While I am still gathering my thoughts, and recovering from a hyper day of metablogging, I can immediately share a few things:

1. The concert was terrific for Philadelphia. We hosted a huge event with flying colors.

2. Our regional web, professional and not, was on fire yesterday. It covered Live 8 far better than TV. Speaking of which – I got quoted in the Inquirer panning MTV!. We’re going to continue to do what we do at PF – highlight the best of it – over the course of the next few days – shoot – maybe even weeks.

3. Philly Future’s distributed approach to all this, with me as host, and bloggers across the region posting and commenting, would have only been possible with the magic combination RSS, Flickr, Technorati, and CivicSpace – and elbow grease. The tools are getting to the point where they can achieve their promise.

4. It’s been amazing to watch the organizers of Live 8 reach out to the digerati, and then the digerati to the blogosphere, to get the word out and take part. Recognizing us as opinion leaders and buzz makers is both a compliment – and a concern (Jeff Jarvis).

5. No matter how you feel about any of this – take the time go to One.org. Get educated. And hopefully you will decide to sign the petition as I did. It’s a cause all of us can support.

6. And Albert Yee kicks ass. You national bloggers should know that he is one the best photobloggers on the web (yes, no lie) and a terrific writer to boot. His efforts helped make Philly Future a worthy place to go yesterday.

Will Bunch, from the Daily News’s weblog Attytood helps to summarize how I feel so far: Attytood: Some final thoughts on Live 8:

Philadelphia won. MTV and millions of TV viewers lost. And Africa? Let’s hope for the best.

There’s no way that 1 million people showed up on the Parkway. It may have been 400,000 over the course of the day, with no more than 300,000 at any time. How do we know that? We don’t. But, psssst, neither does Mayor Street.

No matter, because — even though the non-Stevie Wonder musical acts left us cold — Live 8 was every bit the publicity coup that the city hoped for. There was no violence, few arrests, and remarkably good behavior and good spirits. No booing.

And no snowballs. Heh.

For a city long tarred — unfairly, for the most part — as dirty, rude and disorderly, the images that were beamed around the world today may prove priceless over time. They’re won’t be much immediate impact (except for Milton Street, maybe) but over time, that image will help convince some folks that Philadelphia is a place they want to work. or live, or at least visit on a vacation.

Unfortunately, who knows how many were driven away by the God-awful TV coverage? As we watched the train wreck on MTV unfold, we started to get a sense of deja vu, and we realized why: It was exactly the same things that ruined the Olympics on TV.

Events that could have been shown live instead, inexplicably, on tape. Too much jumping around. The canned interviews, the ceaseless prattling. There once was a time when sports programs showed the games, and concert programs showed the music.

It was live. It was exciting. And now it seems lost. We don’t know why.

…With so many people touched today around the globe, we feel confident that somewhere in Africa, there is another 3-year-old girl who will be rescued by the forces that were unleashed today. And if just one life was saved, Live 8 — which also was a pretty darned good rock concert — will have been worth it.

Live 8 was worth it.

What do you think?

Head on over to to Attytood and let him know how you feel. I plan to.

live8 philly