"Suddenly there was a big tongue down my throat! It was Freddie Mercury," says David Bailey, the photographer who was given the task of shooting the stars at Wembley Sytadium for Live Aid in 1985. Live Aid was one of the most remarkable events in the history of Western Civilization. Nothing like that could take place today, because we've so royally screwed-up the entire planet, sullied our relations with every other country, and abandoned our own sense of responsibility as the most powerful nation.
But, on July 13, 1985, the revolution had been televised. I watched! Did you?
On Sunday, October 17, 2004, The Guardian Unlimted published "Live aid in their own words."
(reprinted here without permission)
Also in the same edition is "Live Aid: the view from the pitch. Nothing was going to stop a schoolboy fan of the Boomtown Rats making it to Wembley on that fateful day. Peter Paphides recalls every high and low from halfway back in the stadium"
(not reprinted here)
Live aid in their own words
For the first time, the full backstage story of Live Aid, in the words of the people who made it happen. Interviews by Carl Wilkinson
Sunday October 17, 2004
The Observer
On 24 October 1984, BBC journalist Michael Buerk reports on the terrible famine that has hit Ethiopia. The dispatch subsequently airs on 425 stations around the world.
Michael Buerk: I was based in Johannesburg at the time and was the BBC's correspondent in Africa. The rains that should have come in around August to Ethiopia had failed again for the sixth season running and it tipped over from being a crisis to a catastrophe. People suddenly realised they were going to die and this huge mass migration started. It tipped very quickly.
We flew and then drove up there and the roads were just littered with dying people. It was extraordinary, it was just on such a huge scale. At Korem there were 40,000-45,000 people, and in Makele there were another 80,000-90,000. They tended to congregate along the spinal road that led north from Addis where they thought relief would get to them.
It's difficult to express the inadequacy I felt. You take refuge in the technicalities of filming, finding sequences, working out the logistics and so on. There were two films, two pieces that finally aired. I knew they wanted about three minutes, but I cut eight and thought, fuck 'em. In those days as a foreign correspondent, communications being what they were, I tended to work on the basis that they got what they were given. I knew it was a very powerful film.
Television audiences weren't as fragmented then, so the Nine O'Clock News had an audience of around 10 million, the lunchtime news and the Six O'Clock around five and a half million each. You were reaching well over half the population, even pop singers.
Midge Ure, Ultravox and Band Aid trustee: I was in Newcastle for The Tube, a rock programme hosted by Paula Yates [also Bob Geldof's girlfriend] and Jools Holland, when Michael Buerk's news footage was shown. They kept showing it over and over so I knew what it was all about when I met up with Bob and he told me he wanted to do something to help. We came to the obvious conclusion that the only thing we were capable of doing was putting a record together.
Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet: The day after Michael Buerk's report I was in an antiques store on the King's Road. Geldof saw me and came in. He sucked the air out of the place and took over, as he does. He said, 'Did you see the news last night?' He was clearly very moved. 'Maybe if we got a few people together, yourselves, Duran and some others, would you be interested in making a record?' I said yeah, sure and that was it. I went off on tour and wound up in a TV studio in Dortmund with Duran Duran the day before the recording. Duran say they raced us back to London and Nick Rhodes says he phoned ahead to get a make-up artist. I'm not sure how much of that is true, there are so many myths ...
On 24 November, 1984, a star-studded group of musicians convene in a London studio to produce 'Do They Know it's Christmas?'.
Phil Collins: I turned up expecting the band to be George Michael, Sting, Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and me on drums. Instead there was this assembled Who's Who. I'd met Sting before, and always thought he was hip and I wasn't, but we struck up a friendship that day. I also remember that I'd heard about Bono, but he and Paul Weller and all these guys didn't seem like me, they seemed a bit unapproachable. I ended up standing next to Bono at the end of the record and he was fantastic. I've seen him a few times since and we always hark back to Band Aid.
Francis Rossi, Status Quo: It was crazy. A really crazy day. There were shitloads of drugs - coke, dope, all sorts. Everyone was going bananas. Rick [Parfitt of the Quo] told me recently that he got so out of it he couldn't sing anymore and was so annoyed on his way home that he was almost arrested for kicking road cones. Everybody was just totally out of it and Rick and I were the drug centre. People were saying, 'Let's go and see Doctor Rossi and Doctor Parfitt, shall we?'
Midge Ure: We finished the record at about 8am and it went straight on a bike to the pressing plant. Bob took a cassette round to Radio 1 where he said, 'Life this year is a piece of plastic with a hole in the middle.' We were hoping to sell around 100,000 copies and get the Christmas number one.
'Do They Know it's Christmas?' is released on 25 November, 1984 and goes to number one. It becomes the fastest-selling single of all time, and also hits number one in 12 other countries.
