Inside Live Earth: The Struggle Behind Al Gore's Concert for the Planet

But Live Earth's organizers know it's the stars that will determine how much attention Live Earth gets. While the team has assembled an impressive lineup, it has yet to announce reunions or collaborations equal to Live 8's, where Pink Floyd played together for the first time in twenty-four years and Paul McCartney joined U2 to play "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Wall pushed hard for a Led Zeppelin reunion, but Robert Plant will play an affiliated solo show in Romania the same day. "Those are the kinds of things that take something and really raise it into the cultural zeitgeist," says Aaron Grosky, head of talent and programming at Live Earth's headquarters in Los Angeles. "Those are the things you take away from these events and absolutely things that we've got planned."

That's not to say that there aren't spectacular performances in the works: The London show will open with an all-star drum circle, slated to include Dave Grohl and Phil Collins, and rumors have widely circulated that U2, Radiohead and Guns n' Roses will be added to lineups in various cities. "We have had conversations with Bono, and he is very supportive of what we're doing," says Grosky. "Let's leave it at that."

After hours of meetings in London, Wall and his assistant head over to catch the Chelsea Flower Show, which has several displays about ecofriendly gardening and farming techniques, moments before it closes. Seeming at ease for the first time in days, Wall strolls along aisles filled with fragrant air and lush, technicolor displays of nature at its finest. The peace is broken by the beep of Wall's BlackBerry. A text message arrives - the Branson deal has fallen through. Disappointed, Wall hurries through the rest of the displays and into another taxi. Tomorrow morning he flies to Tokyo to fight another day.

>>> This article is from the latest issue of Rolling Stone, on news stands until June 29th