MADONNA, Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney head the stellar line-up for Live 8 - the biggest music event since Live Aid 20 years ago- which will also include Southampton's Craig David Bob Geldof has masterminded five free concerts to take place simultaneously in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia on July 2.

The shows aim to raise awareness of Third World poverty on the eve of the G8 summit in Scotland.

They will be held at Hyde Park in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Circus Maximus in Rome and the Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

Southampton singing superstar Craig David is due to appear at the Eiffel Tower concert.

Hundreds of thousands of music fans will attend with billions more worldwide watching on TV.

The line-up for the British concert takes in the biggest names in music.

Robbie, Madonna and McCartney will be joined by Coldplay, Elton John, Keane, Joss Stone and REM, to name just a few. The other concerts will see performances by Stevie Wonder in Philadelphia, Brian Wilson in Berlin, Duran Duran in Rome and Jamiroquai in Paris.

Other stars will be announced over the coming weeks - with the Spice Girls still rumoured to be staging a reunion.

"I spoke to them this morning and it's looking very good,'' Geldof said. "There's a lot of stuff they have got to sort through. They are trying to resolve differences of many years.'' The 150,000 tickets for the Hyde Park gig will be made available through a special text lottery. At 8am on Monday a multiple choice question will be broadcast on TV and radio, and printed in newspapers.

Members of the public will text in the answer and after seven days a computer will randomly choose the winners, who will each receive a pair of tickets.

The shows will be broadcast on the BBC and giant screens will be erected in Birmingham, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Belfast, Leeds and Wrexham.