Today is the 27th Anniversary of Live Aid

You're totally right. Sheesh, Collins was everywhere.
I was just reading the set lists. Definitely an epic day of music.
I remember that Simple Minds at that time was probably bigger than U2 but after Live Aid
both bands went in very different directions. I think U2 was the only band that went over
the time limit for their set. [Mainly to an epically long version of Bad because the band just kept playing
even though they couldn't see Bono anymore while he was dancing with that woman down in front.]

I remember listening to WMMR reporting on Collins' whereabouts-
"He's in the restroom at Philadelphia International Airport!"

Anybody care to opine on whether the DVD's are worth tracking down? Good quality?
From the tv broadcasts or from source at each venue? Uninterrupted performances?

 

The DVDs are excellent. They're from the source, not the TV broadcast, so you get the full performances without Mark Goodman and Martha Quinn talking over them. I believe it has every single performance, minus Led Zeppelin.

It's a 4 DVD set and it's only $30 from Amazon. Definitely worth it.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it. I'm due for a walk down Memory Lane...

 

Live Aid was in the summer of 1985 and the most recent U2 album was The Unforgettable Fire, which was supposed to bring them to super stardom, but never had the right songs for the radio it seemed.

In March of 1987 the released The Joshua Tree that contained With or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For, two of my least favorite songs by them, but they were popular. Very popular.

In 1984, U2 released this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_Live_at_Red_Rocks:_Under_a_Blood_Red_Sky) and after everyone saw that, pretty much all their fans dating back to Boy and October knew it was only a matter of time before they were household names.

 

To me, still their greatest moment.

 

Live Aid was not the last show at JFK. The stadium was in use for another four years.

The Grateful Dead were the last act to perform there, and it was a great show.

 

Nice snag. I stand corrected!

 

That is why The Unforgettable Fire is regarded by critics as one of the 20 worst albums of the 1980s. Total whiff by the Bonos, even though it was not horrible.

 

I was 15 and felt the same way. Then I saw Eric Clapton a year later with Phil Collins as his drummer. I was afraid Collins was going to pop out from behind the kit and break into "Sussudio" or some crap like that but he just played. Really well. And the show was fantastic.

Anyway, the day of Live Aid I was at a summer enrichment program in Boston and we took a field trip to some open-air flea market out in the boonies. i was pissed because I just wanted to watch MTV all day. I was a Who fanatic, wasn't old enough to see them on their "Farewell Tour" 3 years earlier in '82 (I did tape the final concert at Maple Leaf Gardens off a clock radio using an old=fashioned tape recorder -- I was at my grandparents' and didn't have better technology available). I was devastated that I'd be missing their reunion. I ended up hearing it on the radio playing out of some T-shirt booth. It was better then than it sounds now. I was underwhelmed, however, by the Zep reunion, especially Plant's ad-libbed "please don't make me roll" at the end of Stairway. Later that night we got to see highlights. And U2 and Queen were absolutely friggin unbelievable. I like a lot of the other acts better now than I did then -- youth is wasted on the young.

 

I taped LiveAid on cassette, don't know if we owned a VCR then. Don't think we got one until Christmas 1985.

 

Completely agree. It's not even close to being U2's worst album of the 80s.