Bob Geldof Faces Unprecedented Criticism Over Live8

Poor Bob Geldof can’t seem to put a foot right these days, as the complaints continue to rumble on over his handling of Live8.

The lack of African artists on the Live8 bill has caused the most controversy and Geldof has again been forced to defend his decision of showcasing a predominately Western line-up at the charity concerts to take place next month.

He asserted that his objective for Live8 was to achieve the biggest television audience possible, saying that his main priority was to “get eyeballs” for the concerts, The Independent reports this morning:

“We need the biggest audiences as defined by popularity and sales…The fact is that most African kids these days listen to Eminem and 50 cent.”

However, the dismay over the shortage of African artists is not the only mud-slinging that poor Bob is desperately trying to dodge.

The former Liberal leader Lord Steel has cited that Geldof is displaying “slight touches of megalomania,” while teachers are up in arms at his calls for children to skive school and attend The Long Walk to Justice demonstration.

Furthermore, coastguards have displayed their horror at Bob’s suggestion that a flotilla of small boats should cross the English Channel, to ship continental demonstrators to the march. And the police are worrying at the singer’s hint that people would be allowed into the main concert at Hyde Park, with or without a ticket.

As if politicians, teachers and the police were not enough; senior figures in the music industry continue their barrage of objections. First it was the Gorillaz' Damon Albarn and now Andy Kershaw is spreading his discontent, writing in the Independent this week that Geldof is returning to an “apartheid” mentality by his segregation of African performers into a separate concert at the Eden Project at Cornwall.

And who said it was easy to single-handedly eradicate a continent’s poverty, eh, Bob?