LIVE AID

[Walter]

It's been 32 years gone already.  Probably the greatest single day of music of my lifetime.  I was working at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains and listened to this all day and night with friends.  Zeppelin was one of the few acts I was able watch that day, the rest I recorded on cassette tapes with a half-assed radio.  The tapes only sounded good on that boom box.  Finally threw out those tapes last month during our move.  Now with the DVD release, plus some bootlegged DVD's of unreleased performances, I can relive July 13, 1985 over again.  

[Bong-Man]

I was newly married, and not only couldn't afford cable, it wasn't even available in my apt. complex.  That left me stuck with the ABC feed and Dick Clark.  After twice hearing Zep playing in the background, and then going to lengthy commercials, they finally decided to join "Stairway" in progress.  Honestly, it was the most frustrating Zeppelin experience of my lifetime.  It took years to finally see the entire set, and I'll growl at a picture of Dick Clark to this very day.  I have the dvd now, and still enjoy watching The Who, U2, Bryan Ferry, Queen....and yes, even Madonna because of her age at the time.  Being from Motown and a fan, I was also riveted by the coked-out performance of David Ruffin & Eddie Kendricks from the Temptations with Hall & Oates.  Ruffin would last only another 4 years until the blow finally caught up with him.  Another thing I remember is the entire generation below me imitating Bob Dylan's singing at work.  His vocal performance on record of "We are the World", and his set with Keef & Ronny at Live-Aid, got a pretty harsh response from the youngins'.   

[Mithril46]

I was 18 and I just camped out at a friends house, We literally saw the whole thing(of  course not the London stuff) .For me

Zep's performance was unfortunate, but when Jimmy, Robert and JPJ took the stage, it was like the second coming. There

was so. much cheering, as you could tell that Zeppelin was so sorely missed, even on TV you could feel this tremendous

wave of love coming at the band. What I remember too was the backstage interview after playing, Jimmy was glowing

and Robert looked like he might get back into Zep. I'm not exaggerating, Jimmy and Robert looked like they too were blown

away by the crowd response.

[chillumpuffer]

And why not the London stuff? I was working in The Channel Islands and watched nearly all of it UK and US. It was a great day although I didn't really like a lot of the music. I remember The cars first up in the States that is for sure. A hazy time for me. Zeppelin were great at the time but seen through rose tinted specs. Later of course it came apparent how poor they were. I don't think the TV sound helped?

[IpMan]

3 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

I was 18 and I just camped out at a friends house, We literally saw the whole thing(of  course not the London stuff) .For me

Zep's performance was unfortunate, but when Jimmy, Robert and JPJ took the stage, it was like the second coming. There

was so. much cheering, as you could tell that Zeppelin was so sorely missed, even on TV you could feel this tremendous

wave of love coming at the band. What I remember too was the backstage interview after playing, Jimmy was glowing

and Robert looked like he might get back into Zep. I'm not exaggerating, Jimmy and Robert looked like they too were blown

away by the crowd response.

Yeah, I watched it live as well and remember Zeps performance like it was yesterday. Now in 1985 all I had to compare the performance to was my copy of TSRTS, the Dec 1972 Ally Pally boot (it was a BAD copy, sounded like shit), and a couple of tunes from a friends copy of LTTE which by the time I got it was like 90th gen or something, and my experience seeing them live in Chicago 1977 (excellent show). So when the band started playing I was a wee bit disappointed, mostly in Robert, not Jimmy. R&R was a rough start for Robert (once again, god forbid Mr. Golden God would warm up his damn voice before such monumental gig), but I thought Jimmy's playing throughout was pretty good. In fact I would say Jimmy's performance was fucking brilliant considering how lit he was. Anyone who can play that good while loaded to the gills on JD & coke i.e. pretty impressive. Though I must admit as I was expecting TSRTS Jimmy and instead got a fucked up, ok Jimmy I was not very happy at the time. Bottom line, my expectations were way too high as were most. IMO it was a good performance and Robert's voice warmed up and actually sounded pretty dam good by the second tune.

Compared to TSRTS Zeppelin I would give this performance a 3 overall out of 10. Taking their whole live career into context I have re-evaluated the performance a 5. Not great but not bad either, just OK. Though I do think Jimmy's Stairway solo was damn good.

Edited July 14, 2017 by IpMan

[JTM]

I video and audio taped the whole thing, TV and the Radio simulcast, all eighteen-ish hours, even the pre Wembley build up stuff like BB King from somewhere in Europe and whatever else there was. All those recordings stayed mostly unplayed, half a dozen or so VHS tapes gawd knows how many C90 cassettes. A fantastic event, a real eclectic mix of musical styles, some great but a lot of shite. The sound and vision went awry now and again but overall things were good. Unlike for you guys stateside over the pond who got bombarded with commercial breaks our broadcast was on The BBC TV and Radio, not one break, not even for the news iirc.  Somebody gave me copies of the DVD's released ten years or so ago, don't think I ever played them, the VHS tapes and cassettes are long long gone...

