love?" but Jack Johnson on tape is on Sundance.]

If this is how it's gonna work, more and more people -- especially the young ones -- are going to tune out and just watch it online. Don't forget the MTV mess-up of Live 8 in 2005, where all the talking heads and crazy cutting back and forth resulted in complaints and a huge do-over the following weekend (which was actually well done the second time.) Hopefully, NBC will learn from the others' mistakes.

PHOTO: Def Jam Records 

There's something about Linkin Park's personalized angst that makes them an odd fit for a protest concert. But for Live Earth they're actually quite perfect, because it won't be until the whole environmental debate becomes personal that the massive change organizers are hoping for will actually have a chance of taking place.

Other than their single "What I've Done," a rocker filled with regret that could apply to almost any failing, they smartly don't alter their regular set, raising the energy with "In the End" and "One Step Closer."

And they even got to scream what all today's debaters wish they could scream at their opponents, "Shut up! Shut up when I'm talking to you!"

The musicians, at least today, win that battle. They have the mics and the amplifiers.

PHOTO: James Minchin / Warner Bros.

"We are the groundswell," said Crowded House's Neil Finn, as he leads Aussie Stadium and a stage full of Australian stars in a chorus of "Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you."

Finn and his reunited Crowded House delivered an early highlight, with the stadium darkened by an apparent power outage and the stage lit without spotlights, letting the emotion of "Weather With You" carry the moment. "As long as the PA is going, everything's all right, OK?" Finn said. "Who needs lights anyway?"

They sealed the set with a gorgeous, acoustic version of "Better Be Home Soon," where the crowd not only sang along, but seemed to do so in harmony.

"Over to you world," Finn said, rounding out the Aussie concert, the first of the nine -- does Garth Brooks' Washington appearance make it 10? -- official Live Earth shows.

John Mayer is blogging about his Live Earth appearance tomorrow and, as usual, making a lot of sense.

"I'm starting to feel the first ripples of what could become a revolution. I hope that for all the cynicism that's existed around this subject, we can all uncross our arms long enough to give this event a chance to impact the world in the way that I'm beginning to feel that it could. Now isn't the time to dissect the rights and wrongs. (If you're hoping Live Earth doesn't work, you have a lot of soul-searching to do.)"

He goes on a bit about cynics and the media (and cynics in the media) saying, "To the journalists who will lay in wait for the perfectly maligned moment of hypocrisy, you will probably find one if that's how you want to spend your time. Just use this as a measuring stick; give Live Earth's initiative at least as much benefit of the doubt as you've given to the iPhone, or a new Radiohead album."

That sounds fair enough. Of course, not everyone will be playing fair -- as the current ridiculous mini-controversy about the Live Earth website saying that tomorrow's concert is in New York instead of East Rutherford, N.J., shows. If they did a little digging, they would find that tomorrow's show is called Live Earth U.S.A., not Live Earth New York, but then that fact would ruin the story, now wouldn't it? Then they might have to talk about, you know, what the concerts were about.

Oh John Mayer, it's so hard not to be cynical. But you're right, we should all try.

So Live Earth Australia kicked off a little earlier than expected, with Aussies Blue King Brown getting the honors of starting this whole 27-hour spectacular. Right now, the only way to watch in the U.S. is through the Live Earth website though that will change at 4 a.m., when the Sundance Channel starts its coverage. Both Sirius and XM satellite radio have also launched their broadcasts.

It's kind of hard to get excited about the mostly acoustic, mostly dirge-like Toni Collette and The Finish, though she was fun in "Little Miss Sunshine" and, of course, "Muriel's Wedding."

Gotta say the MSN interface is working better than I thought it would, with the picture and the sound coming through pretty clearly with relatively few synch issues. Whether that will last during the heavy traffic times remains to be seen.

Another good thing is the channel setup, which says who is coming up at what concert and when they start. It helps since trying to convert everything into Greenwich Mean Time gets a bit taxing after a while.

