The open letter from Live8 to G8

It was always going to be a complicated feeling after Live8. A big noisy day, followed by the inevitable sense of "what was that all about?"

We just thought it was worth writing a reminder of what it was all about.

The very simple fact is that thousands upon thousands of people are still dying each day, in one damn way or another, as a result of extreme poverty.

No one, absolutely not one person in the world, thinks this is a good state of affairs. And yesterday millions and billions of people took part in an event that was meant to say that. They don't know how to stop the dying. But they are desperate and passionate that something should be done right now.

And so in their millions they sent a message to the G8 leaders that you must treat the situation as what it is -- a desperate crisis, a rolling tragedy totally unacceptable at the start of the 21st century. A child dies every three seconds. Millions are dying of preventable and curable diseases every year. There are countries in Africa where life expectancy is now below 40.

The hugeness of Live8 was the best that we normal citizens can do to send our leaders a message.

For God's sake, take this seriously. Don't behave normally. Don't look for compromises. Be great. Do more than expected, not the least you can get away with. You know what will really make a difference, what will turn extreme poverty around. What will actually begin to save the lives of millions of men, women and children.

Do it. Please, do it. The world is watching.

Bob Geldof, Bono, Richard Curtis and everyone at Live8