Kyoto kicks off Live Earth marathon

Jul 7, 2007, 11:43 GMT

Tokyo - Japan's second music show opened at a Buddhist Temple Toji Saturday night.

While about 10,000 people danced to Los-Angles band Linkin Park at Makuhari Messe on the Tokyo outskirts, some 3,000 people quietly opened the two-hour show with a Japanese hip-hop group Rip Slyme at the stage set up in front of wooden gate of the Buddhist temple.

Earlier in the day, the aboriginal dancers took to the stage in Sydney's Aussie Stadium as the opening of the marathon music event under a clear bright blue sky and Al Gore later appeared on a screen urging some 50,000 fans to be better global citizens and do their part to reduce global warming - the overriding theme of all the day's concerts.

Shortly after Sydney's opener, the fun moved on to Tokyo where 10,000 fans streamed into Makuhari hall.

Former US vice president Gore, one of the principal organizers, is hoping to persuade fans to adopt a seven-point pledge to reduce their own carbon footprint and to press for meaningful legislation that would cut carbon output by 90 per cent by the year 2050.

Rock stars planning to take the stage in Sydney included Crowded House and Jack Johnson, while Linkin Park and Rihanna were among the groups headlining Tokyo's spectacle.

From there, the 24-hour event is set to spread to official venues in Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg, New York, Rio de Janeiro and London, with more than 7,000 local events also taking place including one in Antarctica.

Proceeds from the event, subtitled Concerts for a Climate in Crisis, are to benefit the Alliance for Climate Protection, a group chaired by Gore.