Live Earth Day

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - A lack of focus and constant lectures on the dire state of the world meant that the 70,000-plus crowd at Wembley Stadium for the nine-hour London Live Earth concert had to cherry-pick its pleasures. But there were many, as Black Eyed Peas, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Foo Fighters, all in top form, were not going to let the day get away without a party.

Such artists as Duran Duran, James Blunt, the Beastie Boys and Genesis, who opened the show, and Madonna, who closed it, played to their constituencies. U.K. bands Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party and Keane contributed solid sets, while another British group, Kasabian, Scottish singer Paolo Nutini, Ireland's Damien Rice and jazzy Corinne Bailey Rae made dazzling impressions. And Spinal Tap provided a few laughs.

The weather was kind, but the event's obvious contradictions and fuzzy focus were not helped by the stream of celebrities including Chris Rock, Eddie Izzard, Gerard Butler, Kyle MacLachlan and Thandie Newton delivering homilies on the importance of turning off the lights at home. Late in the show, poor Terence Stamp had to oversee a symbolic switching off of Wembley's lights, which prompted a light show of camera flashes. Only when hot British comic Russell Brand came on in the evening with his bright and challenging observations between acts did the production achieve much cohesion.