Philadelphia: The Live8 concerts may have achieved their aim even before they took place, at least concerning pressure on the White House, writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
Aware of rising popular pressure around the world which would climax on Saturday, President Bush got his initiatives in first.
Two days before upwards of a million people turned out in Philadelphia for the biggest of the Live 8 concerts, Mr Bush announced that, Congress willing, he would double US aid to Africa to $8.6 billion in 2010.
Earlier, just after the concerts were announced, he and British prime minister Tony Blair announced that the G8 leaders would agree to forgive $40 billion in debt owed by 18 poor nations.
This prompted Dave Mathews, who featured in a who's who of American music stars assembled in Philadelphia, to comment backstage: "I think they're aware of what's going on, and judging from President Bush's speech, he's moving in the right direction."
They wanted him of course to "move a little bit further", the South African native reportedly said.
The American instalment of the concerts was hosted by rapper Will Smith, and also featured Stevie Wonder, P Diddy, Kanye West, Keith Urban, Matchbox Twenty, Jay-Z, and the Black-Eyed Peas, the Kaiser Chiefs, Toby Keith, Destiny's Child, Linkin Park.
It was broadcast live on TV and VH1 before a crowd of several hundred thousand that stretched a mile down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"Right now you're watching the biggest concert event in the history of the world," Smith told the multitude, most of whom were unable to see the stage and watched on giant screens.
The rap star's plea for leaders of the leading industrialised nations to end the "daily tragedy" of poverty in Africa was broadcast by satellite around the world and brought one of the most dramatic moments of the global event.
He snapped his fingers every three seconds, to signify the death rate of children in Africa, an action in which hundreds of thousands joined in.
With a nod to the American Declaration of Independence, associated with Philadelphia, he said "Today, we are here to declare our inter-dependence. Today we hold this truth to be self-evident: We are all in this together."
Later he returned to perform, incongruously borne onstage by six porters strewing petals.
Berlin: Over 200,000 people gathered in Berlin for a Live8 concert that resembled a Jimmy Saville-era Top of the Pops, with Roxy Music, Chris de Burgh and Beach Boy Brian Wilson topping the bill, writes Derek Scally.
The nine-hour show got under way at 2pm with the lead singer of German band Die Toten Hosen calling Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit an "idiot" for doing little to help organisers.
They complained of "stinginess, ignorance and Wilhelminian absurd bureaucracy" from city officials that risked the cancellation of the concert.
A request to hold the concert in front of the Reichstag, scene of the Pink Floyd concert "The Wall", was rejected for fear of damaging the lawn's sprinkler system, while the plaza in front of the Brandenburg Gate is currently a huge building site. In the end the concert was staged at the city's Victory Column, but concert-goers were restricted to the stretch of street leading to the Brandenburg Gate, making the stage a distant speck for most of the crowd.
Spaced out among the pop dinosaurs were strong performances from newer acts like Faithless and Audioslave. Californian rockers Green Day performed their own rendition of We are the Champions.
Brian Wilson charmed the crowd with Good Vibrations and California Girls, telling the crowd: "We have to do something about these hungry Africans."
German model Claudia Schiffer took to the stage in a scarlet dress at 6pm, announcing: "Since the beginning of this concert, 5,000 children have died. Mr Schröder, Mr Bush, do something," she said. "I've got two children and it's terrible to see these pictures of starving children. In the name of all women of Africa, I'd like to tell you politicians to do something." Chris de Burgh said his childhood years in Nigeria and Zaire made it important for him to add his voice to the anti-poverty rally.
"It's not simple enough to sign a cheque and send it to Africa," he said backstage. "The best way to help Africans help themselves is to show them, like taking a youngster and saying 'this is how you irrigate your farm'." German artists were well-represented, including bands Wir Sind Helden and German rock legends BAP.
Belfast: More than 1,000 people from all parts of the Belfast turned out to watch the Live8 concerts on an outdoor BBC big screen in the city, writes Dan Keenan.
The protest rock concerts were shown on a 40-square metre screen in the newly-renovated Custom House Square, a pedestrianised meeting place near the Lagan in the centre of Belfast.
The event was jointly funded by the BBC and NI Events which supports public entertainment ventures.
May Montague, an aid worker who spent more than a year working in Sudan, was part of the crowd. She told the BBC: "I think it's great to see everybody here together, across the divides for other countries in far worse turmoil than we have experienced."
Before the Hyde Park concert was relayed, other events were staged to demonstrate Northern Ireland's solidarity with the Live8 demands.
The concerts were staged as Derry trade unionist and socialist campaigner Eamonn McCann questioned the motives of the main organisers. Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Mr McCann stated: "While thousands will raise their voices in anger outside the Gleneagles Hotel when the G8 leaders meet, Geldof, it's reported, will be inside breaking bread with the very people the protests are directed against." He added: "The Make Poverty History leadership has no answer to the old question: Which side are you on? Would they like to give the world a tweak? Or to turn it upside down?"