Geldof off causing trouble in Libya. Rumours that the rioting started when he gave some of his solo material an airing are grossly exaggerated! Those Libyans have exemplary musical taste :-) . Word to the wise, stick to the Rats material in the future.
No one knows why Geldof was out there for an unannounced concert at a politcal rally for Gadaffi's son. Maybe it was political, maybe just financial. The band almost lost their equipment to boot. I suspect the next time Geldof is back in that part of the world it will be in the Irish pub in the middle of the fucking desert.
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/partenariat/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN26087couacizahgn0&part=50
... the young people suddenly awoke with the arrival of Bob Geldof, the celebrated rocker and anti-poverty campaigner. Before starting, Geldof suggested the soldiers leave. Things then started to get nasty! The crowd chanted ("Libya! Libya! "), the spectators rained projectiles onto the stage, forcing Geldof and his musicians to wrap things up quickly.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hisham_matar/2007/09/no_hope_for_change.html
... when Sir Bob Geldof then took to the stage to play a rock concert, talking in the language Libyans had been kept from learning and which they needed most in interacting and trading with the outside world, the crowd protested. Sir Bob tried to calm them, but their contempt grew even stronger. For days after streets were cordoned off in Benghazi, where many young men had been stirred.
What remains difficult to understand, however, is what was Geldof doing there in the first place? Accepting an invitation to play after the dictator's son's speech suggests support of a regime that has oppressed the Libyan people for 38 years.
Sir Bob Geldof's appearance on stage brought all this back; reminded us of what had been taken from us and was now being returned, by the very regime that had imposed this narrow interpretation of who we were, without apology or even an explanation, and in the grotesque form of a pop concert.
3 comments:
In all fairness like, what the hell was he doing there with Gaddafi after all that they have done to the people in the last year.
lol, the Libyan authorties should have put on Metallica, 50 Cent or something heavy like that then the people would have loved it! The concert was in a kindof rough neighborhood as well.
Geldof is crap. If you present him at Glastonberry people would either not go to it or start throwing bottles if you surprise them!! Its not just Libyans who would do that, they are young people too you know!!
Anyway, cant stop laughing when i think about it.
Maybe the revolution in the middle east all started here.....
A couple of days after Seif al-Islam's speech and Sir Bob Geldof's attempted gig, an eyewitness account, published in the dissident news website Libya Al-Mustaqbal, stated that around 400 young men, blindfolded and handcuffed, were seen stepping off an airplane in Tripoli International Airport. The men were packed into prison trucks and driven away. The plane had come from Benghazi.
http://www.ifddesign.com/index.php Some pictures prior to the gig taking place can be seen here.
http://www.baabamaal.tv/daccord/issue03/article4.html
In 2007 the former rogue state of Libya became the new friend of the West, with EU and American leaders ready to brownnose the Libyan leader for access to the desert nation’s vast supplies of oil and gas. But when Bob Geldof was hired to perform a showpiece concert in the city of Benghazi, co-billtopping with Saif Gaddafi, the true colours of Libya were soon revealed. Chris Salewicz was there...
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