Steven Page, of the Barenaked Ladies, does a kick as they perform at the Celebrate Canada! Centennial Jam at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alta., on Friday July 1, 2005. (SUN/Darryl Dyck)

Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page was touring England with the Scarborough School Youth Choir in 1985 at the time Live Aid was happening at London's Wembley Stadium.

"We were billeting with a family who did not watch Live Aid because there were cricket test matches on, and an elderly grandfather who insisted on watching cricket," Page says. "So all of my peers were at home watching Live Aid, and I was in England, but I couldn't see any of it. Since then I've seen the highlights when the DVD came out."

Page says the band, which wasn't approached by any of the initial Live 8 cities about performing, will probably play in the evening during Barrie's Live 8 concert today after flying in from a Canada Day gig in Edmonton. He also says that he has high hopes for the event.

"I think we pledged as a country, especially during the (Southeast Asian) tsunami, that we were going to start making some changes to our world view and to giving," he says. "Ending poverty is something that is in our power to do, so I think we have an obligation as a music community to stand up and say something.

"It's not just the music businesses' opportunity or prerogative. I hope the other industries stand up and do the same thing."

Page also says he was initially disappointed that Parliament Hill was nixed as a possible location.

"That was a message to us and the rest of the country that they (the government) weren't going to step up to the plate with any increase in foreign aid," he says. "They were going to take their time to make these decisions if they were actually going to make them."

Page also says the band wanted to do a bit more than just perform. As a result, the band's bassist Jim Creeggan is currently touring Tanzania as part of a fact-finding mission with Oxfam to find out what their suggestions are for solutions.

On the music front, Page just released The Vanity Project, a side project he did with Stephen Duffy. He says he'll do a few in-store performances in the U.S. behind the album.