Live 8 accounts: Philadelphia

We asked 10 readers of the BBC News website to tell us about their day at a Live 8 concert.

Jackie Clark travelled from Georgia with a friend to attend the Philadelphia leg of the Live 8 concerts.

A huge turnout in Philadelphia

I raised my voice and joined many Americans in calling for an end to global poverty.

Live 8 really managed to communicate with the audience about the aims of the Making Poverty History campaign.

It is sometimes hard to get through to Americans. We have a lack of coverage of overseas news and that can sometimes make us quite insular.

The organisation was excellent and the artists were given an opportunity to say a few words after their performances. Many of them asked you to sign the petition and send the text messages.

They told us that the poverty in Africa and the loss of life is like two 9/11s happening every day.

That really hit home for many Americans.

I really felt connected with the cause. It is difficult for us as a nation to understand abject poverty and suffering, our experience is so far away from that reality.

Voting for change

Live 8 gave everyone a voice and now they can speak up.

It's a bit like voting in an election. We were all there to vote for change. We gathered for one purpose.

LIVE 8 ACCOUNTS

CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644197" STYLE="rightarrow">TOKYO: Chie Kobayashi CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644237" STYLE="rightarrow">JOHANNESBERG: K Mofokeeng CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644129" STYLE="rightarrow">BERLIN: Khy Griffin CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644025" STYLE="rightarrow">LONDON: Rebecca Dean CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644545" STYLE="rightarrow">ROME: Thomas Rocchi CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644249" STYLE="rightarrow">MOSCOW: Misha Kozyrev CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644183" STYLE="rightarrow">PHILIDELPHIA: Jackie Clark CPS:LINK HREF="" ID="4644187" STYLE="rightarrow">EDEN PROJECT: H Karniewicz

Lots of people had planned ahead. Some families were having picnics and groups of people were sharing a drink. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and the crowd was extremely well behaved.

I have quite a conservative taste in music but I liked Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z.

I was impressed that every artist that was on the play list turned up. It seemed from an audience point of view that they were very committed to the Make Poverty History campaign and wanted to be involved.

The music was great but I felt it was secondary to the political message.