LIVE8: Hyde Park will be the focal point of the world's biggest concert today with a television audience of hundreds of millions willing G8 leaders to act decisively next week to finally "Make Poverty History".
All police leave has been cancelled to cope with 205,000 people headed for the mega-gig in the park, and at least another 30,000 are expected to take part in the annual Gay Pride march which ends this afternoon with a rally at Trafalgar Square. With a rail strike threatening to add to travel chaos, police have strongly urged people without tickets for the Live8 concert to stay out of central London.
In Scotland, meanwhile, preparations were being finalised for a series of events planned in the build-up to Wednesday's G8 summit, with up to 250,000 people expected to take part in today's Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh.
Donald Anderson, leader of Edinburgh City Council, says this afternoon's march and rally - which will be addressed by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell - will probably be the biggest Scotland has ever seen.
More than 1,000 police will ring Hyde Park for the concert. Some 2,000 stewards will manage the vast crowd upon entering the park, while police will intervene in the event of any disturbance and have orders to clamp down on ticket touts trying to profit from the concert.
Bob Geldof described earlier attempts to sell tickets, which had been distributed free, on eBay at up to £2,000 a pair as "a f****** disgrace".
Chris Martin of Coldplay, who will be performing in Hyde Park, paid warm tribute to Geldof's inspirational leadership of an event that will see concerts also in Paris, Rome, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow and Philadelphia.
Recalling the original Live Aid event, Martin said: "We were eight years old when the first one came around, and so it's kind of a real honour for us . . . We are very proud to be part of it and we are also very proud to be part of anything Bob Geldof does . . . He's an inspirational man who doesn't really get the credit he deserves."
Geldof has said today's global event will give Prime Minister Tony Blair "the largest democratic mandate ever collected" with which to proceed to Gleneagles. Agreement was reached yesterday to allow campaigners to stage a protest which will bring them within 500 metres of the fortified Gleneagles Hotel.