Elton Slams 'Disappointing' Live 8

[Zebra 3]

(WENN) Sir Elton John has slammed last month's star-studded London Live 8 concert, complaining it was a huge disappointment which lacked quality acts and "a sense of occasion". The singer's duet of T-Rex's "Children Of The Revolution" with troubled rocker Pete Doherty was panned by many critics as the worst performance of the day. But he insists he was not the only performer to let down fans at the Hyde Park concert, but feels it was impossible to repeat the celebrated spectacle of the original 1985 Live Aid, which he also played at. He fumes, "I was very pleased to be a part of it, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as the first one. How could it be? The thought behind it was fantastic but Hyde Park is a charisma-free zone. There was no sense of occasion and from a musical point, I didn't think there were too many highlights. Pete was a mess. I don't the people around him set a good example, which is a shame." The flamboyant rocker's pal Sir Bob Geldof organized the concert as part of a series of global gigs to lobby G8 leaders to cancel debt in the developing world, double the aid budget and rewrite global trade laws.