People have asked me how the Live 8 concert on 2 July was, so here's my version of it, which I was in the process of writing two Thursdays ago before being rudely interrupted. Going further back in time, I still have to write about our Avignon trip from the start of June. I should be discussing my past lives by October.

Delayed as my post is, I still wanted to write about the Paris (actually Versailles) concert because it was evident that a lot of anglophone journalists hadn't even bothered to watch the TV coverage before turning in their copy. They just wrote down what they expected would happen. Guess which type of artist didn't get mentioned in these stories. Go on...


Wingnut, Ronald and me arrived at 3pm, a good two hours before the concert began. I'd visited Versailles last September with Furrfu, but it certainly looked different now: the palace was almost obscured by the stage and the crowds. After a tactical discussion, we managed to get very good spots near the left barrier of the VIP area. VIPs in this case meaning, "20,000 fortunates who won the SMS lottery."

It was a long wait, so I sat down between all the feet and quietly ate my lunch in my private island of peace. I was almost disappointed when Wingnut hauled me back up to reality and the noise of the crowd when the music started.

Early in the afternoon, we had rock band Calogero and rapper Passi, and Craig David who did an impromptu duet with Tina Arena. They were all well-received but the crowd really got going when Muse came on. I like them a lot myself, but I think their fan club was standing behind us 'cos these people just lost their minds.

Andrea Bocelli was my favourite name out of the whole lot and this was the first time I'd seen him live. He did fine but I think he could have picked better songs. Francophone artists dominated the line-up, my favourites being the soulful Axelle Red, Diam's who basically told the Front National to go screw themselves in her rap and Yannick Noah who sang the praises of being "Métisse" (mestizo).

In between acts, the big screens showed Live 8 ads and pictures from Africa. There were also a couple of speeches about debt relief and the G8. The one thing that really stood out in my mind is when they had the 100,000 strong crowd click their fingers at three second intervals. Each click stood for a death. It was quiet, all you could hear was the clicks. Quite a creepy feeling.

I get the feeling Versailles had more technical troubles than Hyde Park. There was a long time between acts and most only performed two numbers, even Placebo who were incredibly popular. The event overran by almost two hours. "I feel like my feet have been standing still for 30 kilometres," said Wingnut.

It was a hot day as well and everyone shared their drinks around. In return, we offered one red-eared guy our sunscreen. This wasn't entirely altruistic, as the heat coming off this poor fellow's ear was in danger of giving the rest of us burns.

Shakira really got the crowd moving and made a good speech. By this time we had her Spanish fan club standing behind us. They kept on singing loudly during the breaks keeping the rest of us entertained, bless 'em.

The Cure was originally planned as the closing act, but fortunately, Youssou N'Dour was delayed and he wound up rounding the concert off. I can't think of a better person to have done so. By this time it was after midnight and he and Dido, who was travelling with him, were on their third concert of the day.

Regrettably, people had already started to go home, leaving the VIP space half-empty. I guess they wanted to catch the last train, but we didn't feel right about leaving and figured we could catch a nap on the grass as it was such a warm night. So, we stayed with a still enormous crowd and listened to Youssou N'Dour talk. His main theme was that debt relief and aid were helpful but what was really needed was the removal of trade barriers. Dido sung "7 Seconds" with him and, after talking some more, he ended with an old song, "New Africa".