It's finally here. The world-wide Live Earth concerts are a 24-hour, 7-continent event kicking off tonight (as 7/7/07 dawns in Sydney) and feature more than 100 musicians and a projected audience of 2 billion coming together to forge a global commitment to solve the climate crisis. You can watch on MSNBC and Bravo for much of the day tomorrow; NBC will be running a prime-time highlights show at 8pm.

Says former Vice President Al Gore, one of the organizers, "Live Earth will help us reach a tipping point that’s needed to move corporations and governments to take decisive action to solve the climate crisis."

Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.

Before you get to the links below — including a tasty new Spinal Tap video, please take a minute to visit the Live Earth site and take the pledge to take personal action to combat climate change.

Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.

Learn more about the event at LiveEarth.org and look for a nearby house party. Or, you can watch from your home on cable or via streaming video on MSN (Be sure to check out the new Spinal Tap video! They've reunited for this most important concert event, and they are just as good as you remember. Really.)

Update: After watching the video Al Gore made for Live Earth house parties, Jack asked me to post this note from him on the blog:
"I like the Earth, like most people do. But some people don't help the Earth. Some people waste, and just don't take care of the environment. But I'm going to make a difference. How about you?

I personally like this Earth, and some people pollute a lot, which is stopping the Earth from being healthy. We need this too, not just the Earth. Everyone needs a change. So to help me, and Al Gore, please try and recycle and reuse, and use good websites that can help you like eekoWorld."