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Original poster

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?

OP posts:
Sorrento2014 · 10/12/2020 23:53

I was 14 and had a Saturday job in a local bakery. I remember watching it after work in my tabard (apron thing) Queen and U2 very memorable. I loved that Saturday job so much! I carried on working there during the hols whist at Uni

BackforGood · 11/12/2020 00:29

Was it Phil Collins who performed in London then take Concorde to the States and perform again in Philadelphia?

Yes. Amazing.

SquatBetty · 11/12/2020 01:13

I was 12, watched it all day on the TV. I think everyone else from my school was watching it to as it was such a massive event at the time.

Even my parents who had no clue or no interest about popular culture realised it was something amazing and let me stay up until the early hours of the morning to see Duran Duran (they played at the Philadelphia concert).

Floralnomad · 11/12/2020 01:26

I was there , I was 18 and went with my sisters .It was good and I’m glad I went but it wouldn’t rate highly in my all time concert list .

notangelinajolie · 11/12/2020 01:27

I kinda missed it all.
I was 19 on holiday in Corfu Grin
Looking back it was on the telly in a few bars but I was too busy partying to notice much.
I only realised how big it was when my mum - who was not remotely knowledgeable on recording Betamax videos, picked me up from the airport and excitedly gushed that she'd recorded the whole thing.
I think I still have the tapes somewhere but sadly the Betamax video player (and my mum Sad) are no longer here.

PhoebeSnow · 11/12/2020 01:28

Not there , but watched it from start to finished and loved it. Looking back now not enough women featured but wow it was great!

IFuckLobstersForMoney · 11/12/2020 01:30

My mum was eight months pregnant with me and watched it on TV. Always says it was one of the hottest days of the summer and that even watching the crowd on the telly made her feel hotter! Must have been an absolute sweat pit in the audience.

notangelinajolie · 11/12/2020 01:36

Adding that I think the reason my mum recorded every last minute of it was because she forgot to record my one and only claim to fame when I was 17 - when I was on a TV programme sat in the audience between Simon Le Bon and John Taylor. And I think she never got over it and wanted to make it up to me. She even sent my dad out to Tandy's to buy more tapes because they could only record 3 hours each.

elp30 · 11/12/2020 01:47

I am American so I watched it from my living room in Texas.

I was 15 and the live feed from the UK began at 10am GMT so it was 3am when I turned the tv and radio on (the concert started at 12pm/5am) and it must have been around 8pm, my time when it was over. I watched every single act.

I hold that day as one of the most special days of my teenage life and as a music fan, it was immense!

When I saw Status Quo as the opener, I groaned but my God, they were perfect! Ultravox played "One Small Day" and I was nearly in tears, it was fantastic! The Style Council was all energy; Spandau Ballet were hamming it up; Sade was effortlessly cool; Paul Young was impressive; U2 blew me away; Bryan Ferry had the most problems on stage but he was suave and sophisticated nonetheless; Bowie started his set with TVC15 and set the tone for fun and ended with a heartfelt performance of Heroes and that sobering footage of the famine; Queen...nuf said; George Michael and Elton and then McCartney.

My favorite band is Simple Minds but they performed at JFK because the Pretenders were performing there (Jim Kerr & Chrissie Hynde were married then). SM completely made me more of a fan!

I loved the acts like Judas Priest, Ozzy Osborne, the Power Station but I laughed when Madonna danced her heart out in the summer heat and exclaimed that she wasn't "taking shit off" because that week the papers discovered she did soft porn in her youth and the photos were everywhere! I was impressed by her performance. That gig was the one where Simon Le Bon cracked his note in View to a Kill and it was a cracked note heard literally around the world. At least he looked good. Lol

I think so many people need to realize that the two simultaneous worldwide concerts were truly a feat of cooperation and huge jumps in technology. They had to have technology that was available only to NASA and the Olympics in 1984. There had to be government organizations (we still had an Iron Curtain, remember?) all over the world trying to make it possible within a six week period. Plus, every single person did this for free!

