After a galaxy of stars rocked the world in the largest live concert ever held, organisers looked to a summit of rich nations to see if people power would change policy on poverty.
More than a million people listened to rock and pop musicians at venues across four continents to demand that leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised countries meeting in Scotland on Wednesday relieve African debt and boost aid.
The media in Britain, where the build-up to Live 8 has had a higher profile than in other countries, hailed organiser, rocker Bob Geldof, and the 170 pop acts who graced stages, but limited television coverage in the United States could dampen the impact of such an impressive show of people power.
Tokyo kicked off Live 8, which was also staged in the Circus Maximus in Rome and before a crowd of 150,000 in Berlin. In Barrie, near Toronto, 35,000 people turned out. The numbers in Moscow's Red Square were low, and in Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela addressed nearly 10,000 people.
London's Hyde Park had the strongest line-up, with Paul McCartney, Bono, Madonna, Elton John, Pink Floyd, The Who and George Michael entertaining 200,000 people.
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