Stars rock around the world for climate change

By Michelle Nichols and Mark Egan

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - Some of the world's biggest pop stars from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Madonna performed at Live Earth concerts around the globe on Saturday to urge fans and governments to fight global warming.

Tens of thousands partied at concerts in Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg, London, Washington, New Jersey and Rio de Janeiro to hear The Police, Bon Jovi, James Blunt, Linkin Park and Shakira and many other performers.

The mega-gig, spearheaded by former U.S. vice president and environmentalist Al Gore, takes in nine cities and ends at Rio's Copacabana beach and a New Jersey football stadium.

"You are Live Earth," Gore told the crowd at New Jersey's Giants Stadium, wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt in the sweltering summer heat.

A blond Madonna closed the show at London's Wembley stadium with a set including "Hey You," written for Live Earth. Joined by a children's choir, screens behind the pop idol displayed images of environmental disasters as she sang.

Following the model of 1985's Live Aid and Live 8 in 2005, Live Earth hopes to reach up to 2 billion people through radio, television and the Internet. Organizers said the event had already notched up a record 9 million Internet streams -- people watching the shows live over the Internet.

There has been widespread cynicism among music fans, campaigners and fellow rockers about the role of pop music, renowned for Learjets and limousines, to promote green living.

"As a touring musician you have to fly. I suppose I could put myself in a box and ship myself," KT Tunstall joked backstage after her New Jersey performance.

Asked if she lives a "green" life, the singer said the first year sales of her debut CD generated 650 million tons of carbon emissions but she has tried to partially offset that huge carbon footprint through the planting of 6,000 trees.

In New Jersey, actor Leonardo DiCaprio introduced Gore with a reference to the former politician's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."

"Global warming is no longer a theory but a reality," the actor said. "What once seemed like science fiction is now an inconvenient and undeniable truth."

SEVEN-POINT PLEDGE

In London, Corinne Bailey Rae sang "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," Marvin Gaye's 1971 environment classic, while mock rockers Spinal Tap reunited to perform "Warmer Than Earth," in which the Devil complains about high temperatures in Britain.

Earlier, Gore addressed a small event in Washington and outlined the seven-point pledge he wants people to take, binding them to cut carbon emissions and lobby governments and employers to do more to save the planet.

Gore wants Live Earth viewers to pressure leaders to sign a new treaty by 2009 to cut global warming pollution by 90 percent in rich nations and more than half worldwide by 2050.