MM floors is right. Poverty can not be solved by a charity gig. Sure it gives aid and minor immediate relief but it doesn't change anything. The best reason for the Live 8 gigs is the fact that it's raising awareness around the world to the people and to the governments - mainly the G7 countries (and Russia). That's a good thing.

The root cause and economies of the poor countries really needs to be sorted out before anything gets better. Now I'm no expert on the subject but a good start to this would be to increase fair trade. Even make it law or if that's too left wing for you give the huge super market chains and importers tax incentives for dealing with fair trade goods. We can't just keep ripping off farmers in poorer countries because we have the power too.