Initial "Live Earth" line-ups revealed

The lineups and locations of the U.S. and U.K. Live Earth concerts scheduled for July 7th were announced on Tuesday (April 10th), with the Smashing Pumpkins, the Police, Fall Out Boy and the Dave Matthews Band leading a Stateside bill that also includes A.F.I., Akon, Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, Faith Hill, John Mayer, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, KT Tunstall, Ludacris, Melissa Etheridge, Rihanna, Roger Waters and Tim McGraw. The U.S. show will take place at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Attempts by organizers to hold the concert in Washington D.C. were stymied by Republican senators unwilling to support the concert's aim of promoting awareness of global warming. Tickets for the U.S. show will go on sale on Monday (April 16th).

The U.K. show will take place at Wembley Stadium in London, with a bill featuring the Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Damien Rice, David Gray, Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, Genesis, James Blunt, John Legend, Keane, Madonna, Paolo Nutini, Razorlight, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol.

Live Earth executive producer Kevin Wall told us that more artists will be announced in the coming weeks and that the event is striving for the most diverse roster of talent possible: "You're gonna see not only a diverse lineup, but major superstars from the world, that really cross borders, that really have music that emotionally we can attach our message to, and that was really the goal: how do we get people's attention, how do we get two billion people that day, and how do we, when we get 'em, start to create a message that's gonna resonate and start to make a change in human behavior."

Five more shows will take place at Sydney, Australia's Aussie Stadium, Tokyo Stadium in Japan, a yet-to-be-announced Shanghai venue, Johannesburg's Cradle of Human Kind and Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach. A total of more than 100 acts are slated to play in the single 24-hour period on July 7th, beginning with the Sydney concert and ending with the New York show.

The concerts were conceived by former US Vice President Al Gore as a way to get the message out to the world about the threat of global warming and catastrophic climate change. Gore said in a statement, "By attracting an audience of billions we hope Live Earth will launch a global campaign giving a critical mass of people around the world the tools they need to help solve the climate crisis."

Live Earth will air on TV, with complete online and extensive radio coverage in the works as well.