Hyde Park: the greatest music event ever?

Speculation abounds that superstar names from George Michael to Mick Jagger are still in discussions about joining a finale at the end of the seven-hour extravaganza.

With the proviso that anything can happen in an event scrambled from scratch by Sir Bob Geldof in just weeks, this is how today's Live 8 concert looks likely to pan out from 2pm.

* Paul McCartney opens with "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the immortal words: "It was 20 years ago today....", harkening back to the Live Aid concert in 1985. He is expected to be joined by...

* U2 who will perform "One" before dashing off to fulfil prior commitments at a concert in Vienna, Austria.

* Coldplay will perform "In My Place" and "Fix You" before joining forces with The Verve's Richard Ashcroft for "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

* Elton John, introduced by Matt Lucas and David Walliams of Little Britain, will rock the park with "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)" and "The Bitch is Back" before duetting with Pete Doherty on T-Rex's "Children of the Revolution".

* Dido is set to perform "Life for Rent", "White Flag" and "Thank You" but will be joined on stage by the one African representative at the Hyde Park concert, the Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour.

* Stereophonics are next on stage, then ...

* REM with "The One I Love", "Losing My Religion", "Imitation of Life" and "Everybody Hurts".

* Ms Dynamite will offer up "Dy-na-mi-tee" and "Judgement Day" as well as covering the Bob Marley classic "Redemption Song".

* Keane with "Everybody's Changing" and "Somewhere Only We Know".

* Travis take the stage with "Sing", "Turn" and "Why Does it Always Rain on Me? "

* Annie Lennox with "Walking on Broken Glass", "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" and "Sweet Dreams" then ...

* A medley from UB40 and appearance by Snoop Dogg.

* Razorlight are doing "Somewhere Else", "Golden Touch" and "Vice".

* Madonna will perform "Like a Prayer", "Music" and "Ray of Light".

* Snow Patrol will offer up hits "Chocolate" and "Run".

* Joss Stone with, "I Had a Dream" and "Super Duper Love" then

* Scissor Sisters do "Take Your Mama" and "Laura".

* Velvet Revolver will be joined by Ronnie Wood for "Fall to Pieces" and will be followed by The Killers.

* Sting sings "Message will be In a Bottle" while Mariah Carey has chosen "Vision of Love" and "Make it Happen".

* Robbie Williams goes for "Let Me Entertain You" and "Feel". He is rumoured to be considering a rendition of "We Will Rock You".

* The Who begin the storming final countdown followed by Pink Floyd with "Money", "Comfortably Numb" and "Wish You Were Here".

* Macca returns with "The Long and Winding Road".

* For the finale he is expected to be joined on stage by as many rock legends as can be fitted. The song? How about "Feed the World"?