The Cold Cut

I hope that many members of the blogosphere tuned in for the Concert For Diana last night, which was excellent, both in terms of its message and the huge amount of bands who turned out in a tribute to the Princess Of Wales. It's also really important to recognize the huge amount of effort put in by Princes Harry and William, who managed to sort out a diverse program which included music (of all sorts: rap, rock and hip-hop), ballet, comedy and drama. Its great that they have managed to pull it off successfully, and the whole night was spectacular, from the huge stage and venue to the great performances by all the acts involved.

The acts performing included Nelly Furtado, P. Diddy, Joss Stone, The Feeling and Rod Stewart: the stand-outs for me were Elton John (of course!), James Morrison (very impressive live), Lily Allen (she actually can sing!) and Kanye West. Kanye's seven minute set was like nothing I have ever seen; he blitzed through all of his best songs, paying tribute to Diana but not making it too cheesy. He also performed his great new single, Stronger, which only gets better when performed live. Wearing a tweed suit and some very weird sunglasses, West ran about the stage, breaking a sweat and putting 110% into his performance.

All in all, the Concert For Diana was highly worthwhile: Diana was and still is one of the most important popular icons of the last century, and its great that she can be remembered through performances by some of her favorite bands, such as Duran Duran.