A plan to stage a symbolic switching off of lights all over the UK during the course of Al Gore's Live Earth gig at Wembley has been vetoed by the National Grid, who say that the stunt could disrupt power supplies throughout the country. They weren't unsupportive however, explaining that they were keen to assist with other suggestions for a symbolic gesture, but that this particular idea might potentially cause a real headache.
A National Grid spokesman said: "The organisers had this idea and behaved responsibly by discussing it with us. We are used to dealing with surges in demand, as it happens every day around certain TV programmes. But it's very difficult to forecast exactly what would happen in terms of demand. We would have had no idea how small or large it would be".