I think that is why people like myself understand that is was so much more than a gig. All this was done with the intention of helping people in need. We found out later that things didn't quite turn out as we hoped and that things were much more complicated but at its heart, it was good.

FanGurrl · 11/12/2020 02:25

I was 14 and we were at my cousins house. My uncle recorded the whole concert on vhs - apart from the segment when my favourite band were on! I persuaded him to let me record that on my tape! It was such a hot day, I remember sunbathing in the garden and dipping in and out of the concert depending on who was on stage"

grassisjeweled · 11/12/2020 02:32

You'll think I'm a total loser but I'd actually not realised/ put 2 and 2 together that Live Aid was an actual concert! Just googled now

All those huge acts

Shock
tobee · 11/12/2020 03:37

There was a (bbc?) documentary about the lead up to Live Aid and the event itself that they repeated recently. You can really see what an amazing feat it was. Nothing like it had been attempted before. Whatever you think of Bob Geldoff, not many would have the chutzpah to pull it off.

tobee · 11/12/2020 03:38

Geldof even

tobee · 11/12/2020 03:40

So the documentary is a two parter:-

Part One: Against All Odds
Part Two: Rocking All Over the World

MayLeaveADentInYourSofa · 11/12/2020 04:05

I was a teen in London. It hadn't crossed my mind to try and get tickets and I don't know anyone who did.

But when the day came along the excitment had built up and we all slept over my friend's house to watch both London and Philadelphia. I fell asleep and my friends teased me for not being able to stay awake.

When I see footage of the concert it gives me goose bumps, not only as a reminder of this historic event but seeing the old Wembley stadium as well.

Stopyourhavering64 · 11/12/2020 04:48

I was a final year student at Uni and listened to it on radio whilst staying in bed all afternoon with boyfriend Wink ....happy days, always brings a smile to our faces when we hear songs from concert ( we've now been married 33yrs)

Walkingwounded · 11/12/2020 05:41

Watched it alone aged 14 on a tiny bLack and white TV in a bare concrete room. Abusive family. Was amazing, felt like history was being made.

Went into aid as a career and have done pretty well.

I would love love love to watch the documentary - is it on iPlayer?

Original poster
Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 11/12/2020 07:11

@BackforGood

Was it Phil Collins who performed in London then take Concorde to the States and perform again in Philadelphia?

Yes. Amazing.

Which other acts were performing in Philadelphia?
OP posts:
Skipsurvey · 11/12/2020 07:17

i was 19 and spent the day watching it on tv

Original poster
Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor · 11/12/2020 07:19

@tobee

So the documentary is a two parter:-

Part One: Against All Odds
Part Two: Rocking All Over the World

Thanks @tobee I think I'll look that up.
OP posts:
juneybean · 11/12/2020 07:20

My mum was recovering from a c section with me, tells me often why she missed live aid Grin

PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle · 11/12/2020 07:29

I was in my 2nd year at uni and revising for end of year exams. We all took the time out to watch it on TV. Crammed into the bedroom of the one friend who had a TV.
The following year was Sport Aid and 3 of us took part. That was amazing as well. Thousands of us jogging around London, and I kept my I ran the world t-shirt for years after that.

tinkywinkyshandbag · 11/12/2020 07:37

I was in the sixth form and on the day of the concert was on a coach travelling back from a trip to Paris, the coach driver played it on the radio. My boyfriend at the time had a VCR (well his parents did) and they recorded the whole thing, so after we got home we had a live aid day at his house and watched all the footage.

HeadNorth · 11/12/2020 08:34

@BackforGood

Was it Phil Collins who performed in London then take Concorde to the States and perform again in Philadelphia?

Yes. Amazing.

Even at the time, we all thought that was a twatty thing to do - was there a sudden drummer shortage in the states? Posturing, wee man egotism.
billybagpuss · 11/12/2020 08:41

I was 15, no way would I have been allowed to go but watched it with a friend, mid afternoon we went for a walk around the village and every single house had it blaring out of the windows.

Am I remembering correctly, there was a big thing about the ‘first clip from behind the iron curtain’ and when it came on it was a bunch of cherry trees and no one knew what was going on?

Madonna was awful. Queen phenomenal.