Next month marks the 20th anniversary of the huge Live Aid charity concerts to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. At the time, the images of death and starvation in Ethiopia spurred the music community to unite in an effort to do something about the problem. The effort resulted in the charity singles "Do They Know it's Christmas" and "We are the World", and culminated with the two massive concerts in London and Philadelphia. I've heard that something like 80 per cent of tv sets around the world were tuned to those two concerts.

I was just wondering what everyone remembers from then. For me, I was in kindergarten, and my school had this big assembly where the teachers told everyone about how the people in Ethiopia were starving, and how we had to do something to help. Then, this band from outside the school came on stage and sang "We Are the World". They had all these microphones and speakers set up for their performance, so it really resounded through the hall. It was the only time I can remember that the school had audio equipment set up like that for anything. I was just 5 years old at the time, but I can still remember hearing that song that day.

I remember I was at my neighbours house watching it and all the women-folk wept as they watched the scenes, and I remember feeling really awkward... I was only 8 yrs old.

We also video taped the concert off the tv.

I remember being a 13y.o kid, sitting on my grandmother's living room watching LiveAid, and here I am, watching Live-8 on TV.
All my music is on vinyl, and I still have the "We Are The World" album, and "Do They Know It's Christmas?" on 12", I mean seriously; what 80s record collection would be complete without them, but I must admit that I've always preferred "Tears Are Not Enough" by canadian Northern Lights.

I bought the DVD yesterday!  8)  :D (Was a baby when it first came out)

Featuring some of the best performances, videos for "We Are The World" & "Do They Know It's Christmas"...oh and the cheesy  Bowie & Jagger classic "Dancing In The Street"


Liked Duran Duran, Madonna, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, Simple Minds, U2, Ultravox, INXS, Hall & Oates, Tom Petty, etc.


Worth the 30 some bucks for a piece of music history, when music was good.


"Live 8" was alright... though nothing beats "Live Aid"

Yeah the original was far superior, but I guess if you love today's music then you'd think Live 8 was the biggest thing ever. Seeing Mariah Carey mime isn't a ground breaking event. Give me Nik Kershaw and Rick Springfield any day!

I was 9 and growing up in Philadelphia. The scene was both chaotic and wonderful. I'm glad to have been in one of the cities participating. It was an exciting time.

Tanya

A few of the original artists (Paul McCartney, Elton John, U2, Duran Duran) were on "Live 8", which I just discovered wasn't much of a benefit since the proceed didn't got to the charity.




The Cure & Motley Crue were on "Live 8", but were around the same time as "Live Aid", but weren't on... must've been busy recording an album, touring elsewhere, or something...

Thanfully Good Charlotte, Linkin Park, Beyonce, and a couple more pop acts  were in diapers or watching "Thindercats" or "My Little Pony"  when "Live Aid" came out  :D

I wonder if Beyonce pulled what Ashlee did on "SNL" a few months ago..  ::)  :P  :D
That would've been memorable in the Hall of Shame

Though I only caught REM, Joss Stone, and Dave Matthews Band in various times whenever I felt like watching it.


If there's a DVD set  for "Live 8" in a couple months... I'll pass  :P




I spent most of yesterday watching the "Live Aid" DVD and liked more performances that were included on the disc.



I've read reviews on Amazon that they left out Led Zeppelin and other bands, which would've been great.

According to the liner notes, some of the performances have been damaged/lost over the years. Funny since people were into  film preservation around the time.

Anybody recall their performance.

The Who and Pink Floyd was on too, and they certainly were around in '85.

All we got to see of Live 8 here in Australia was a 2-hour package that showed about 10 artists. What a rip-off.

With regard to the Live Aid DVD, I think Led Zeppelin weren't included because they didn't allow the footage to be used.

All we got to see of Live 8 here in Australia was a 2-hour package that showed about 10 artists. What a rip-off.

With regard to the Live Aid DVD, I think Led Zeppelin weren't included because they didn't allow the footage to be used.

You really should complain to someone Powerslave, here in Denmark we got the entire thing, starting at 15:00hrs and ending at 02:00hrs, that was pretty cool.

I remember watching Live Aid back in '85.  When the London show started I was at work and we had the radio on then I went home and watched the rest.

If I remember correctly they had a revolving stage at Wembley.  Wish they'd had one at Hyde Park on Saturday.  At times it seemed that we had 15 minutes of music and then 25+ minutes of Jonathan Woss etc. spouting off.  If the revolving stage was too difficult to set up then we could have had more footage from the other venues.


A few of the original artists (Paul McCartney, Elton John, U2, Duran Duran) were on "Live 8", which I just discovered wasn't much of a benefit since the proceed didn't got to the charity.




What proceeds?  I thought the tickets were free.

All we got to see of Live 8 here in Australia was a 2-hour package that showed about 10 artists. What a rip-off.

Obviously your networks had better things to show...! Wouldn't they have shown it via a satellite channel?

With regard to the Live Aid DVD, I think Led Zeppelin weren't included because they didn't allow the footage to be used.


They're funny like that, are Zep...!

The Live 8 concert where i am wasn't shown on normal telly, it was on a satellite channel... they actually gave Live 8 it's own exclusive channel on ch88! They ran the concert 24hrs for 3 days, so you virtually saw everything.

Green Day really rocked it!

The Live 8 concert where i am wasn't shown on normal telly, it was on a satellite channel... they actually gave Live 8 it's own exclusive channel on ch88! They ran the concert 24hrs for 3 days, so you virtually saw everything.

Green Day really rocked it!


It was showed on CTV up here in Canada.

You really should complain to someone Powerslave, here in Denmark we got the entire thing, starting at 15:00hrs and ending at 02:00hrs, that was pretty cool.


The whole thing was broadcast live on pay TV, but I don't have that, so I had to watch the free-to-air package. Which was appalling.