BOB KNOCKS BACK 65

As many as sixty-five bands (plus a couple of vent acts and a bloke who makes balloon animals) have been told to piss off when they offered their services for Live 8, the global concert designed to throw attention on the plight of ticket sellers whose lifestyles are being hampered by Ebay. Oddly, while Harvey Goldsmith has said there's no room for the likes of Ozzy, Motley Crue and the Spice Girls, there had been slots available for David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, who were amongst those who pretended to be their own answering machines when Bob phoned up.

Geldof says that Jacko never asked to play with the boys and girls on the US leg, and that he'd not have accepted the offer anyway. Curiously, not because Jackson is a self-deluded freak who believes that wriggling off the hook on child-touching charges somehow puts himself on a par with Mandela and Luther King, but because it'd be too much of a strain for the poor chap:

"I'd say 'Dude, there's plenty of time. I don't think you should really put yourself through something as strenuous as Live 8 at such a fragile stage in your life'."

The issue of Live 8 came up on last night's Question Time, with a chap wearing a hat in the audience offering the most bizarre piece of Sir Bob logic yet - it didn't matter that there were no black artists on the London bill, apparently - there's going to be a concert for the Africans with loads of them, in Africa. The part about how maybe even just one or two of the slots could have been used to give a global showcase to a very small portion of the rich, vibrant cultures of Africa, to allow African artists to build audiences and attract capital to their nations did seem to be a bit lost on him.

But of course, as Geldof says, Live 8 is a political event, and not a cultural one. Although, of course, Midge Ure says Live 8 is an entertainment event and not a political one. And Bob said it was a charity event, not a political one when he was complaining about Ebay, because why would there be a problem selling on tickets to a political event?

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