Live Earth adds
ninth show

A ninth Live Earth concert was added Friday to the global series of shows highlighting climate change, whose worldwide lineup includes Madonna, Metallica, the Police, and Kanye West.

Country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will headline the newly added show in Washington, D.C., on the national Mall, about two blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Other venues are New York (actually East Rutherford, N.J.); London; Johannesburg; Rio de Janeiro; Shanghai; Tokyo; Sydney; and Hamburg, Germany. The biggest names will appear at the concerts in London and the United States, with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts at the other shows. More than 150 artists will perform overall.

Live Earth was inspired and is backed by a campaign by former vice president Al Gore to force global warming onto the international political agenda by generating a groundswell of public concern.

But critics say that it lacks achievable goals, and that bringing jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling planes to plug into amplifier stacks and crank it up loud may send mixed messages about energy conservation.

''The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert,'' the Who's singer, Roger Daltrey, recently told the U.K. tabloid The Sun.

Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient lightbulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

''This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever,'' Gore told the Associated Press recently. ''The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come.''

There have been some organizational hiccups. A judge canceled the Brazil concert because of security concerns before reversing that decision just two days before the event, and lukewarm public interest caused a planned show in Istanbul, Turkey, to be called off. Promoter Michael Chugg said on Friday that there were still plenty of tickets available for the Sydney show.

But organizers were predicting broadcasts on cable television and the Internet could reach up to 2 billion people. Scores of short films and public service announcements will be aired giving the audience tips about how to conserve energy and reduce their environmental impact.

Rob Hirst, the drummer for Midnight Oil who is performing at Live Earth with his new band, the Ghostwriters, said at the announcement of the Sydney concert lineup that the traditional rock star lifestyle was not eco-friendly.

''Any of the musicians here who've spent 24 to 30 years roaming the globe on planes, trains, and automobiles should have a mighty guilt complex about what they've done to the environment,'' the local media quoted Hirst as saying. ''But it's not too late to change.''

Laid-back rocker Jack Johnson is the only international act in Sydney, which features the reunited 1980s pop group Crowded House as top-billers.

The Tokyo concert, featuring artists including Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda, and Linkin Park, comes next, followed by the other cities. Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas will be featured in London, while Red Hot Chili Peppers and Alicia Keys are among acts in the United States. (AP)