Michael Buerk: When I heard about the Band Aid record, I thought, 'Who are these creeps?' I had the stereotypical view of rock singers as self-indulgent airheads lining their pockets. I went back to Ethiopia a fortnight after Christmas and there were about eight Hercules [aircraft, carrying aid] on the ground where we'd flown in. It was impressive.
Midge Ure: Bob then said we needed to break this trucking cartel in Ethiopia and buy a fleet of trucks and spares to deliver the aid. We didn't have the money so Bob came in with this little drawing of the world with a knife and fork and the idea to do a concert. This mad, mad idea just grew.
Harvey Goldsmith, concert promoter and Band Aid trustee: I didn't really get a chance to say no. Bob arrived in my office and basically said, 'We're doing this.' It started from there.
Andy Zweck, production manager: People now say, how could an artist refuse to be on a show like that? But my memory prior to the event was how Bob and Harvey Goldsmith struggled to get the artists and struggled to get the show in America. Bob had to play some tricks to get artists involved. He had to call Elton and say Queen are in and Bowie's in, and of course they weren't. Then he'd call Bowie and say Elton and Queen are in. It was a game of bluff.
Bob Geldof: When I announced it, the only one who was dithering, as ever, was Bryan Ferry. So I just said, ' ... and Bryan Ferry.' And he rang to say, 'I didn't say "yeah".' I said, 'Well, say "no", then. You're the one who can announce it though.'
Harvey Goldsmith: At one point Bob and I sat in my boardroom with David Bowie and Mick Jagger at the other end, trying to figure out how we could do a duet with one of them in America and the other one in the UK, and could we send one of them up in a rocket? It was just nuts.
The BBC agree to cover the event, clearing their schedules to run the 16-hour concert in its entirety on BBC1 and BBC2 and on Radio 1.
Andy Zweck: When the BBC turned up with a running schedule we thought, 'Here are some blokes who know what they're doing.' Then we saw the running order and just laughed. It was down to the minute. Down to the second.
Harvey Goldsmith: The day before the concert I went out and bought 20 or 30 very large clocks and just stuck them everywhere. I sent notes round to every single act saying, I don't care what time you go on I only care what time you come off.
Bob Geldof: I was shitting myself. If the bands didn't show up, 17 hours of the Boomtown Rats would have been a little too much for anybody. Paula put down white towels to sleep on that night because I had cold sweats.
Suddenly the day arrives: 13 July, 1985
TV presenter Noel Edmonds: I had a helicopter company based in Battersea at the time. We shuttled people into London Transport's cricket ground, about 400 yards from Wembley Stadium. On the day it was the climax of their cricket tournament, and they wouldn't abandon their game for us so the umpires had whistles and when they saw a helicopter coming they blew the whistles and cleared the field for us to land.
I seem to remember that David Bowie's management said he only flew in a blue helicopter - that's blue on the inside - and we managed to find one. I was killing time with him at Battersea before he flew in and I said, 'look at the inside of this helicopter!' He looked at me as if I were mad. He didn't give a shit what colour the helicopter was.
Gary Kemp: I flew in with the rest of the band and Kenny Jones, the drummer with the Who. It hit us then, flying over the stadium and seeing the thousands of people coming into the stadium. There was this sense of a grand event going on that could equal England winning the World Cup in 1966 or the Coronation of 1953. This was something that would be stamped on everybody. It was a day when, no matter how young you were, you remembered where you were.
The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Wembley to meet the stars at 11.30am.
Bernard Doherty, PR chief: Everybody showed - Bowie, Elton, everyone. They lined up around the edge of the banqueting room with its shiny floor and stood looking at one another.
Jill S Sinclair, producer of The Tube and the forthcoming Live Aid DVD: Paula Yates had to stop at a petrol station on the way to Wembley because she remembered she hadn't got any flowers for Princess Diana. Just as her daughter Fifi was about to hand over the flowers during the royal line-up, she realised that the price was still on these cheap garage-bought flowers. Fifi hadn't wanted to present the flowers, so Paula had bribed her with the promise of some more smoked salmon. When Fifi handed over the flowers she said to the Princess, 'More fish, please.'
'It's 12 noon in London ...' DJ Richard Skinner announces the concert and Live Aid begins with the Coldstream Guards playing the Royal Salute before Status Quo launch into 'Rockin' All Over the World'.
Brian May, Queen: We weren't on until later, but we went down for the opening and sat in the Royal Box with Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Then Status Quo came on and started. I thought they rose to the occasion magnificently.
Francis Rossi: With a large audience like that you do usually get a good vibe, but there was something totally unique and I'm not sure I've ever felt it since. They weren't just people paying to see a show, they were part of it. There was such a euphoric feeling in that arena.
It went in such a flash. I remember I got my face burnt because the sun was hitting the stage. It was a scorching day, a perfect day.
