AFTER weeks of arm-twisting, cajoling and moral blackmail, Bob Geldof announced an all-star line-up for a day of global concerts designed to push Africa to the top of the political agenda.

Admitting his misgivings about staging a “Live Aid II”, Geldof said the combination of the G8 summit in Scotland in July and the 20th anniversary of his famous concert presented a unique opportunity to “make poverty history”.

Sir Paul McCartney and U2 are expected to open the Hyde Park concert on July 2 with a special version of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an apt choice with its “It was 20 years ago today” lyric.

Madonna, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Sting, Annie Lennox, Scissor Sisters, REM and Mariah Carey will all perform in front of 150,000 competition winners at the free concert, called Live 8.

Music fans must take part in a text message lottery to win a pair of tickets. A question and phone number will be announced on Monday morning and 75,000 winners selected at random by computer. Texts will cost £1.50, donated to charity, plus the regular network text charge, which may not.

Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson and Duran Duran will play at simultaneous concerts staged in Philadelphia, Paris, Rome and Berlin, with the BBC offering viewers the chance to watch all the events live. Giant screens placed across Britain will relay the largest free concert ever held in London.

Donations will not be elicited, with Geldof stating that the events were “not for charity but for political justice”. They will be broadcast to a potential audience of two billion people via television and broadband.

Geldof called on one million people from across the world to march on Edinburgh after the concerts for a G8 rally intended to place maximum pressure on the world leaders to sign up to a debt relief and aid package for Africa.

The singer Midge Ure urged schoolchildren to “give up home and school for a week” and travel to Edinburgh. “We don’t care how you get there,” he said. “But you have got to get there and let them (world leaders) know what we think.

“It will be just like the Ban the Bomb protests in the Sixties, something special. You may never have this opportunity again.”

Announcing the events yesterday, Geldof 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.” Once again it has fallen to Geldof to bully recalcitrant artists into taking part. He called members of the Spice Girls yesterday to help them to “resolve differences” holding up their mooted on-stage reunion.

He has also written to Pope Benedict XVI, appealing for him to appear at the Edinburgh rallying concert. “His song is the theology of the poor,” the Irishman argued. “It would be a great first gig for the Pope.”

The July date clashes with many artists’ tours, forcing U2 and Coldplay to jet off midafternoon. Oasis are playing in Manchester and appeals to the Rolling Stones and David Bowie have gone unheeded. Eminem may yet be persuaded to perform in Philadelphia.

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