Yesterday I watched about 3 hours (off and on) of the Live8 webcast, and I’ve been watching some of the rebroadcast this morning. There are many things that strike me as remarkable about this global event. Here are a few thoughts buzzing in my noggin:

1. While the crowds were quite enthusiastic, on the whole the hysteria was a different species than that of run-of-the-mill rock festivals. The people were excited by the music and stardom, obviously, but for the most part seemed much more amped to be adding their voice to the worldwide yell of “Justice, not charity!” I have mixed feelings about this, since it might be easy to go to an all-day rock festival and trick oneself into believing one has really done something to “make poverty history,” while really all one has done is hang out in Hyde Park, drinking Boddington’s and blissing out on Coldplay. On the other hand, I think many people really do want to DO something, but aren’t quite sure where to start…maybe Hyde Park is a good place.

2. Most of the acts seemed genuinely honored to be there. (There were notable exceptions, such as Robbie Williams, who was mainlining the crowd’s adulation like uncut heroin.) Many debates have been had about rock stars and their pet projects, using various causes to assuage the guilt of being grotesquely rich. The cynic in me agrees. Unfortunately, the cynic has a wasting illness and is emaciated beyond recognition, and the healthier, more robust idealist feels that part of art’s role is to take a good look at the world and tell the rest of us the bad news. It’s too bad we’ve gotten in the habit of paying artists so much to entertain us instead. They can be much better at their job when they have nothing to lose.

3. There is a reason some of the biggest acts in the world are the biggest. U2, Coldplay, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Green Day and Paul McCartney kicked major booty. (In case you didn’t see Sting, he changed the threatening-stalker lyrics of “Every Breath You Take” into threatening-voter lyrics. “We’ll be watching you.” Brilliant. McCartney playing “Helter Skelter” was an almost-spiritual experience. So righteously angry. Made me almost forget the very strong Manson Family associations. And Billy Joe Armstrong is a rock star, in an wonderfully old skool kind of way. Watching 100,000 people in Berlin screaming the lyrics to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” was a transcendent moment, even 8,000 miles away.)

Perhaps this will turn out to be nothing more than 25 million people patting themselves on the back for 12 hours in 12 time zones. I hope not. Twenty-five million people could really do something between sips of Bod’s, if somebody could point them in the right direction.