We came off stage and got pissed real quick. I just hung about for the rest of the day. I think we'd been off a while when Bob came up and said, 'Fucking hell, apparently there are two billion people watching.' I thought, 'I'm glad you didn't tell me that before.'
Following Status Quo's performance, the Style Council take to the stage, followed by Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats.
Gary Kemp: Dare I say it, it was evangelical, that moment when Geldof stopped 'I Don't Like Mondays' and raised his fist in the air. He was a sort of statesman. A link between punk and the New Romantics and the Eighties. You would follow him. He just has a huge charisma; he'd make a frightening politician.
Bob Geldof: It was only when I walked on stage with the band that the romance of it and the hugeness of it got to me. That moment when I pull up sharp on 'Mondays' - 'and the lesson today is how to die' - time became elastic, like I stood there for hours and my hand just stayed in mid-air.
My dad was there - not a great time with him, but he was there - and every person I had ever met in my life in the world was probably watching.
At 1pm, Adam Ant plays 'Vive le Rock', then Midge Ure's band Ultravox come on after a video link-up with INXS in Australia. Next up are Spandau Ballet, followed by Elvis Costello, Nik Kershaw, BB King, Sade, then Sting and Phil Collins.
Phil Collins: I remember coming off stage and David Bailey had this little stand to take photographs of all the performers. I had a few taken of me which I now have in my house.
David Bailey, photographer: The atmosphere on the day was great. At one point I got a tap on my shoulder and spun round. Suddenly there was a big tongue down my throat! It was Freddie Mercury.
Phil Collins leaves Wembley via helicopter just before 4pm and flies to Heathrow where he connects with a waiting Concorde. He is en route to Philadelphia to join the US leg of Live Aid, where a similarly spectacular line-up is waiting to play at JFK Stadium. The show opens at 2pm with Joan Baez.
Phil Collins: All the baggage handlers came out to wave goodbye, then we took off in Concorde. Cher was on the flight, just heading back the States and I'd never met her before so I went over and said hello - you know, 'Hi, I bought 'I Got You Babe'!' - and she asked what was going on. I told her about Live Aid and she asked whether I could get her on. I told her to just turn up.
I was supposed to do a live broadcast from Concorde. The Captain obviously knew about it and said I could do it but that I wasn't to tell anybody because he wasn't supposed to let me. I thought this was crazy. Here he was telling me not to tell anybody and the broadcast's about to go out to 1.5 billion people.
At Wembley, Howard Jones is followed by Bryan Ferry, just after 4pm.
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: I have terrible memories of it all going wrong. I'd put together an all-star band and the set was fraught with problems. We had David Gilmour on guitar and, poor David, his guitar wasn't working for the first couple of songs. With his first hit, the drummer put his stick through the drum skin. And then my microphone wasn't working, which for a singer is a bit of a handicap. A roadie ran on with another mic so then I was holding two mics taped together and I wasn't really sure which one to sing into. It was a great day though.
Paul Young and Alison Moyet follow, then Geldof welcomes Philadelphia at 5pm. Bryan Adams is the first artist to perform via the Transatlantic link-up.
Bryan Adams: It was bedlam backstage. I remember I walked up the stairs to the stage and Yoko Ono passed me. When I got to the top of the stairs someone said that I was to start after the gentleman introduced me. That gentleman was Jack Nicholson.
Jack Nicholson, compering in the States, then introduces U2 at Wembley. Bono takes to the stage to perform 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'Bad' before dragging a girl out of the audience and dancing with her on stage.
Brian May, Queen: U2 were relatively unknown at that point and I remember watching them that day and thinking, 'Wow, they're something to look out for.'
At 5.40pm the Beach Boys come on stage in Philadelphia, the first of a series of Sixties and Seventies heavyweights.
Bruce Johnston, Beach Boys: The jungle drums beat fast and furious for young people in the States. Word got out and we knew, we really knew what Live Aid was about. I think if America hadn't understood the cause nobody would have shown up. But we got it and it was a great thing to be doing. Everyone pretty much played their hits.
After the Beach Boys, Dire Straits play London, followed by Queen.
Brian May: I remember a huge rush of adrenalin as I went on stage and a massive roar from the crowd, and then all of us just pitching in. Looking back, I think we were all a bit over-excited, and I remember coming off and thinking it was very scrappy. But there was a lot of very good energy too.
Freddie was our secret weapon. He was able to reach out to everybody in that stadium effortlessly, and I think it was really his night.
At around 7pm, Chevy Chase in Philadephia introduces a video of David Bowie and Mick Jagger performing 'Dancing in the Streets'. Simple Minds follow in the States, and then David Bowie (after a brief power failure) at Wembley.
Francis Rossi: Bowie was the only one sober, immaculately dressed, when everyone else looked shit-faced. I never found out how he'd managed it.
Bowie then introduces a video from CBC television of footage from Ethiopia, cut to the Cars' song 'Drive'.
