Canadian icons rock Barrie at Live 8
Cheryl Browne
Local News - Monday, July 04, 2005 @ 08:00
BARRIE — Comedian Dan Aykroyd dubbed Saturday’s global Live 8 concerts “The greatest rock show in the history of the world.”
Barrie’s own Live 8 event began with a sea of tanned arms rippling in a unified wave that ended eight hours later with two dozen performers and about 40,000 rockers screaming ‘Keep on Rocking in the Free World.’
And then they sang our national anthem.
Barrie not only showed the world they know how to rock ‘n’ roll, they sent a message across all generations that they’re ready to do something — anything — to bring awareness to the plight of the dying in Africa.
“Rock ‘n’ roll got us here, but the message sinks in,” said Dave Pearson, 23, a student from Brockville.
It certainly seemed to at noon, when Bryan Adams’ set was interrupted by American actor Will Smith via satellite on huge video monitors to introduce each country’s audience to the next.
Still riding the high after the Philadelphia crowd said hello London, who cheered Rome, who helloed Berlin who greeted Paris who welcomed Barrie’s Park Place crowd and sent it back to Philadelphia, the dawn of realization snapped into place as they performed a worldwide ‘click’ of their fingers.
For what seemed an eternity, every three seconds across the globe millions of people clicked their fingers, signifying a death of a fellow human being in Africa from extreme poverty and AIDS.
An estimated 6,800 children died while we rocked on Saturday.
Not just there to enjoy the global musical historical moment, the millions of people in attendance paused, each face reflecting the sobering reality of death as they simply but effectively snapped their fingers.
“It was unbelievable,” Randy Bachman said backstage after his performance of the worldwide click. “The crowd felt what I felt and I knew it was being felt all over the world. We are sending a message to our leaders; we can make this happen.”
Whether it was signing a 120-foot-long banner with a message to Prime Minister Paul Martin, signing (and mailing on-site) a post card addressed to him, or logging on to
www.live8live.com to sign the petition, the crowd used their voice to let Canada’s leader know they expect him to increase aid of our gross national product to .07 per cent by 2012.
Some left their stamp by way of a footprint on a banner that read ‘Make Poverty History,’ others bought a World Vision T-shirt supporting the event, and some simply waved a Canadian flag and cheered their support.
Kevin Fasolino, 28, of Keswick sat in the hot sun on a blanket with his wife Kim watching the huge video screens display the black outlined figures of the eight political leaders who’ll be attendance at the G8 summit in Scotland this week.
Fasolino said before the day’s events, he hadn’t been aware of the political ramifications of debt reduction in Africa.
“Honestly, I’d never really thought about it before. I hope it was a powerful message — there’s a lot of people watching now,” he said.
Before he opened the concert with ‘Life is a Highway’, Tom Cochrane said backstage he hoped that the events of the day would leave people “touched by an artist they trust.”
Cochrane said he’s been to six of the 10 poorest African countries, and the message he wanted to get across to Paul Martin was about our national reputation as “peacekeepers and peaceful people.”
“Canadians are respected for our compassion and our sense of justice. And Canadians are very proud of that. We’re appealing to him to try to make this work.”
But it wasn’t just what the artists said backstage, it was the messages that they shouted from the stage and how the crowd responded to each and every onstage plea or satellite image from Sir Bob Geldof, Nelson Mandela or black and white snapshots offering stark statistics.
“We’re here for the cause,” said Martha Smith, a 26-year-old English teacher from Bowmanville. “I think if we have the ability and the opportunity to make a difference, we should make the effort.”
Although the crowd had its sprinkling of grey hair, the younger, tanned and tattooed generation were the mainstay.
When Randy Bachman (sans Burton Cummings) Deep Purple and Gordon Lightfoot took to the stage, youth who weren’t born when their songs were in the top-10 cheered the Canadian icons raucously.
“I saw a legend,” said Don Simon, 29, of Meaford. “I was upset when I saw some people criticizing the line-up as ‘old-farts.’ Every time an older band took to the stage, you'd see everyone rushing the front — it was incredible.”
Simon was one of the many who booed veraciously when Celine Dion’s taped video hit the big screen. “She’s a Canadian, she should have made the effort to be here for the event,” he said.
Around 4 p.m. when Our Lady Peace came on, young fans rushed the stage to be near the front, joining in the mosh-pit or simply playing air-guitar unabashedly in the hot afternoon sun.
As with any day-long rock concert, there were casualties, but they seemed slight.
Dehydration in the hot sun, sunburnt backs and bald heads and over-indulgence in the beer tent are de rigueur for any summer concert, yet there were few fights and those who could, lay down in the shade to gather their strength for the next onslaught of music.
Barrie’s sunburnt Mayor Rob Hamilton said he was enjoying the event, admitting he was up on his feet for Randy Bachman's ‘Taking Care of Business.’
“I have a soft spot for Gordon Lightfoot, too,” he added before extolling the virtues of Barrie and its perfect location for such an event.
“The citizens of Barrie should be really proud to be on the world stage, we should be really proud of ourselves. And of course, the weather was a municipal directive.”
Georgian College student Ted Mair, 21, said, “There isn‚t another venue you could possibly chose; that’s what this place is for.”
And then he turned and hooted as Neil Young walked on stage.
Finally, the sun was setting and when Young sang 'Four Strong Winds‚' the crowd went wild.
Then he caught everyone by surprise by sitting down quietly at the piano and singing a heartfelt spiritual song 'When God Made Me' with the Fisk University Jubilee Choir.
It wasn't until his third and final song that we saw the veteran rocker whip up the crowd into a frenzy.
With accompaniment from the Tragically Hip, Bare Naked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Les Trois Accords, Gordon Lightfoot, and DMC, Barrie's rocking in the free world seemed to remind the audience how lucky they are that they can enjoy a rock concert, and not to forget those who can't.
