England started its Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium with an international drum tattoo: rockers at their kits, Scotsmen in kilts, Brazilian and Japanese and African drums. Then the show went decidedly British, mixing bombast, yearning and self-pity. The latest Genesis reunion did it with fast fingers and prog-rock intricacy; its all-purpose complaint about the state of the world, “Land of Confusion,” was still germane.

Razorlight and Snow Patrol were more sodden with self-importance; Snow Patrol yearned to “just forget the world.” Then came an unexpected duo of songwriters, who might bill themselves as the Brooding Brothers: David Gray and Damien Rice. Each played a song of his own; then they shared an ecology-minded rewrite of none other than “Qué Será, Será,” with children asking, “Will I be able to play in the trees/They’re cutting down forests and spreading disease.” Doris Day never envisioned that.The Wembley show perked up with the hard-nosed rock of Kasabian, whose songs like “Empire” and “Club Foot” offered all-purpose warnings: “We’re all wasting away!” Paolo Nutini decided to cover “What a Wonderful World,” not long before Maria Mena did the same song in Germany; it may not be the day’s last version. A little later at Wembley, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas introduced a brand new song, which may be hip-hop’s first full-length examination of global warming: “CO2 levels got the whole planet heated up,” he rapped. “The world is dying, and if they say it’s all right then people are lying.”

Duran Duran, of all bands, had its own apocalyptic thought from its catalogue: “Planet Earth,” with its chorus, “There’s no sign of life.” And “Notorious” sounded like a political accusation. Who’d have thought a pop band like Duran Duran could be so neatly repurposed?