[chillumpuffer]

2 hours ago, JTM said:

I video and audio taped the whole thing, TV and the Radio simulcast, all eighteen-ish hours, even the pre Wembley build up stuff like BB King from somewhere in Europe and whatever else there was. All those recordings stayed mostly unplayed, half a dozen or so VHS tapes gawd knows how many C90 cassettes. A fantastic event, a real eclectic mix of musical styles, some great but a lot of shite. The sound and vision went awry now and again but overall things were good. Unlike for you guys stateside over the pond who got bombarded with commercial breaks our broadcast was on The BBC TV and Radio, not one break, not even for the news iirc.  Somebody gave me copies of the DVD's released ten years or so ago, don't think I ever played them, the VHS tapes and cassettes are long long gone...

" give us your fookin' money"

Yeah good old Auntie. I was working in Jersey and it was a baking hot day. We managed to score a bit of hash which was very rare there. It was party time and we really got into the spirit. Unfortunately the rich tax evading locals didn't see the point.

I do remember that a small village very close to where I now live had "Pott Aid" and it got a mention on the box. Pott Aid - I ask you? 

Ultimately though the reason for the whole thing only went to line the pockets and buy arms for mad despots in Africa and things haven't really changed

[porgie66]

34 minutes ago, chillumpuffer said:

 

Ultimately though the reason for the whole thing only went to line the pockets and buy arms for mad despots in Africa and things haven't really changed

Yeah, a terrible waste which resulted in the death and oppression of thousands. More like weapons relief than hunger relief. Did Bob Geldof ever acknowledge how misguided his plan was to give a guy like Mengitsu all that dough?  He may have had the best of intentions but he seems like a self aggrandizing wanker. 

[chillumpuffer]

Just now, porgie66 said:

Yeah, a terrible waste which resulted in the death and oppression of thousands. More like weapons relief than hunger relief. Did Bob Geldof ever acknowledge how misguided his plan was to give a guy like Mengitsu all that dough?  He may have had the best of intentions but he seems like a self aggrandizing wanker. 

Seems?? Is.

[LedZed66]

Live Aid - one of the biggest disappointments in my youth - because I couldn't watch it.

 

I was 18 and spent a holiday in Samos/Greece. Live Aid was the coolest thing in 1985, as far as I remember. All the big names, so many different artists, a show in London and a show in the United States. People from all over the world would watch this one event.

 

I was optimistic about watching it, because in 1984, they had TV sets in every bar and restaurant in Greece because of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

 

So, Summer Olympics are one thing. But they had no TVs in bars or places for Live Aid - and I was the "only person in the world" who couldn't watch it.

A few days later we met some guys from Norway who told us how great the concert was.

 

And even years later, people said, talking about this or that artist, oh, they were so great on Live Aid, did you see them?

I was trying to play it cool: No, I was on holiday, I mean, who watches television on holiday

Edited July 14, 2017 by LedZed66

[Walter]

9 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

And why not the London stuff? I was working in The Channel Islands and watched nearly all of it UK and US. It was a great day although I didn't really like a lot of the music. I remember The cars first up in the States that is for sure. A hazy time for me. Zeppelin were great at the time but seen through rose tinted specs. Later of course it came apparent how poor they were. I don't think the TV sound helped?

Yeah, a lot of the groups were certainly on my "uncool" list, but that's the great thing about a show like that - they'd be off the stage in 15 min or so.  I also found that they weren't always as bad as I thought though.  Watched Gilmour join Ferry on stage for his set, which was very good, lots of good collaborations - imo.  George Thorogood being joined by Albert Collins, Sting with Branford Marsalis, etc. The London performances definitely sounded better to me.  What a great run on stage - U2 (still one of my fav performances of the entire day and the reason I started to go see them live) followed by Queen, Bowie, The Who (sucked the helicopter in the area wrecked their broadcast), Elton John, and McCartney.  The diversity at Philly was impressive - Beach Boys, Madonna, Petty, Neil Young, The Cars, Sabbath, Priest, Clapton, Zep, CSN, etc.  I wish more of it was officially released.  I don't even dwell on the Zep set, because it was just the pure emotion coming from everyone that they were on stage together - not just the performance itself.  I still think it wasn't that bad, sound mix was horrible, emotion was unbelievably high.   

[renounce]

The day of Live Aid stands large in my memory. It happened to be my 15th birthday and a beautiful sunny day in England where I grew up. Main memories where an incredibly good feeling all day; everyone talking about it, watching it, being part of it, and hearing it playing everywhere. The music? Well, as we all know Queen absolutely killed it in their early evening set. Still the perhaps the most audacious and charismatic 20 mins of live music ever.

That day was the first time i saw the members of Led Zeppelin playing. Despite the ragged performance I instantly felt there was something very special about these people and remember being very dismayed when a friend told me their drummer had died 5 years earlier and that this band were no more.

Got hold of a copy of ZepII quite soon after and have been hooked for the last 32 years.

[IpMan]

Fuck Bob Geldof. Talk about a nob.

[Walter]

Happy Live Aid Day everyone!  Today is the actual 34th anniversary of the show on the day it took place.  Having a late night cookout pool party to celebrate some of the music from the day. Right now been going through the earlier sets...great set by Dire Straits!

 

[Walter]

 

[Walter]

 

[reids]

Complete LIVE AID concert among other archived items from MTV available now.
 

Create an account and log in to view.

https://archive.org/details/mtv-80s-vhs-full-recording-collection/
 

R😎

Edited May 6, 2020 by reids

[luvlz2]

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/tony-iommi-looks-back-at-black-sabbath-reunion-for-live-aid-concert-it-was-great-being-with-the-guys-again/

[The Pagemeister]