Anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof revealed plans for the follow-up to Live Aid today as he announced five free concerts taking place around the globe.
The concerts, known as Live 8, will take place on July 2nd 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 in the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of music fans will attend, with billions more watching around the world on TV.
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.
Geldof said the concerts presented 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".
The event will feature some of the world's leading pop artists in a reprise of the Live Aid concerts 20 years ago that raised over $100 million for African famine relief.
This time Geldof wants to galvanise the world's richest nations into action against African poverty.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has campaigned to help Africa during Britain's presidency of the G8 this year and will host G8 leaders at a summit in Gleneagles in Scotland in July.
But campaigners fear discord between G8 nations on debt reduction and aid spending plans, combined with reluctance in Washington, will wreck Mr Blair's ambitions.
They warn African schools and hospitals could receive no new money from the lavish summit, which could cost as much as $180 million to stage.
Mr Geldof said: "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."
Among the artists comitted to the project are: REM, Paul McCartney, U2, Elton John, Coldplay, Snoop Dogg, Christina Aguillera, Brian Wilson, Snow Patrol, The Killers, 50 Cent, Jamiriquai, Duran Duran, and A-Ha.
The Rolling Stones, Eminem and Madonna could also appear, and Pink Floyd and The Spice Girls may even re-form for the show.