BOB Geldof has revealed plans for the follow-up to Live Aid, with five free concerts taking place around the globe.

The concerts, known as Live 8, will take place on July 2 at Hyde Park in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Circus Maximus in Rome and a venue in Philadelphia.

Hundreds of thousands of music fans will attend with billions more watching around the world on TV.

Tickets for the Hyde Park concert will be made available through a special text lottery to be announced at 8am on Monday June 6 through TV, radio and newspapers.

Giant screens will be erected across the UK for those not able to get a ticket.

Live 8 aims to raise awareness of world poverty and is timed to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland, when leaders of the world's eight richest countries will meet.

Unique

Geldof said at the press conference that Britain was presented with a unique opportunity 'to do something unparalleled in the world, and especially at the beginning of the 21st Century, and that is to tilt the world a little bit on its axis in favour of the poor, and that's not a difficult thing to do'.

He added: A lot of the pop people have stayed the course, not the least being Midge, Bono, Elton and Queen.

'We arrived here today because I was very reluctant to do this again, I couldn't see how anything could possibly be better than that glorious day 20 years ago, almost perfect in what it achieved and the day itself.

'I didn't want to do Bob's best bits but Bono and Richard (Curtis) in particular kept saying, do it again. I didn't understand to what end. What could we do that was in any way different.

'It couldn't be about charity any more. We knew too much.'

Coldplay

In London's Hyde Park, those set to perform include Mariah Carey, Coldplay, Dido, Keane, Sir Elton John, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Muse, the Scissor Sisters, Sir Paul McCartney, Joss Stone, Stereophonics, Sting, Snoop, Robbie Williams, U2 and REM.

In Philadelphia, acts performing will include Will Smith, the Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, Puff Daddy and Jay-Z.

Among artists scheduled for Berlin are A-Ha, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Lauryn Hill and Brian Wilson.

The concert in Rome will feature musicians including Faith Hill and Duran Duran.
In Paris, Jamiroquai, Craig David, Youssou N'Dour and Yannick Noah will be among those taking part.

Geldof said the concert was not going to be 'gloomy and doomy' and was 'not for charity but for political justice'.

He said organisers had 'scrambled like crazy to put this together', adding: 'I think we're almost there.'

He said: 'The continent in those 20 years... has gone into economic decline by a factor of 25 per cent.

'The result of that is we see people dying on TV screens every night.

'This is to finally, as much as as we can, put a stop to that.'

He added: 'It seemed to me that we could gather again, not for charity but for political justice.'

Here is a list of artists confirmed for the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park on July 2:

Mariah Carey
Coldplay
Dido
Keane
Sir Elton John
Annie Lennox
Sir Paul McCartney
Muse
Razorlight
REM
Scissor Sisters
Snow Patrol
Stereophonics
Sting
Joss Stone
Robbie Williams
U2
Velvet Revolver
Bob Geldof
The Killers
Madonna
The Cure.

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