THE French wing of Live 8 was a smaller and less stellar affair than Hyde Park. However, the setting in front of Versailles Palace was impressive. The event was also open and free, drawing 20,000 people to the Paris suburb on a sweltering day.

British acts were very prominent, with the epic rockers Muse tearing into an explosively energetic set early on. Craig David’s mellow soul also made two brief appearances. Later, defying the charity show tradition of playing familiar hits, the Cure played a perversely obscure trio of doomy, discordant rumbles. Fortunately, headliner Youssou N’Dour’s third Live 8 set of the day was briefly delayed by technical problems so the Cure returned to play Just Like Heaven and Boys Don’t Cry. A happy accident.

Local acts provided some of the best and worst moments. David Hallyday, son of France’s most iconic rock singer Johnny, stood out as particularly awful. But the hard rockers KYO and veteran francophone Afro-pop singer Yannick Noah fired up the crowd. In sheer organisational terms, the show lacked polish. Communication with the crowd was minimal, band introductions and line-up information non-existent. Only one or two artists even mentioned African poverty, mostly in vague and windy terms. Meanwhile, the moody portrait shots of the G8 leaders on the video screens, arousing scornful jeers for Jacques Chirac and George Bush, only fuelled suspicions that nobody was in charge.

STEPHEN DALTON

JOHANNESBURG

ADDED only at the last minute when Bob Geldof was criticised for having too many non-African groups in Hyde Park, Johannesburg was set ablaze by all-African acts from the deserts of Mali in the north to the townships of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela, frail at 86, had only to shuffle on stage, with the aid of a stick and leaning on the shoulder of his wife Graça Machel, after the sun had set in glorious orange, to receive a standing, cheering, ululating ovation before he had even spoken.

Hyde Park’s loss was Johannesburg’s gain when, three sets in, the South African star Zola injected extraordinary dynamism into a concert designed as a celebration of Africa’s pride and dignity rather than as a recipient of white rockers’ charity. As the Zulu jazz singer Jabu Khanyile put it during his set: “I’m sure Westerners would like to hear of Africa’s suffering from the horse’s mouth, rather than have their own people talk for us. We are the ones who can spread the message with passion.”

And what fervour, joy, vitality, feistiness and exhilaration Zola and his team of dancers and singers brought to the event on a perfect, cloudless highveld winter day, the air like champagne.

FRED BRIDGLAND

ROME

ITALIANS went home glowing after watching 32 of their favourite stars do enthusiastic turns and duet with each other on the stage at the Circus Maximus. The almost exclusively Italian line-up was a mix of old and new stars, topped with foreign interest in the shape of Duran Duran.