Live Aid: then and now

[Guy Rowland]

40 years ago - Live Aid.

20 years ago - Live 8.

Now....?

I wrote this 3 years ago in the legacy section of the forum, which attracted no interest whatsoever but nevertheless felt it was a subject very much worth returning to. So first the original post:

==

If there is a more gripping and entertaining three hours on YouTube, I don't know what it is. Against All Odds is a 2 part BBC documentary made in 2005, on the 30th anniversary of Live Aid (stitched together into one on YouTube).



I find it hard to put into words just what an extraordinary achievement this is - both the movement, the concerts and this documentary. But hey, you know me.

I think Live Aid tapped into some deeply primal force for good in the human spirit. We're so aware of the horrors that seem to have only got more horrific of late. Somehow back then, it all distilled into something incredibly simple and powerful.

I was prime age - 18. The the show was being simulcast on BBC TV and BBC Radio 1 FM, so we could see it and hear it in glorious stereo, TV back then being strictly mono-only. (Looking back now, I can't believe it was ever in sync). Anticipation was at fever pitch. Richard Skinner announced the beginning of Live Aid, Price Charles and Lady Di took their places to fanfare - and then Status Quo started.

Status Bleedin' Quo.

I despised The Quo. Those cheeky-cheeked cartoon rogues playing the same three chords year after year, oblivious in the face of everything else happening in music, the tired old guard. The entire music press loathed them and rightly so. And here they were to kick off what would be the biggest concert of all time. And it was absolutely stupendous.

I'm getting moist-eyed again as I type. That first shot on stage from a hand held camera of Rick Parfitt playing that sodding riff, and then moving round to seeing 72,000 people completely as euphoric one, likely very few of them actual Quo fans. Unlike the Live 8 concert decades later, there was no VIP zone in front of the stage to fatally undermine the event. Everyone was the same. Everyone remembers that feeling that for that moment on that day, it was unquestionably right, the tribalism and cynicism were extinguished. I remember Melody Maker's review the following week - they hated The Quo, of course they did - saying they went nuts and bellowed along with everyone else.

Why? What had caused this tidal wave of goodwill?

An unspeakable horror. This is the contradiction at the heart of the whole movement, the absurdity - the obscenity even - of reducing human suffering to a jamboree. It was a BBC news report on the Six O Clock News that had done it, a report so utterly devastating, the camera so unflinching at things humans should never endure that it demanded a response. It's no easier to see it now than it was then. Bob Geldof, the loud-and-foulmouthed aging rock star whose career was on the wane, famously responded. He unleashed his full righteous wrath at anyone in his musical or political path, and so came Band Aid which inspired We Are The World, and then, on 13th July 1985, Live Aid. (Satirical UK puppet show Spitting Image made their own version, "We're scared of Bob" to the tune of "We Are The World").

Against All Odds, the documentary, covers the lot. Part one is the road to that day, Part two the day itself. The machinery that made this extraordinary day was ramshackle, held together with spit, sawdust, hard graft and, most of all, bullshit. At the press conference announcing the concerts, Bob ran through the acts already confirmed. In the documentary, a ticker tape runs below giving the truth about each of them, many of whom had never even been contacted. He announced The Who was reforming, which was news to them. Bob was a bully with a cause.

The human tale of bruised egos and questionable motives is supremely entertaining. As the gigs unfoldeed, the world was gripped, an estimated audience of 1.9 billon people (never mind that in the UK they were so entertained the donations were a trickle). The music itself - so many moments. U2 playing one song for 15 minutes, the band convinced their careers were now over when it made them. Queen ruling the waves. Paul McCartney playing live for the first time since John Lennon's death. David Bowie lifting the roof.

And then. Bowie introduces the now infamous "Drive" video by The Cars. "Who's gonna drive you home tonight" makes no logical sense whatsoever. But my god. Right in the middle of the chaos, the haircuts, the rock and the roll, there it was - the tiny girl who couldn't stand. The tiny boy hunched over. "You can't go on thinking's nothing wrong". It was the biggest come down in musical history, but holy shit.

"The fuck was a slap", says Geldof in the documentary, referencing his use of the F word on daytime TV earlier when frustrated that not enough appeals were going out. "The video was a bludgeon". It worked. From that point on, the trickle of cash became a flood.

People then - and now - have plenty of valid citicisms of the whole endeavour, not least one of the hapless presenters called in to host the UK coverage, Andy Kershaw. He felt that this was all the job of governments to address their own failings. He felt the event for Africa should have African music in it, not almost-entire white preening pop stars. But in that moment everything got swept away, distilled to the simple message that this was horribly, horribly wrong and it could be made better by you - YOU - giving money.

