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Live Aid 1985

87 replies

Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 21:56

Just watching the New Elizabethans programme on BBC 2 now. They've just covered Bob Geldof and Live Aid and I just wondered if any mumsnetters were there? I was only 4 in 1985 but some of you must have been? What was it like?

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DesdamonasHandkerchief · 10/12/2020 22:00

I was there, definitely in the top ten days of my life.
When I got the ticket it was just a huge concert but on the day it became much more than that and it really felt like history was being made and the world was watching. It's a shame that it wasn't the game changing event for Africa we all thought it would be.

AnneElliott · 10/12/2020 22:01

Lovely to hear about people who were there. I was 6 and don't even remember it on TV which is a shame.

HeadNorth · 10/12/2020 22:04

I was serving food in a rural pub in Scotland aged 17 and it was on in the lounge bar. Living the dream Grin

Bunnybigears · 10/12/2020 22:05

I was 2, my parents were there. My Grandma was apparently horrified they would leave their children overnight to go to a concert and was very unhappy with them for a long time.

dayswithaY · 10/12/2020 22:06

I remember everyone in my rather chaotic household just dropping everything to watch when Queen came on. It felt like a moment in history. Electric.

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:06

Wow @DesdamonasHandkerchief it really does look like it was history being made when you see footage of that time!

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BackforGood · 10/12/2020 22:07

Not there, but I remember watching it through the day on the TV.
It was fantastic.
It was so revolutionary.
Brilliant achievement.
Brilliant day.

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:07

Queen is the iconic part that springs to mind when you think of it.

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LadyPenelope68 · 10/12/2020 22:08

@DesdamonasHandkerchief

definitely in the top ten days of my life. When I got the ticket it was just a huge concert but on the day it became much more than that and it really felt like history was being made and the world was watching

This exactly! I was there as well, it was just an amazing day, full of memories. My teenage sons are quite impressed I was there 😂😂

Superstardjs · 10/12/2020 22:08

I wasn't, but spent the whole day watching it on the tv.

ShirazSavedMySanity · 10/12/2020 22:08

It was on my 5th birthday, and my party was on that day, at home.
I remember having the tv on during the party and my Dad disappearing to watch the event.

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:10

The 80s as a whole is such a decade of conflict if you know what I mean. Terrible and brilliant at the same time and Live Aid sort of depicts that to me.

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minniemoll · 10/12/2020 22:10

I was 15 and on a school trip to France (ironically it was a choir exchange trip!) and missed the whole thing. I was devastated. These days we'd all have been glued to our mobiles I'm sure, but then it was just tough luck :(

Bluntness100 · 10/12/2020 22:12

Sadly not, I was sixteen and my the boyfriend and his friends were going and I was invited. My parents said no, there was no way I was going to london and staying with a nineteen year old

So I sat and watched it on the tv in a right old grump.😂

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:12

@minniemoll I'm trying to imagine anything on that scale happening and if it did how many of the artists I would actually have heard of 🤣

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:13

[quote Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor]@minniemoll I'm trying to imagine anything on that scale happening and if it did how many of the artists I would actually have heard of 🤣[/quote]
Happening nowadays I mean

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:13

@Bluntness100

Sadly not, I was sixteen and my the boyfriend and his friends were going and I was invited. My parents said no, there was no way I was going to london and staying with a nineteen year old

So I sat and watched it on the tv in a right old grump.😂

Gutted!! Oh my god I don't think I could have watched.
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ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 10/12/2020 22:14

I was with my family and friends came round and we all stopped to watch Queen apparently considered the best rock performance ever 20 odd minutes of perfection

We were so excited to see Madonna her voice was awful and not a particularly exciting performance but we didn’t care we worshipped her

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:15

I don't even know if my parents watched it on the TV. I've never asked them. They must have done i suppose.

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TiddyTid · 10/12/2020 22:20

Queen. Freddie Mercury. That was Live Aid 1985.

Ethelswith · 10/12/2020 22:24

I wasn't there, but I was at a huge house party where we all watched and sang and danced and got drunk, and misbehaved wildly.

I did see Queen live in 1986 (supported by Status Quo - the Live Aid openers) in 1986 on the Kind of Magic tour

FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue · 10/12/2020 22:28

I was there. I had heard it announced on radio 1 and they said Bowie was one of the acts, so I got a bus for an hour and half to another city and queued outside a record shop for tickets (no internet then!). The day itself was really hot, I remember. It was incredibly exciting, when Status Quo started if off with Rockin all over the World, it just felt immense. Yes, Queen were epic, as was Bowie. I remember Paul McCartney coming on and having to sort of pinch myself that it was really him. Also the videos from Ethopia made a huge impact during the concert. Geldof singing, 'the lesson today is how to die... ' and leaving a long pause.

june2007 · 10/12/2020 22:31

I was in primary and I def remember the impact.

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Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 10/12/2020 22:31

Wow. Loving hearing your stories. I was born at least a decade too late.

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CandyLeBonBon · 10/12/2020 22:32

I went to visit my penpal's farm in Germany with one of my friends (just us - no accompanying adults!) - caught the ferry and then the overnight train to Frankfurt from Ostend and celebrated my 16th birthday bopping around to Duran Duran singing 'view to a kill' in around in my penpal's basement! I think live aid was where Madonna debuted 'into the groove'?