Just re-watched alot here.
Gotta love Bowie - superb
Jagger tries hard - also great but feel he is really trying hard to be the best
Loved Tom Petty (rip).
Queen awesome of course. They did well with their anthems.
I flicked off when I saw Phil Collins...haha

Style council works!

I thought Live Aid was brilliant !!

Highlights for me were Queen, U2, Bowie, Cars, Simple Minds, with a notable mention for Clapton, Dire Straits and Status Quo

Jagger was hamming it up and trying his best to be a solo artist. Looking back it wasn't that great was it.

Can u imagine if The Stones had declared peace, got their chops together, properly rehearsed and put in a historic performance of say 5 of their classics - long before we called them War Horses etc.

What 5 do u think they would have picked back 1985.....I'll guess.....

Start Me Up
Miss You
Brown Sugar
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Satisfaction

One final thought....if John Lennon had lived, do you think The Beatles would have reformed for Live Aid....I think they would have....and what would their 5 song set list have been....

Revolution
Day Tripper
While My Guitar with Clapton appearing
Get Back
All You Need is Love

Remember...the artists who got the most praise at Live Aid and are best remembered to this day for their performances etc, were the ones who decided to play their greatest hits and not their new single or album track.

I remember hoping George, Paul, and Ringo would play with, say, Elvis Costello or someone. Elvis did All You Need Is Love, which teased my fantasy a bit. I also hoped the Stones would play! I remember the MTV folks kept saying, "All the members of the Stones are reportedly present in Philly!" I was most excited about Led Zeppelin... which was a sloppy performance all around. Agreed on the above highlights! Bowie was great, and Queen. What a super fun summer day for this 13 year-old (at the time!).

Mick's Perf. for live aid, for me, has aged well. I used to just dismiss it right away. He wasn't the best act there, but he was solid. The Keith and Ron set with Bob Dylan however... I'm still processing that one.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-02 03:27 by ryanpow.

The only person who generated any enthusiasm for the reunion of Black Sabbath and Ozzy was MTV bro Mark Goodman. This was way before Black Sabbath was fashionable.

I'm not a Sabbath fan. Don't own any of their records. But even I recognized what a big deal it was.

I remember getting up at 2 in the morning and watching the entire thing live, first London, then switching to US. A very long day. I recorded several 'clips' on VHS for posterity. 6 hours on one tape, so very LO FI.

BUT, managed to get the DVD a few years back. Still very watchable and brings you right back.

I attended the Philadelphia show. We got to see some of the UK performances as they were broadcast in between set changes.
It was a great day.

I was there in UK. Very hot, sultry day. I was exhausted by evening and actual memories are confused with having seen footage since - particularly of the legendary Queen set. Remember loving Status Quo (who performed early) despite not really being a fan.

Looked hot!
They seemed to be spraying water guns during The Style Council show.
What a day...event !

I was 6 when this happened!
I can recall the following of the day, it was hot, there was thunder, my dad was building a wooden shed at the back of our house and went in to watch Status Quo, and went back to work. So I vividly remember Quo, I remember Queen, seeing all those people swaying looked like a sea to me. (It did also when I saw the footage years later) I remember Black Sabbath, I couldn’t sleep and my dad made me porridge, so I ate the porridge and lay on the sofa and I remember Ozzy, and Tony.

[m.youtube.com] PT1
[m.youtube.com] PT2


For anyone who hasn’t seen this, it’s an excellent two part documentary about Live Aid. The first part is about the Famine in 84, Band Aid, and the decision to put on Live Aid. It finishes the night before live aid. Part 2 is about the day itself and the things that happened.

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jigsaw69
I thought Live Aid was brilliant !!

Highlights for me were Queen, U2, Bowie, Cars, Simple Minds, with a notable mention for Clapton, Dire Straits and Status Quo

Jagger was hamming it up and trying his best to be a solo artist. Looking back it wasn't that great was it.

Can u imagine if The Stones had declared peace, got their chops together, properly rehearsed and put in a historic performance of say 5 of their classics - long before we called them War Horses etc.

What 5 do u think they would have picked back 1985.....I'll guess.....

Start Me Up
Miss You
Brown Sugar
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Satisfaction

One final thought....if John Lennon had lived, do you think The Beatles would have reformed for Live Aid....I think they would have....and what would their 5 song set list have been....

