With vivid memories of the Woodstock ‘99 fiasco, a question arises as to whether or not this is a trend to be concerned with: events that are geared more towards the TV, video, and now the internet market, as opposed to those present in the actual arena. With musical sets that ranged from five (Zucherro) to about thirty minutes at the most, no act ever really had the opportunity to let loose and perform a solid set. The closest would have to be Jimmy Page with guests the Brothers Robinson from the Black Crowes, who hit the stage at 10 PM and finally brought the crowd alive with a spirited version of “Whole Lotta Love.” Keep in mind, however, that the audience had been patiently sitting through set changes that were consistently longer than the actual sets since 5 PM!

With guests Lil’ Kim (and her now famous breast, which DID make its own guest appearance briefly) and the aforementioned Jimmy Page, Puff Daddy's performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” satisfied the crowd’s thirst for excitement in this otherwise boring and ill-conceived day. Sting had the sense to take no part in Puffy’s cover of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” even though he was obviously available to do so. At least he maintained a little sense of class, refusing to take part in Puffy’s scheme to ruin every great song of the past two decades. And while on the topic, I don’t understand how Puff Daddy can instruct the audience to contribute more of their money for a worthy cause after they bought expensive tickets to, essentially, watch a TV broadcast. The man is so rich that he alone could probably end world hunger if he wanted to!

Mary J. Blige looked amazing and sang a hot set for the measly twenty minutes that she was allowed. Same goes for The Counting Crows, who performed some fine stuff from their new disc, as well as all the hits that they could fit into the twenty-five minutes they managed to wrangle out of the producers. I would love to talk more about the music and the highlights thereof, but sadly, there were not much of them.

Bono made an early appearance with Wyclef Jean, opening the show with most of the artists from all three shows with a rousing version of “One Love,” though the technically challenging concept of the audience in NJ seeing all those other artists never actually materialized. If you have a thing for actor Michael Douglas, you most certainly got your money’s worth, since his on-camera shots from Geneva somehow monopolized the video screens.

Speaking of which, the stage set was brilliantly designed: a gorgeous amalgam of video wallpaper screens showing cool graphics, lights and moving images. The million dollar question, however, is why didn’t the producers realize that at an event of such magnitude realize that they desperately needed a turntable-type stage? Properly designed, one (or two, if they really went for it) of the next bands could have been set up backstage, and rotated onstage as soon as the last act was over. It is most certainly time for the people who put on major events to stop and think about the live audience, you know, the people who actually bought the tickets and drove (and paid $10 parking - what’s with that?!) to get there.

Producers, please. The focus must shift from the millions of folks you are reaching on pay-per-view, the Net, or on the final video version (guaranteed to be released momentarily, I’m sure) to the living, breathing, PAYING souls sitting and watching your awful prepackaged bytes of celebrities and starving kids. Political causes are fine, don’t get me wrong, and this cause is a worthy one, so we DO suggest you log on to their site at www.netaid.org and see what it’s all about. I just don’t think the seven and a half hour event should have included more tech and talk than music. Ah yes...we don’t have any pictures of the event, since those same producers refused to give us a photo pass, no matter how hard we begged, preferring to offer them to the print media. How logical, we thought, this being “Net” Aid and all. Again, isn’t it time to think of your audience, which is you folks, reading this on the net?