Well, the precedent has been set.
In 1971, ex-Beatle George Harrison got his buddies Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan to join him on stage at Madison State Garden in a benefit concert for Bangladesh.
In 1985, ex-Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof rocked the world with help from Status Quo, Queen, U2 and a galaxy of other stars at Live Aid.
And in 1998, South Park hosted Chef Aid with help from Elton John and Meat Loaf.
Now, supporters of NASA hacker Gary McKinnon are said to be trying to organise their own benefit concert.
The keyboardist with Marillion, the progressive rock band most famous for their pop hit “Kayleigh” from 1985, has suggested that he might want to get involved, after organiser Ross Hemsworth wrote to more than 100 bands including the Kaiser Chiefs, Sting, Mark Knopfler and Madonna.
The concert, named “Rock Against Injustice”, is intended to raise awareness about McKinnon’s ongoing legal fight, and the UK’s extradition treaty with the US.
You can’t question the enormous amount of energy that McKinnon’s supporters have put into raising awareness of his plight. Hemsworth, the managing director of Glastonbury Radio, is hopeful that George Michael might record his own version of a song written by Gary McKinnon.
However, having heard McKinnon’s song “Only a Fool” (and watched the video on YouTube) I can’t help but think that’s a little over-optimistic.
