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Live Aid Documentary
TheToonArmy
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Did anybody watch the 2 part documentary about Live Aid shown on BBC4 this week, its well worth it for those that remember it and have 3 hours to spare.
Its more of a behind the scenes look at it rather than showing the concert.
I actually felt quite sorry for Midge after watching it.
Its more of a behind the scenes look at it rather than showing the concert.
I actually felt quite sorry for Midge after watching it.
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Apparetly it was first shown in 2005 but I don't remember it being on at the time.
I never saw it then either
Yes, it was made for the 20th Anniversary in 2005 but it was well worth a repeat. In this world of modern communications you forget what an amazing technical achievement the international broadcast was back in 1985.
I also found it to be the peak of the self-importance of performers in the music business.
There was nowhere to go after Live Aid it was the ultimate.
Sir Bob tried to duplicate it with Live 8 but it was not the same.
Me too, His girlfriend really didn't like sir Bob but you can see why.
Found it sad Midge thought he was being moved for technical reasons and neither Bob or Harvey would stand up and say who authorised the change
There is a documentary on the Live Aid dvd set but this BBC one was much better and I even dug out one of my few dual layer blanks to archive it for keeps.
Led Zep were the only ones who refused permission for their footage to be on the dvd's
Clips on YouTube though. Not one of their finest performances and it wasn't all Phil Collin's fault.
No 1, then No 2.
Its a continuous story split into 2 programs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0078x3n/Live_Aid_Against_All_Odds/
However, the Live Aid documentary reminded me of so many of the things that were going at the time. I recalled the rumpus over Zep, but really didn't know why it had gone on etc.
Oh and yes, Queen were amazing!
I havent looked, but wonder if it is on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AzIsSHJJq4
But it left me with many mixed feelings, mainly because its' focus at the beginning was on the appalling catasrophe unfolding in Ethiopia which was the catalyst for galvanising Geldorf into action whereas by the end, the focus was on the relief and feelings of satisfaction of the people involved in operating the event.
Now I know that this was a documentary about the record and mainly, the concert, not the starvation in Ehiopia.
But I couldn't help watching all these slightly ageing musicians with their generally unfettered egos going on about their performances, or whthere their microphones worked, or whether they knew what to say or whether they minded performing in front of Royalty (or not) or what everyone's single word to describe Bob Geldorf was and thinking who really cares about all this music business nonsense, how much aid was created and did it do any good?
And although the operational side of staging the event was a huge undertaking and an a great achievemnent, by the end of the 3 hours, I found myself saying, yeah, I get that, now tell me what the impact was.
Now I know it did do good. That was a lot of money that was generated but where did it go?
I remember reading just after the documentary was shown that at the time of Live Aid, nearly 50% of Ethiopia's population of around 33million were either affected or at risk from the famine.
20 years on, with another famine imminent, the percentage had reducced to around 30%, the only problem being that the population had doubled to c65 million and that therefore even more people were at risk? Depressing stuff. (Wiki now states Ethiopia's pop. at 79+million)
Of course, this is not Live Aid's fault. Its not Geldorf's fault. Its the sad reality of how it is in parts of Africa.
The saying that because you can't help everyone, this shouldn't stop you helping someone is a brilliant phrase and one that should always apply.
I just would have been more interested to see, possibly at the end of the programme, the positive impacts, as we know that there were many.
Of course, huge events like Live Aid become ends in their own right, but as far as its role for Charity, it was a means to an end. I would like to have seen more of that end at the culmination of the programme.
So well done Bob Geldorf. That money saved people's lives. Or, as words used in the documentary might have said, it stopped people dying.
I never fully understood why they used the Whistle Test presenters as it was hardly their thing. I bet messers Bates, Travis, Read and Smith were a bit miffed
Exactly, a lot of cynics suggest that 95% of the money was diverted to rebels in Ethiopia. People also suggest that Live Aid did very little to combat the long term problem of famine in the country - and that is the corrupt Government in charge; as opposed to environmental factors.