TORONTO — While thousands across the globe party with Sting in New Jersey, Madonna in London and Snoop Dogg in Hamburg, Canadians hoping to join in the Live Earth festivities on Saturday will gather at house parties, street festivals and music shows to honour everything green.

Early attempts to include Toronto among the series of simultaneous super-shows fell apart when it became clear that Live Earth organizers would not foot the bill for two North American shows in the same time zone, says city spokesman Stuart Green.

"I'll tell you right now, if the (U.S.) show had been on the West Coast, my prediction is that it would have been a completely different ball game," says Green.

"You and I would be talking about how great it is that we're going to have Avril Lavigne and Barenaked Ladies and Tragically Hip playing at our show. Unfortunately that's not the case and the chief reason was they wanted something in the eastern time zone in the U.S. which is why they went (with) ... New Jersey."

Live Earth concerts were planned for cities in each of the seven continents, with performances lined up in London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Sydney, Hamburg, East Rutherford, N.J., Rio de Janeiro and a scientific station in Antarctica. The Rio event had been in doubt but a judge ruled Thursday that it could go ahead.

But the massive scale of those existing shows meant that adding a Canadian date would have overwhelmed organizers, said a Live Earth spokesman.

"We would have loved to have had a major show in every country in the planet, being that our goal is to reach as many people as possible, but we felt that having a concert on every continent was a pretty good start," Yusef Robb said from New York.

Live Earth, promoted by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, is hoped to trigger a global movement to combat climate change. It's expected to involve more than 100 musical acts and an estimated audience of two billion people.

Performers include Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, the Police, Beastie Boys and the Soweto Gospel Choir.

Although Toronto had hoped to host a concert as well, Mayor David Miller said the absence of a Canadian show does not diminish Canada's place on the world stage.

"Canada has a great worldwide reputation including for environmental stewardship and leadership," said Miller. "We are valued as a peace-loving country that is one of tolerance and mutual respect."

Instead of an official concert, dozens of smaller events will take place across the country ranging from modest house parties to full-out stage shows, each of them among roughly 7,000 companion events planned in 129 countries, says Robb.

In Vancouver, Greenpeace is sponsoring the Global Habitat Festival, an outdoor music show featuring jazz trios, solo performers, and indie rockers.

In Montreal, an expected audience of 20,000 people is expected to attend a concert featuring Quebec artists Zachary Richard, Garou, Marilou Jorane, Eric Lapointe and Daniel Boucher.

In Toronto, a portion of Yonge Street will be shut down for an outdoor party featuring booths showcasing green products and services and a giant screen broadcasting CTV's coverage of the concerts.

But a large number of events are little more than small house parties, publicized through open invitations posted to the "Friends of Live Earth" web page.

"Join us in an evening of fellowship and fun to engage in earth saving activities," reads an invitation from Scott Brown of Lunenburg, N.S., including his phone number and address.

Peggy Roberts of Edmonton planned a more detailed affair, inviting like-minded folks to join her and her children to "make a medicine wheel in our backyard, then hold a pipe ceremony, later have traditional foods and make offerings for the ancestors and mother earth, and plants around us."

Proceeds from the live simulcast will create the foundation for a new global effort led by The Alliance for Climate Protection and Gore, its chairman.