YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA

YMO’s 1978 debut album

Legendary Japanese electronic pop explorers Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) have been added to Japan’s portion of the 7-continent, 24-hour Live Earth benefit concert happening on July 7th

While unfamiliar to most non-Japanese listeners, YMO is owed a creative debt by acts as diverse as The Disco Biscuits, Erasure and Sound Tribe Sector 9. While not active since a short reunion tour in 1993, which followed a decade of silence, band members Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto will reform in Kyoto to lend their support to the environmentally conscious worldwide event.

Live Earth will begin in Sydney, Australia on July 7, 2007 and continue across all 7 continents with official concerts in Japan; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, United Kingdom; Hamburg, Germany; Istanbul, Turkey; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before concluding in New Jersey, United States.

Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection and other international non-governmental organizations to move individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore says, “Live Earth is taking place across all seven continents because the climate crisis affects us all, and all of us must be a part of the solution. Live Earth will engage individuals, corporations and governments to take action against the climate crisis.”