We're tired of such simplistic messages now. I mean, where do you even start? A huge part of the power of Live Aid was the singularity of it, the simplicity in a complex world. And that wasn't based on an ideology, but a feeling, the certain knowledge that there are those in the world who are heartbreakingly worse off than you are, and that is a fundamental injustice. Look - LOOK - and act, don't blame anyone else.

All this and far, far more is brilliantly covered in Against All Odds. Contributors from Tony Blair to Billy Connolly reminisce - perhaps most powerfully the woman at the chronically under-resourced refugee camp who got to decide who would get aid and who wouldn't, knowing she was consigning those not chosen to death. It's editing is stunning - so much ground to cover, so many angles and perspectives that they somehow wrangle, it must have taken many, many months. I wish they'd talked a little more about the other world concerts besides London and Philadelphia (not even a mention of Oz for Africa that started the day off with INXS). But tiny quibbles. They use the cliche that became the 24 graphics counting down the time to the events, it works just great. Gina McKee's pitch perfect narration holding the creaking ship together as Geldof held the event.

Well excuse the emotional outburst. I found it such an overwhelming experience, a catharsis somehow given everything else in the world, a heady mix of nostalgia, music, laughter and horror. We won't see its like again - last year I was involved in a huge worldwide gig called Global Citizen, on a scale almost as big as Live Aid and carried live on BBC1 here, but it passed without comment. It's a different world now. And I think we've lost something important.

[Guy Rowland]

The BBC have now tried to outdo itself with a new 3 part documentary, Live Aid at 40. Parts one and two were great, which covered Band Aid and Live Aid - overall not quite as gripping, but has a few wonderful new moments.

But it was part three that floored me this time. Live 8 in 2005. As a gig it was nowhere near as memorable despite opening with Paul McCartney singing "It was 20 years ago today" with U2. The so-called Golden Circle - a VIP-only area that stretched back to the lighting and sound towers - was unspeakably crass and at a stroke essentially undermined the whole thing (and glossed over in the documentary). You were literally looking at inequality at the gig dedicated to supposedly promoting equality.

Yet the concert itself wasn't the big thing this time. Do you remember? The startling statistic is that Live Aid and Band Aid collectively raised $200m - the amount African countries paid in interest on their debts every single week. However powerful that first gig and movement were, they were drop in the ocean set against the structural burden. This time Live 8 wasn't about raising money, it was about public pressure on the politicians. The G8 summit was held in Scotland days afterwards, and they had the power to erase the debt at a stroke and commit to billions of funding.

Germany was holding out. U2 played in Berlin after Day 1 of 3, telling the audience their chancellor held the key to it all. And then day 2 was July 7th 2005, a day of infamy when 4 suicide terrorist bombers attacked on London's transport system, killing 52 and injuring over 700. The most brutal, violent slapdown amid the idealism.

And yet on day 3, the deal was signed. The debt was gone. The ultimate riposte to the terrorists - they wouldn't stop the right thing being done. Germany came on board. Staunch Republican George W Bush helped lead the charge after Bono got to him (he also was instrumental in providing drugs to combat AIDS in Africa). And you know who else signed on the dotted line?

Vladimir Putin.

Watching the footage now, it is literally unbelievable. UK prime minister Tony Blair said he felt it was the last genuine moment of global unity.

I find it unbearably depressing that he is right. People power made the politicians act for a simple, profound good. Can you imagine those heads of state doing it now? And the reason why is the really tragic thing - the PEOPLE wouldn't do it now. Division has been deliberately sown. There is no common enemy, the enemy is always within. No-one is thinking of simple, profound good now. There's not even facts any more, just cynicism, bitterness and resentment.

I've no idea how we row back from here. I still believe there is inherent decentness in billions of people. But the architects of division have someone neutered them. And guess what - a pop concert isn't going to fix it.

[Jaap]

I was 6 years old when Live Aid aired and I think it's my first big memory about a concert gig. My parents invited over quite a lot friends and the whole day was filled with talks about politics and music.
My dad managed to connect the tv to the old kenwood amplifier , which was at that time as I recollect him saying, a sort of miracle. The loudness of the music went up and down.
Somewhere later in the afternoon I remember the neighbours joining in and and a bit later as well 2 families from our neighbourhood as apparently it went around that we had good quality music coverage.

It was a day full of smoke, beer, food, and as said earlier, talks and music.

