Unfortunately even all those lucky sevens could neither deliver a jackpot for concert-goers hoping to get a little environmental religion, nor environmentalists looking for a great afternoon of music.

Overall, Live Earth New York--or New Jersey, as Garden State native Jon Bon Jovi appropriately called it--was more of a disappointment than an inspiration, whether you came for the smorgasbord of musical acts, or to join music fans in solidarity as they became inducted into a worldwide army of individuals ready to screw in fluorescent light bulbs, trade in their gas-guzzling SUVs and recycle virtually every consumable item possible.

First, the message.

What struck me as I was shuttled through the parking areas and into the stadium, was the lack of any celebratory or festival atmosphere, save for the carnival rides and corn dogs being hawked at the adjacent New Jersey State Fair. While Pepsi and Stonyfield Farm booths dispensed biodegradable, soy-inked wristbands and mystery-berry smoothies, I have encountered significantly more environmental-friendly propaganda in the parking lot at a Dave Matthews concert.

I was expecting to visit an array of booths and tents sponsored by dozens if not hundreds of local, national, and international environmental and related causes, but there were none to be found. So if you didn't want to discuss the finer points of the soon-to-be-released Smart Cars that were on display around the site, or gaze upon dozens of banners bearing planet-saving tips sponsored by Philips, you were basically out of luck.

Inside the stadium, there were woefully few content-rich pitches to the crowd. And some of the best ones, from the likes of Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jane Goodall and a scientist from the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, came so late in the show that the crowd appeared to be unreceptive, with many hooting and shouting for the next musical act instead of spending a scant few minutes learning something. Even the two brief on-stage appearances by Al Gore, who helped champion the Live Earth events through his "An Inconvenient Truth" movement, failed to whip the masses into anything resembling an inspired throng.

In the end, without being prompted by a flyer, I was even challenged to remember any of the points of Gore's "Seven Point Pledge," which I was enticed to sign before heading in to the show.

The day's greatest musical disappointment proved to be Melissa Etheridge [ tickets ], whose performance was dominated by overzealous preaching. Etheridge hijacked the audience by substituting what amounted to a 20-minute rant/cheerleading routine on environmental activism in place of what could have been an extremely enjoyable set of her better-known hits propped up by her Oscar-winning "I Need To Wake Up," which she wrote for "An Inconvenient Truth." Instead of "Come to My Window," or "Like the Way I Do," Live Earth attendees got to watch Etheridge pacing back and forth, talking about how, as an 8th grader, she started hearing about global warming and fully expected the government and elected leaders to do something about it.

Enough about the message, on to the music.

First of all, the diverse line up of Live Earth NY/NJ certainly looked impressive on paper--I mean, if we ever dreamed of seeing the reunited members of The Police [ tickets ] performing "Message in a Bottle," accompanied by the likes of John Mayer and Kanye West, then this was the place it could (and did) happen. But it may have been the diversity that discouraged many--especially parents with children in tow--from taking in the show in person.

In my circuits of the venue, the audience seemed to be made up of predominantly 20-to-40-somethings, many of whom appeared to be very actively tail-gating before they headed in, and sustaining their feel good spirit with continued patronage of the beer and frozen drink concessions for the remainder of the show. Missing was a visible contingent of aging hippie-types and the Birkenstock-clad set that you might have expected to see en masse at such a gathering.

Once the focus moved to the stage at 2:30 pm, latecomer Kenna [ tickets ] ended up as the unceremonious opener, playing a couple of songs as ticket holders trickled in. Kenna was followed by the much more audience-pleasing KT Tunstall [ tickets ], suited up in gold spandex pants and kicking things up a notch with her hit "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree."

The energetic rapping from West, accompanied in his mainstage set by a killer horn section, was as well-received as earlier sets from Ludacris and Akon, who elicited an ear-piercing shriek from the ladies when he finally got around to removing his shirt.

Rockers AFI cleverly mixed in a fantastic cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" to hook some of the more mature attendees, but the younger fans apparently conserved their energy for Fall Out Boy, whose singer, Patrick Stump, was plagued with audio problems that seemed lost on the enthusiastic fans who sang along loudly to a set which included "Dance, Dance," "Thnks fr th Mmrs," "This Ain't a Scene…," and "Sugar, We're Going Down."

Armed with a working microphone, bassist Pete Wentz implored the crowd to treat saving with the planet like working out:"…you have to do it every day to get results."

With the sun hanging low in the West, Mayer's first turn on the main stage ended with the radio-friendly constant, "Waiting on the World to Change." You might think Mayer would have saved up a potent shout out in support of conservation for this highly appropriate moment, but he simply slipped into the number, which also failed to resonate with the crowd.

It only took a few moments for Alicia Keys to catapult to the position of one of the most unexpected and surprising stars of the show. Her passionate pounding on the ivory fueled covers of 'The O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," into Stevie Wonder's "Living For the City," and she capped the high-energy funk medley with Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me (the Ecology)."

That set seemed to be a turning point, re-invigorating the sun-sapped crowd and bringing almost everyone to their feet. And there they stayed to give the Dave Matthews Band a thunderous welcome.

The DMB fans, who are used to three-hour-plus jam sets, were nonetheless appreciative of a sample set featuring "Don't Drink the Water" and "Too Much," which kept everyone popping and swinging to the groove. Jersey boy Bon Jovi gave his fans a similar sampling, albeit with some even more accessible hits. Although his lackluster opener, "Lost Highway," disappointed, the follow-up monsters "Wanted, Dead or Alive," and "Livin'on a Prayer," were redeeming.

As darkness crept in, so did The Smashing Pumpkins [ tickets ], introduced by Alec Baldwin, no less. Billy Corgan and company slashed through a machinegun set that proved the highlight of the day, mixing the band's new single, "Tarantula," with previous hits like "Today" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings." Roger Waters [ tickets ]' back-to-back renditions of "Money" and "Us & Them," from 'Dark Side of the Moon' were as good as could be without David Gilmour's haunting vocals, and show closers The Police flashed their fans back to the beginning of their stellar career with a spot-on "Roxanne," "Can't Stand Losing You," and the aforementioned finale, "Message in a Bottle."

Overall, the best musical performances at Live Earth's main event in New Jersey were much like the environmental messages espoused by the artists and special guests, alike--too few and far between to make the kind of impact it seemed organizers were hoping for. The unappealing venue of Giants Stadium certainly didn't help, but as an optimist, I still have to believe the shows here and abroad made some relevant impact.

If every single person who attended, or hopefully, every one of the millions who caught part of the show on television, the web or satellite simulcasts changes one behavior as a result of something they learned at Live Earth, the beginnings of a movement towards a more sustainable planet will certainly result.