Bohemian Rhapsody film and Live Aid

[waltzingparrot]

I saw the Bohemian Rhapsody film tonight and it made me think how amazing It would have been to be at Live Aid.

I was 20 at the time but I know it never crossed my mind to try and get a ticket and go. I always planned to watch it on tv.

Is there anyone on MN who was actually at Wembly? What's your one abiding memory - was it Queen's set?

It was the day of a friend's wedding - driving up to it we were listening to the build up in the car and we caught some of it afterwards on TV. Mass concerts were not something I was aware of/into and I think this was one of the longest and largest at the time. If I could go back in time I would definitely try to attend as it was such an amazing event. My two are far more used to going to concerts and festivals but they would only go to something similar if a band they followed were playing (no sense of occasion!).

I was there! Highlight for me was getting HORRIBLY sunburnt 🤦‍♀️😂...loved U2,Tom Petty and Sting...but Queen really did steal it! And I wasn't even that big of a fan back then 🤷‍♀️ Had no real idea driving down with friends just how huge it was going to be...but by the time it was over we knew we'd been part of something immense.

Eco, did you get a T-shirt? Where abouts were you standing?

I recall at school your kudos as a music fan was reassessed on how well your band had done during Live Aid. At the time mine was Howard Jones and although he only got to do one song it had gone down really well so I was ok!

Queen had a lot of bad press at the time for playing Sun City during apartheid the year before, so the media didn't really gush over their performance at the time.
It's also why Bob Geldof was unsure about adding them to the set and didn't promote them being there.

I was there. Bowie the highlight for me

I was a MASSIVE fan of Paul Young at the time but kept it quiet as it really wasn't very cool 😂 There was actually loads of room...well it felt like it to me! We weren't crushed or anything and stood on 'the pitch' with a big picnic hamper 😂

it's a shame the DVD release is cut down so much and they redubbed Mccartney for some reason, has anyone seen it?

Didn't McCartney's microphone cut out so no one could hear him singing? Or am I thinking of a different concert to Live Aid?

Yes, it was turned off for the first part of hey jude.

But that's what happened on the night.

The DVD has an older sounding mccartney and the mouth movements don't match up.

It's just a very odd thing to do.

sorry let it be.

My dad was there. He's not a particular Queen fan but he admits they stole it.

My children watched bits of it so tv on all day. I had little interest in any of it but caught Freddie and was absolutely astonished by his performance. Not what I would have expected from a dreary (sorry fans, please don't take it personally) rock band. Outstanding.

longwayoff

A lot of people feel the same, they don't realise queen were a totally different band live and they rearranged all their songs to match that.

I was 17 and away on a school trip to France, where they wouldn't let us watch it on TV. :( To this day I've only ever seen snippets.

I worked in a pub and we had TVs all around. People lugged them in for the day, we had it showing on the video juke box (which I think was illegally done!).

Every pub and club in town was the same. You could walk through town and barely miss any of it. I also recorded as much of it as possible - VHS tapes weren't all that long, so I had to rush back from the pub I was working to change tapes (I only lived round the corner). We kept our video player until the last LiveAid tape snarled into an unplayable mess.

Or was it the Freddy Mercury party? Either way, yes, they most definitely did steal the show!