I remember Queen very vivid and still seeing that performance gives me goosebumps . I didn't know Queen very well as it was played regulary at home, but that performance was just amazing on all fronts. Not sure if my memory is 100% correct, but as I remember it the talks went down and everyone in the house was glued to the tv.

What I miss from those days is that it where really social days. People actively visiting each other with events like this or just came over and where together.

Funny thing is that we called everything that connects us now Social Media. But in fact it's Anti-Social Media as I think that destroyed and killed together with the rise of the mobile and smart phone our whole human society based structure.
And maybe we held in 2005 the last straw of that era and that it even reflected on all our global leaders, Putin included.

With so much more ease to connect to each other and to learn about the worlds problems, the harder it has gotten then ever before to REALLY connect and stand up to make a difference.

Thank you Guy for posting this and hopefully I have some time soon to check out the documentary.

[Guy Rowland]

Anti-social media is about right...

Fine memories, Jaap - thanks!

[progger]

Good thoughts, Guy. Yes, we live in such strange and "interesting" times. Your point about the people not even wanting unity and peace is haunting and rings true.

If you haven't already read "Dark Money" by the excellent journalist Jane Meyer, I recommend it very much. It does a great job describing the extreme pro-oligarchy right wing in the United States and their deliberate – and, ultimately, very effective – plans to undermine American educational systems and trust in the government. The recent sociopolitical events here aren't a surprise to people who have been paying attention.

Putting a computer in the pockets of millions of people who don't have the cognitive or educational tools to separate fact from fiction handed victory to the right-wing think tanks, sadly.

[Guy Rowland]

Also I also can't help wondering if music is less culturally unifying than it was. Music has to compete with so much more now.

I love watching some Glastonbury every year. The BBC's coverage is stupendous. But by and large its a (lovely) bubble. That Global Citizen Live concert I mentioned in the OP - it was live on BBC1 and featured Elton John, Ed Sheerin, Kylie Minogue, Nile Rogers and Chic, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, J-Lo, Paul Simon, Ricky Martin, Stevie Wonder and countless others. Not to shabby, huh? No-one knew it was even on.

[ok_tan]

Thanks for the tip. Great docu, really enjoyed it

[Erik]

A moving post, Guy.

My memory of it was Queen killing it to my own suprise. Like the best moment of the whole concert, despite the fact we were in front of the telly for the synthpop acts more than any other band. I was in the Alpes with my sister, at the time. Boris Becker winning Wimbledon then live aid.
And Phil Collins mishapp on a one note - he said he didn’t want to play piano live after this. My recollection of that missed key was exagerated and when I viewed it for a second time, a few years ago, I was surprised it was such a tiny « glitch » rather that the epic fail that stood in my memories.

[Guy Rowland]

The funny thing is that Queen were long out of favour in 1985, Bob Geldof was very resistant to them being on the bill.

The four most powerful moments for me, all at Wembley:

STATUS QUO
Rocking all over the World. The most unlikely bad to unify everyone. They were perfect.

U2
The only 1-1 connection with an audience member meant they never played the hit and the result turned them into the biggest band in the world.

QUEEN
Unassailable. They became legends that day.

THE CARS VIDEO
Bob Geldof, frustrated by the trickle of donations, said the F word on live TV. He described that as a slap, and this video as a bludgeon.

Most charity events now have films interspersed through their running time about the cause. Live Aid didn't have any of that - sure it would come up in the interviews between bands, but there were no images of the famine. Right in the heart of the gig after, what, 7 or 8 hours of music, everyone had their hearts ripped from their rib cages for 3 minutes. It was like being thrown into an ice bath having been on the beach all day. God bless David Bowie - DAVID FRICKIN BOWIE - for dropping his final number so it could be shown.

[Erik]

Yes, I’ve seen documentary about that 2nd coming for Queen.
I know we didn’t watch the whole event - we were on hollydays in a foreign country.
I played a third of your YT link yesternight and was moved again - big part of nostalgia involved and your introductory words playing their part too ;-)

It seems Geldoff didn’t use the F word. Just look at the scene plus BG recollection.

Midge Ure is such a gentleman.

[Guy Rowland]

Thanks Erik!

It seems Geldoff didn’t use the F word. Just look at the scene plus BG recollection.

When he was hectoring people to ring in, one of the presenters said "and here's the address", and Bob said "f*** the address".

What passed into legend - and he never actually said - is all of this condensed into the pithy "Give us your f******g money". Which is a better line, honestly.

It's a bit like "Play it again, Sam" never being in Casablanca...

[Erik]

Oh, ok ! Thanx !