LONDON - Rocker turned activist Bob Geldof is due to reveal details Tuesday of a start-studded revival of his 1985 Live Aid charity concert, dubbed "Live Eight" and timed to precede a G8 summit in Scotland this July.
Pop sensations Madonna, Oasis and U2 are expected to be among the mega-stars who will perform in what is being described as the world's biggest music event in 20 years, aimed at ending poverty in Africa, the organisers said.
Concerts in London and other major cities worldwide are scheduled to take place just days before world leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrial powers gather in Gleneagles, Scotland on July 6-8, they said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is hosting the G8 summit, has already put Africa at the top of his agenda.
"This July, the world's biggest music stars will perform concerts here in London, Washington, plus several other major world cities," said Jonny Vaughan, a DJ on London-based radio station Capital FM, which is helping to organise the event.
"It is going to be the biggest music event the world has seen in two decades with the aim of making world poverty history," Vaughan said on his breakfast show.
Geldof, from Ireland, will hold a news conference at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) to flesh out details of the show, but Capital FM hinted that headline acts were also expected to include Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Sting and Eminem.
"All the people's of our countries want this sorted," Geldof told the radio station.
"I do this daily. I know from what I speak. I am more expert than the experts. Sort it," the shaggy-haired activist said.
Earlier, the Daily Telegraph reported that the event would take place on July 2.
Although it is being seen as a successor to Live Aid, also organised by Geldof, which raised huge sums of money for African famine relief, the purpose of the new concert is very different, the newspaper said.
Aligning itself with the Make Poverty History campaign, which is championing trade reform, debt relief and other development issues, the intention of the concert will be to raise awareness rather than money.
The event is being organised at the last minute, according to U2 singer Bono -- also a noted campaigner on development issues -- who is helping persuade acts to take part in the concert.
"Geldof has been telling me 'no' for two years (about organising a Live Aid successor) and only finally agreed to it six weeks ago," Bono said, complaining about the pressure this had placed him under.
"Now I have to spend every spare minute hitting the phones to try to drum up support. American stars tend to plan six months ahead, not six weeks. It has been incredibly difficult," he told the Daily Telegraph.
In a separate report, the Daily Mirror said that former headline girl band, the Spice Girls, whose return has been much predicted in recent months, had actually been turned down by Live 8 organisers.
05/31/2005 10:44 GMT