Garth Brooks will make a rare public appearance at "Mother Earth," a Live Earth spin-off event in Washington D.C. at the National Museum of the American Indian. The event will also feature former Vice President Al Gore, solving the mystery of his second-concert whereabouts on Saturday.

The Washington Post reports that Brooks and wife Trisha Yearwood will likely sing "We Shall Be Free."

Forget We Are Scientists. The Live Earth band that will have Antarctica all to themselves really are scientists.

A quintet of British researchers studying the effects of global warming on Antarctica have formed a band, Nunatak, to perform during the concert event Saturday.

Organizers wanted to send a band to Antarctica to perform (man, don't we all have a list of bands we want to send to Antarctica?) but because it's winter there and the temperatures are, at their warmest, about 14 degrees this time of year, that wasn't possible. So Nunatak, a bunch of indie-rockers influenced by Oasis and Led Zeppelin and led by 22-year-old electronics engineer Matt Balmer, will make its world debut in front of 2 billion or so people. Take that, mySpace!

About Nunatak [British Antarctic Survey]

The on-again, off-again Live Earth Brazil concert is on-again, after a judge reversed her ruling when organizers were able to convince her there would be enough security to handle the estimated 700,000 fans expected for the free concert Saturday featuring Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray, Pharrell Williams and others, the Associated Press is reporting.

Live Earth U.K. will start with the reunited Genesis and end with Madonna's "Hung Up," according to the London concert's running order released today.

Among the "surprises" set for the show include Justin Timberlake teaming up with Duran Duran on one of the band's new Timbaland-produced songs (and perhaps some songs of his own) and Chris Rock introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica.

Full schedule here [MTV UK]

A Brazilian judge has canceled Saturday's Live Earth concert in Rio because police said they do not have enough officers to guarantee crowd safety, according to the Associated Press.

However, organizers for Live Earth Brazil say they are trying to overturn the judge's order for the free show on Rio's Copacabana Beach that was scheduled to include performances from Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray and Pharrell Williams. Cancelling the show would also end organizers' plan to host concerts on all seven continents on Saturday in an attempt to raise awareness of the problem of climate change.

Rapper and ride-pimper Xzibit, electronica-tinged rocker Kenna and '70s icon Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens) have been added to the list of artists at Saturday's Live Earth concerts, organizers announced.

Xzibit will be part of the Tokyo show, Yusuf will be in Hamburg and Kenna will be at Live Earth U.S.A. at Giants Stadium.

Organizers also confirmed that a small number of tickets are still available for each show.

Al Gore is promising big surprises for Saturday's Live Earth concerts, including a song specifically written for the event by The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and some sort of performance at the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, where it's currently the middle of winter, to close the event.

Gore said will.i.am wrote the new song and emailed it to him within a week of their meeting at this year's Grammy Awards, adding that another artist, aside from Madonna, who wrote "Hey You," has written a new song specifically for Live Earth.

The former vice president will provide a bit of a surprise himself. He is set to attend Live Earth U.S. at Giants Stadium, but he said he will also make an appearance at another concert, though how that will work exactly is still under wraps.

And who exactly are the still-unannounced artists set for the bill? Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Could one be Paul McCartney? 

Taking Back Sunday's Fred Mascherino is no newcomer to Live Earth's environmentally-friendly message. He drives a 1982 VW Rabbit that runs on vegetable oil. (He picks it up the used oil from a local Thai restaurant; the oil he got from the nearby Chinese restaurant proved too chunky, he said.) He and his family hang dry their clothes instead of using an electric dryer. And he's always giving back plastic bags when he buys stuff at the store -- no matter how much they want him to take one.

"Maybe the store clerks will see [Live Earth] and understand now why I don't want the bags," Mascherino said.

Madcherino, who TBS bassist Matt Rubano calls a "Superman for the environment," said  he hopes people who tune into the Live Earth concerts will see how just changing a few habits can make a big difference.

 "I've always been passionate about this issue, but before it was just seen as a hippie thing," Mascherino said. "Now it's gone mainstream. It's awesome to see."