It was a long antipodean night. While there’s no telling what’s a reflection of national taste and what’s the result of booking expediency, each of the concerts from Australia, Japan and China certainly had its own character.

Australia, headlined by the reunited Crowded House, stayed earnest nearly end to end. Its folk-rock patriarch Paul Kelly brought younger stars, John Butler and Missy Higgins, out to join him for “From Little Things Big Things Grow,” a Dylan-style chronicle of land reclaimed from the British. Even the American on the bill, Jack Johnson, had environmentally conscious songs like “Gone, Gone, Gone.”
Sarah BrightmanSarah Brightman performs under thunder storm during the Live Earth concert in Shanghai, China. (Associated Press Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

China had a succession of sweet-voiced pop crooners emoting on stage; somehow, the nearly unearthly Sarah Brightman fit right in. Much of the Shanghai show should have been called “Track Date Earth” rather than Live Earth. For variety, there was the 12 Girls Band, wielding traditional instruments like a Chinese Riverdance troupe only kitschier, unless you like Mozart played on erhu (Chinese violin) with a funk beat.

Japan had crooners too, but the specialty of its homegrown acts seemed to be received 1990’s rock–some recycling for Live Earth. Rize, with a tattooed and mohawked lead singer, riffled through punk, hard-rock, rap-rock (complete with underwear waistband display) and bits of U2. There was even a uniformed boy band, Rip Slyme.

Eventually, the lineup got around to the R&B star Rihanna, who strutted her way through song-and-dance numbers about hooking up and breaking up. She wasn’t too concerned about the ecological consequences of comparing herself to a car, a “supersonic speed machine” with “a ride that’s smoother than a limousine.”