Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty
Call me a fawning capitalist lackey. Brand me a World Bank-loving, anti-poor, rich world boosting, multinational adoring sellout. Go as far as accusing me of being a slightly uneasy bedfellow with the Adam Smith Institute.
But whatever you do, please do explain why Bob Geldof is right to call eBay, the online auction marketplace, "an electronic pimp [that] arrogantly thought they were powerful enough to ignore public anger" when the company allowed its users to sell Live 8 tickets on its site.
And, while you're at it, can someone justify why he's fair in calling those who tried to sell their tickets "miserable wretches who are capitalising on people's misery"?
Only at the start of the month, Geldof was making it quite clear he wasn't in the business of raising money through these concerts - he wanted to persuade our political leaders to take action instead. "We don't want people's money. We want them," he said.
Well, he's got "them" (er - us) and, despite his lame line-up (hey - at least Hyde Park's going to be better than Berlin), he's also got a scramble for the tickets. And because Bob hasn't filled a stadium in quite a while, he'll be unaware that any impending great gig has, for the last few years, sparked a lively market in spare tickets, on eBay and elsewhere, long before those dodgy blokes show up on the street outside the venue. It's as much part of the concert scene today as crap lager, bad views and expensive merchandise.
If the Live 8 concerts are only about getting attention, why should a black market in tickets concern the organisers? Tickets were issued randomly to those who applied, so the people who won were not necessarily any more committed to Geldof's cause (if at all) then those who lost. Why object if people who lost out in the original lottery want to spend money to be there?
In simple fundraising terms, distributing tickets via SMS lottery was not, it turns out, as good an idea as Live 8 hoped. The Daily Mail reported yesterday that only around 2m text applications were received - they apparently hoped for 5m - thus not raising enough cash to cover costs.
So maybe Bob is cheesed off that he didn't spot the moneymaking potential of an auction. He could have raised lots of attention and money had he embraced the digital world that's sprung up since his Live Aid triumph 20 years ago. He could have auctioned off a trickle of tickets on eBay right up to the day of the concert. It's not, after all, like there's not already posh seats on sale - quite rightly, but somewhat inconsistently, they're offering £1,250 tickets, including champagne breakfast, to corporates who just have to say they were there.
Geldof should have let the market work its magic for much more of the audience. By putting tickets up for an official online auction he could have raised more cash, created huge hype as punters bid higher and higher to win the final tickets, and got a crowd still right up for the huge gig. And he'd also have had a much better case for getting on the backs of the black marketeers.
