Live 8 organiser bemoans modern music

Live 8 was full of old bands thanks to "dreadful" music industry, according to organiser Midge Ure.

The former Ultravox singer admitted he was annoyed that so many aging acts had to be involved.

"The sad indictment is that 90% of all the artists that performed at Live 8 had performed at Live Aid," he said. "It is the same people, the same guys to ask to come along and do it."

They wanted to get more new bands involved but not enough were interested, he said: "Since Live Aid, bands kind of disappeared. For a long time it was all dance artists and DJs and we didn't generate the next U2 or the next Annie Lennox."

Ure puts the lack of available talent down to problems in the live music scene. "I always thought that the live thing would always be there, but it is not," he explained.

"Nowadays I go to what was considered a rock pub or a circuit venue and you will see chalked up on the wall who is playing that month, and maybe there is only half a dozen bands." He continued: "The rest of it is all filled in with soundalike bands like the Australian Pink Floyd and that is killing the route to which new artists come through."