Revolution
Day Tripper
While My Guitar with Clapton appearing
Get Back
All You Need is Love

Remember...the artists who got the most praise at Live Aid and are best remembered to this day for their performances etc, were the ones who decided to play their greatest hits and not their new single or album track.

U2 is an exception to that, not the praise part but the new : they played a recent single (Sunday Bloody Sunday) and new album track (Bad) at the time from their most recent album THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE.

David Bowie played Modern Love.

The London show was, at least to my eyes and ears, way the better of the two.

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ryanpow
Mick's Perf. for live aid, for me, has aged well. I used to just dismiss it right away. He wasn't the best act there, but he was solid. The Keith and Ron set with Bob Dylan however... I'm still processing that one.

That was also one for the ages, just in a different sense ..

George Thorogood & Albert Collins: [www.youtube.com]

No-one saw The Who set?

It was rough around the edges but still very significant given their status at the time.

My opinion is that U2 stole the show. They planted their flag as one of the all time great bands. I think the Stones could have been a tour de force if they would have been on stage as the Stones.

I also heard that that jackoff Geldof blew off The Kinks who were interested in perfroming. Could be BS but have read it a few different time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-03 18:25 by timmyj3.

Yep, the Stones would have been something at Live Aid. Would have been a good test for a 1985 US fall tour. Followed by a 1986 Europe summer tour.
Instead we got a couple of aimless Jagger albums...

Queen actually played Radio Ga Ga , their recent single in addition to their classics. So wish the Stones had properly played. But seeing Led Zeppelin, as uneven it was, still brought tears of joy to me. I knew thought I would ever see them together and loved every moment of it

Live Aid was great for Clapton's career. His set was stunning and turned a new generation of fans on to him.

It was nice to see 3 of the 4 from Zep onstage together again - even if the performance itself was uneven. Page by all accounts was not pleased with the drumming in the set.

A little know fact: In the weeks following Live Aid, according to the Billboard magazine, the top selling albums sold were Led Zeppelin IV, Layla and Cream.

Zeppelins set is rough. Jimmy Page comes off like a guy who had a line minutes before going onstage. The first song is messy as hell. Whole lotta love is a lo better, the out of tune double neck and Phil Collins ruins stairway. It’s bad, but not atrocious.

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Stoneage
Yep, the Stones would have been something at Live Aid. Would have been a good test for a 1985 US fall tour. Followed by a 1986 Europe summer tour.
Instead we got a couple of aimless Jagger albums...

Yes, it could have been interesting to witness how heroin-addicted Charlie Watts had managed with that one.

- Doxa

Being 15 years old back then, watching Live Aid had an enormous impact on me regarding my musical tastes. For the first time, I was experiencing the joy of live concerts, even if it was on telly.
What an excitement!
I knew most of the artists performing, but was really impressed of the skills of the people on stage. Very often I thought "Wow, these people are great in what they are doing!"
I also loved it that the songs where different than the album versions I knew.

Artists I knew before and was impressed with were:

Elvis Costello
Howard Jones
Sting/Phil Collins
Queen

Artists I sort of "discovered" at Live Aid and became a livelong fan of:
U2
The Who

The London concert, I think, was much better than the Philadelphia one and had great sound, whereas Philadelphia lacked a bit regarding atmosphere, crowd excitement/ interaction and sound quality during the broadcast.

But besides all that, what also impressed me that all those artists got together for the cause, that there were feeds of performances from all over the world and the feeling that something can be done if we act as one.
And honestly, it made me aware of things that go wrong in this world.

This day has influenced me quite a bit.

Highlights for me were Led Zeppelin and the Who . I seen the Who set at a Golf Club during our round at lunch at the turn . Zeppelin set I seen after I got home later in the afternoon .

Here’s an extract from an interview with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds from The Guardian newspaper of last week and with regards to his being at the USA side of the event.

“Live Aid, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s 1985 concert for Ethiopian famine relief, broadcast from stadiums in the UK and US, showcased what he calls “the side of me that I haven’t mentioned, that thinks: ‘The biggest event since the moon landing. We’re just gonna @#$%& blow people away.’ We were young and No 1 in America and fancied our chances.”

