Is it just me or is Live 8 not talked about?

[KaydenJayden]

I’ve got really emotional watching the Live Aid concert this weekend - the acts were excellent- I’m very nostalgic for the summer of 1985.

But we’re now as far away from the ‘Live 8’ concert in July 2005 as that was from Live Aid in 1985 - but no one seems to talk about Live 8? The only memory I’ve got of Live 8 is Dido being flown in to do her bit - I was cleaning my flat while listening to Radio 1 (I think)

I think I went to somewhere like Hyde Park to watch it on a big screen..?
it was underwhelming.
And I agree, 7/7 completely overshadowed what talk there had been about it.

I remember watching Live Aid on tv. I think because something like it had never been done before it made it extraordinary and magical. That feeling can’t be recreated after the first time, and global events are more common now.

I do remember watching something that Pink Floyd were playing at because Roger Waters and David Gilmour were actually on stage together. That was the only reason I watched and I didn't remember that it was called Live 8.

I would have been 18 at the time, but I have absolutely no recollection of it being a thing, but maybe that's because it probably wouldn't have been my thing, if Dido and Robbie were two of the biggest stars on the lineup!

Wasn't there some sort of text lottery to get tickets?

I've got to admit, I only heard of Live 8 a few days ago when I watched the 3 part documentary on Live Aid. I'm old enough to have been an adult in 1985 so no excuse really.

I went to Live 8 - but not the main concert, they had a bit just outside that you could get cheap tickets for and they played the music on big screens/speakers. I can barely remember who played, but I do remember there was a ban on alcohol, you couldn't even buy it and they searched people before they went in - people went to incredible lengths to smuggle alcohol in! Bottles of wine inside loaves of bread was my favourite that I saw.

That’s because it was rubbish

Blimey ! Was there a similar ban for Live Aid?

It may have been underwhelming but there were some good acts at Live8 nonetheless,e.g. this is still my favourite version of this song since for instance...

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIKH8e6cx4&si=aEULu-Moo8bCAiKL

It may have been underwhelming but there were some good acts at Live8 nonetheless,e.g. this is still my favourite version of this song since live 8

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fPC4vSu0oC8&si=jnFqur5oUIV-GYfh

I don’t recall this tbh or the Pink Floyd thing for that matter!

Live 8 was the weekend and the Olympic announcement was on the Wednesday so London was in "celebration" mood.
Then on the Thursday the bombs happened so everything changed.

This

There were some great acts, I remember REM and The Killers being really good in the afternoon. Richard Ashcroft came on and did Bittersweet Symphony with Coldplay which 18-year-old me thought was fantastic. Robbie Williams wasn’t really my sort of thing but I do remember he did a great set, really got the crowd going.

It was a bit shit. I watched some of it on the telly and remember some commentator/radio 1 DJ person saying something along the lines of ‘yeah wow, can’t wait to get together and do it again in another 20 years’ and me and DH looking at each other thinking ‘did she just say that’ (when obviously the point was to eradicate poverty so that the event wouldn’t be needed).

Btw it was interesting to see David Bowie saying, interviewed at Live Aid, that it should happen every year, and he'd do it. Can't imagine that happening but he was so full of enthusiasm.

I think people would have started taking it for granted and the acts would have probably diminished in grandeur. The regularity of it would have been less of a thrill sadly.So probably fewer donations.

I got so confused there, thought I was at it but turns out I went to Live Earth a couple of years later! I remember that being very good but incredibly hot!

I agree with this. You also have to remember in 1985 there were only 4 tv channels, so most likely a good proportion of the UK watched it (myself included) because there wasn’t a lot else to watch. By 2005 most people probably had Sky/cable, plus internet, therefore much more choice of things to watch on that particular day. I also don’t remember Live 8 so it obviously wasn’t on my radar.

I watched Live Aid this weekend, I was too young to even remember it at the time. It was amazing and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to watch it. The performers were some truly iconic stars whose music has stood the test of time. Nothing like it had ever happened before, and in the age of technology they were in I think it was a huge feet. They also pulled it together so quickly.
Live 8 just wasn't the same, it was a copy of the previous event using peoples nostalgia to attract attention.

Was going to say similar. TV events were always bigger before the internet and all the extra channels. Didn't something like 30 million people watch Den serve Angie divorce papers in EastEnders? That must have been over half the entire UK population at the time!

Also Live Aid had Queen, and their performance went down in history. You could never recreate that.

Live 8 what now?
Off to Google

I'd forgotten about it until the documentary last night and it stirred up a lot of memories. I was an NQT and used it to help teach about development and aid. With the fusion of music and politics, it did liven up what's usually a dry topic and engage a tough audience.

It was a positive moment where there was global co-operation aimed at helping to alleviate the debt issue that was hampering the development of many African countries.

I miss the optomism of that era.

Omg Live Earth passed my by completely I think so thanks for the heads up I’m now madly googling

I remember them both.

I was young enough to enjoy Live Aid at face value. By Live 8 I was wiser.

They really weren’t the festivals of selfless compassionate joy they pretended to be. A bit like enormous musical Comic Relief.

And that fucking Band Aid crap song has cursed the field of music ever since.