The South African leg of the weekend's series of Live Earth concerts around the globe got off to a slow and late start.
The gates opened later than the original broadcast time on Saturday, but not that too many people seemed to mind or even realise that the concert was meant to start at 6pm, as the publicity surrounding the whole event was minimal.
As the Drum Cafe and Soweto Gospel Choir started the concert half-an-hour late, people continued to trickle in to join a well-behaved, placid group rattling around the floor of the Coca-Cola Dome in northern Joburg.
The initial turnout was disappointing, and the Dome never filled up.
Danny K's song Frozen seemed an apt description of the assembly.
The video footage, displayed on two large screens on either side of the stage, was cleverly shot, focusing tightly on the front of the golden circle and artists on stage.
Later, pre-recorded material from the US concert in New York showed a less-than-packed stadium as well.
The crowd's response to the mention of the headline act, Joss Stone and UB40, gave an indication of why people were really at the Dome.
The Parlotones were the first act to elicit a more than lukewarm response from the crowd, and everyone agreed that eight-year-old Jaed, who read out the seven-point pledge, was "just the cutest little thing".
The pledge was really the whole point of the evening - seven issues people can either take up with their local government or action to be taken to conserve the environment.
It's quite noble to try to impress on the public that we should walk short distances instead of using our cars, use the train, and recycle paper and plastic, but that's not going to happen if the streets are too dangerous for walking, when there is no place for recycling, and public transport is dodgy or nonexistent.
The Live Earth concerts were held to mark a starting point in the campaign, asking people to think and act differently about the environment.
Perhaps they should have skipped the concert and used the money to start a recycling plant, fund an environmental awareness programme at schools or even - if they were really feeling ambitious - find a way to make the plastic bag recycling programme work.
Grand gestures of global solidarity are all pretty to look at, but in the greater scheme of things, setting up a work programme that cares for the environment and creates jobs would be more useful.
The seven-point pledge calls for the following:
- To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next two years that cuts global-warming pollution by 90 percent in developed countries and by more than half worldwide, in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy Earth.
- To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own carbon dioxide pollution as much as I can and off-setting the rest to become "carbon neutral".
- To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the carbon dioxide.
- To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship and means of transportation.
- To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal.
- To plant trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests.
- To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just and prosperous world for the 21st century.