He can’t describe what it actually feels like to sing for 1.9 billion people (90,000 of them in Philadelphia’s JFK stadium, where Simple Minds were on the bill for the US event) because the day passed in a blur. His vivid memory is of his father, who had flown in from Glasgow. “He’d stopped drinking by then – when I was young, he drank enough! – but was still the sort of guy that would meet a taxi driver and become best mates. Anyway, five minutes before we’re on – no mobile phones back then – where’s my @#$%& father? He turned up and said: ‘Oh, I was with Dylan.’ I’m thinking: ‘Is that one of the roadies?’ He goes: ‘@#$%& Dylan!’ It turned out he’d wandered off and got talking to Bob Dylan about folk music but he went: ‘Great fella, but I’m a bit worried because he’s going onstage with Keith Richards later and the pair of them are steaming.’” He beams at the memory of his “best pal”. Before his father died aged 83 in 2019, Kerr returned to Glasgow to share every day of his final 10 months.”

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Doxa

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Stoneage
Yep, the Stones would have been something at Live Aid. Would have been a good test for a 1985 US fall tour. Followed by a 1986 Europe summer tour.
Instead we got a couple of aimless Jagger albums...

Yes, it could have been interesting to witness how heroin-addicted Charlie Watts had managed with that one.

- Doxa

I don't think that was the main reason behind the band's breakup. Charlie's habits could have been handled. Like they managed to deal with Keith's and Ron's addictions through the years.
The main reason was that Jagger wanted to try it on his own.

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Stoneage

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Doxa

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Stoneage
Yep, the Stones would have been something at Live Aid. Would have been a good test for a 1985 US fall tour. Followed by a 1986 Europe summer tour.
Instead we got a couple of aimless Jagger albums...

Yes, it could have been interesting to witness how heroin-addicted Charlie Watts had managed with that one.

- Doxa

I don't think that was the main reason behind the band's breakup. Charlie's habits could have been handled. Like they managed to deal with Keith's and Ron's addictions through the years.
The main reason was that Jagger wanted to try it on his own.

It was the main reason why they didn't tour DW.

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Stoneage
Charlie's habits could have been handled. Like they managed to deal with Keith's and Ron's addictions through the years.

Or like they dealt with Brian's addictions (or like Taylor calculating that if he will stay, he will die). People are individuals, and especially with stuff like heroin, I don't think there is a general rule how it affects to people and how 'easily' that can be dealt with, especially by intervention by some third party. Nor I don't think we should take Keith and Ronnie as poster boys here. Probably too many rock musicians have taken.

Besides how Charlie has himself described his condition and how it affected to his life back then is not even close how Keith and Ronnie have done theirs (at their worst). No wonder they all were very worried.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-04-04 17:01 by Doxa.

I confess that at the time I was more shocked to see Sting performing without the Police than not seeing the stones

C

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Doxa

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Stoneage
Charlie's habits could have been handled. Like they managed to deal with Keith's and Ron's addictions through the years.

Or like they dealt with Brian's addictions (or like Taylor calculating that if he will stay, he will die). People are individuals, and especially with stuff like heroin, I don't think there is a general rule how it affects to people and how 'easily' that can be dealt with, especially by intervention by some third party. Nor I don't think we should take Keith and Ronnie as poster boys here. Probably too many rock musicians have taken.

Besides how Charlie has himself described his condition and how it affected to his life back then is not even close how Keith and Ronnie have done theirs (at their worst). No wonder they all were very worried.

- Doxa

Look back at the tines Mick has stated that the Stones were in no shape to go on the road in 1986. Finding out about Charlie way after the fact was an eye opener in regard to what Mick was saying.

Sure, whatever. I just feel Live Aid, and not performing for seven years in the eighties, was a missed opportunity for them.
I "discovered" them in 1981 so their leave for most part of the eighties was a bit aggravating to me.

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Stoneage
Sure, whatever. I just feel Live Aid, and not performing for seven years in the eighties, was a missed opportunity for them.
I "discovered" them in 1981 so their leave for most part of the eighties was a bit aggravating to me.

I started the journey a year earlier. I think the best way to look at it is because it was such and important, watched event, can you imagine the fallout from a less than spectacular performance?

Could have been catastrophic. As bad as the Dylan, Richards, Wood performance was we could at least slag it off as 'well, they're not actually a band' or whatever.

I think they dodged a bullet on that one, not that Mick was going to let it happen in any case.