Harvey Goldsmith: One afternoon before the concert, Bowie was up in the office and we started looking through some videos of news footage, and we watched the CBC piece. Everyone just stopped. Bowie said, 'You've got to put that in the show, it's the most dramatic thing I've ever seen. I'll give up one of my numbers.' That was probably one of the most evocative things in the whole show and really got the money rolling in.
Jill S Sinclair: Paula and I were filming backstage for a Tube special that was due to go out at Christmas. The interviews were more like a gossip between old friends - what was it like and so on. In a break Paula and I sat down and tried to figure out some questions that would spark a different response. We came up with a list including, 'What are you going to do now?' The first person we thought we'd try it on was David Bowie. I grabbed him and she asked the new question - 'What are you going to do now?' He looked at her, then straight into the camera and said, 'I'm going to go home, and I'm going to have a really good fuck.'
The Pretenders play in America, followed by the Who at Wembley.
Brian May: I watched the Who from the side of the stage and it was obvious they weren't getting on very well with each other. Sparks were flying - it was actually quite exciting.
In America, Santana play, followed by Kool and the Gang and Madonna. Wembley sees Elton John, singing with Kiki Dee and George Michael, followed by a Freddie Mercury and Brian May duet and then Paul McCartney.
Jeff Griffin, senior producer Radio 1: When McCartney started to play we had no feed. We found it about two minutes into the song, and then the crowd cheered.
After Paul McCartney finishes 'Let it Be', singing with Pete Townshend, Alison Moyet, Geldof and Bowie, they are joined on stage by the Band Aid artists for the rousing finale just before 10pm.
Bernard Doherty: My overriding memory of the day was that it was all so English. Organised chaos. I had to go and photocopy 'Do They Know it's Christmas?' because Bob suddenly realised half the acts didn't know the words!
The action moves to Philadelphia and Wembley Stadium slowly empties.
Midge Ure: I got stuck driving through the streets of Wembley with all the audience squished up around the car, walking home or back to the tube. People were throwing open their doors and having parties. It was like Hogmanay in Glasgow. People were inviting complete strangers in off the street. This is London, that just doesn't happen. But it happened that night.
Live Aid carries on in America; acts include Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Thompson Twins and Eric Clapton. Phil Collins arrives.
Phil Collins: I landed in New York, said my goodbyes to Cher and headed to the stadium in Philadelphia. When I got there I discovered that it wasn't so much me playing with my mates Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, but a Zeppelin reunion. I'd always heard that individually these guys were great, but together there was this black cloud that appeared. I talked to Tony Thompson, the other drummer on the day, about playing with two drummers - some thing I'd done quite a lot - and I really got the impression that he didn't want me to be there. As soon as I got up on stage I could see it was going to be a weird one. Tony Thompson was just playing whatever he wanted. But then the essence of the day was about being there and doing the best you can, up to your neck in muck and bullets.
Duran Duran, Patti Labelle and Hall and Oates follow, before Mick Jagger performs three songs and then duets with Tina Turner.
Tina Turner: The only thing I remember of the day is stabbing Mick in the foot with my high heels in the middle of 'It's Only Rock and Roll'. And then they put us on the cover of Life magazine!
It's 3.30am in London when Jack Nicholson introduces Bob Dylan, who performs a short and shambolic set with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. The USA for Africa artists then take to the stage for the US finale.
Phil Collins: By the time I'd finished it just felt like 5am to me and I didn't think I could carry on to the finale so I went back to my hotel in New York and got there just in time to catch the end of the show on TV. Everyone came on to sing 'We Are the World' and there, at the back, was Cher, singing along. She'd just turned up!
The Live Aid legacy ...
Harvey Goldsmith: Our target until the week of the show was £1million. That was our target. The night before the concert Bob and I thought we might actually make £5million. Little did any of us realise just how much would come in.
I think we raised in excess of $140m. We don't advertise, but it still comes in.
Michael Buerk: I didn't see Live Aid. I knew it was happening, but South African television didn't carry it. South Africa was the story of the day with townships in flames and riots. On the day of Live Aid I was actually being teargassed by the police.
The money raised, however, would have saved about one to two million lives. Live Aid made a terrific difference. But actually, the key thing it did, which utterly dwarfed Band Aid and Live Aid, was to force a change of policy in the EU and particularly in the UK and America. The public opinion that they mobilised and represented was what counted.
Midge Ure: A little girl who used to live next door to me a few years ago told me recently that she had learned about us in history. She said she had been reading about it all and my name had come up. That's just weird. I think the legacy of Live Aid is not just the fact that there are people alive today who wouldn't have been alive, but I think young people's perspective of charity has changed. Twenty years ago charity was something the Women's Institute did. All of a sudden their heroes are up there saying, 'I'm involved.'
Peace.
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