Tuesday Tunes 209: Live Aid USA

Posted on by

 

As promised last week I’m going again with some memories of the Live Aid Concert from 13 July 1985, but this week I’m concentrating on the American event, which took place at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. One of the comments on last week’s post queried why this was chosen as the venue. The answer, albeit briefly, is given in the Wikipedia page about the day: Tony Verna, a sports broadcasting producer of whom I’d never heard, was friendly with the Mayor and persuaded him that hosting the event would be good for the city. Given that Bob Geldof had previously expressed a wish for the show to be at the Madison Square Gardens I wonder if he was disappointed? No matter, though, Philadelphia did them proud.

As with the UK event I’ve had some difficulty keeping this down to manageable numbers, but I was helped in that by leaving out one of my all time favourite bands: Led Zeppelin played the show, with Robert Plant’s throat being hoarse and Jimmy Page pissed, playing an out of tune guitar. Plant later described it as “a fucking atrocity for us … It made us look like loonies” so I think you’ll see why I’m playing others instead!

After a couple of brief songs from Joan Baez the first band to take the stage was one that I’ve always liked. They are from Philadelphia, so it was probably a good idea to start with them. They only played two songs, and this is their full set:

The video quality isn’t as good as the ones from last week, but you can probably make out that this was The Hooters playing And We Danced and All You Zombies. The band wasn’t as appreciated here as much as I felt they should have been: they made some great albums and these were two of their better known songs. But they didn’t play Satellite – I wonder why? They should have been given longer!

A general comment: the official Live Aid YouTube page is much less complete for the US show than it is for the UK event, which is why I’m having to rely on some Antipodean broadcast videos for a couple of these. It was either that or leave them out, which I didn’t want to do.

Several of the acts that appeared in the US were, like Led Zeppelin, undertaking a reunion. One of these was CSN&Y, who were rejoined by Neil Young for a couple of songs later on, but I’m playing you an epic from the CSN set:

Again, the sound quality is lacking but that was such a good version of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes that I just had to include it.

The roster for the American leg shows, I think, the relative popularity of acts over there compared with here. Patti LaBelle and Hall & Oates each played six songs, when others had much shorter sets. I guess they knew their audience, though. At least Neil Young was allowed five songs on his own before rejoining CSN later, and they let this next guy play four:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with The Waiting. A classic rock song, which has long been my favourite of all of his – which is really saying something, given how many great songs he left us when he was taken from us far too soon. RIP Tom.

Phil Collins managed to play at both events, thanks to a couple of helicopters and Concorde. He played the same two songs at both shows, and it seems only right to share one of them this time round:

In The Air Tonight was a massive hit for him when it was released as a single from his debut solo album, Face Value. He plays it live just by himself with a piano, so you don’t get those amazing drums from the recorded version, but he still gets across the power of the song – written at the time his first marriage was breaking up. I love the way he begins this: ” I was in London this afternoon. Funny old world, innit.”

I wasn’t planning on playing this next one, but when I saw the video I knew that I just had to! Two legends of music together, putting on a show and even giving us a Buck’s Fizz* moment:

Mick Jagger and Tina Turner never disappoint, and this was a bit of magic. RIP Tina.

[*Buck’s Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK in 1981, and included the skirt stripping routine as part of their performance. Who knew Mick was a fan of Eurovision!]

Just one more band to play, and it is another of my favourites. They were allowed four songs on the day, and this is the one I liked best:

The Cars, with Just What I Needed. They also played You Might Think, Drive, and Heartbeat City, so that wasn’t an easy choice for me: they were all good! RIP Benjamin Orr.

As I did last week I’m closing with the mass singalong that closed the show. This may sound churlish, given the context, but I’ve always felt that Band Aid did the charity single thing much better than USA For Africa – we did it first, and best! But in the interests of fair play, I’m closing with your offering, We Are The World:

I find it very hard to say anything good about that, so I’ll just content myself by not saying anything bad!

Those of you who know of my fondness for the music of Bruce Springsteen may be wondering why he isn’t in this set. The answer to that is simple: he declined the invitation to play. He has since said that he regrets his mistake in doing that, and judging by some of the acts the Americans had to endure I think he should have been there to improve it!

That’s all for this week, and again I hope you’ve enjoyed this reminder of a fantastic day of music, despite the somewhat ropey sound quality of some of the videos. But it was all done with the best interests of suffering people at heart. I wonder if anything like this could be possible today? What do you think? The closest we have had was the climate change event Live Eight, another Geldof production as a tie in with the G8 Climate Summit in London – and a frightening thought is that was in 2005, and we haven’t seen much of an improvement since then.

Have a great week, and I’ll see you again soon 😊

69 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 209: Live Aid USA”

  1. Pingback: So Long, July | Take It Easy

  3. I guess I was not fully aware of how many great bands played as part of Live Aid, both here ad across the pond. I’ll admit that the lineup seemed a bit better over in London, but still an impressive set of acts in the U.S.

    Still amazing to think that a relatively unknown band would kick things off in the U.S., but then again I am not that familiar with Status Quo either. Also nice to see there was another Philly act, Hall & Oates, on stage.

    All in all, an amazing day of music. Even We Are the World 🙂

    By the way, since you’re my go-to-guy for music, have you ever heard of Jacob Collier? My wife happened to come across a YouTube video about him (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERvd5QjupSU), and he is amazing.

    Also, sorry about the EuroCup, England hung in there. Now it’s time for the Olympics!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I think the line ups were chosen to suit tastes – some of those in the US weren’t that well known or liked here, and you guys never got the Quo, who were massive here and elsewhere. The thing that surprised me was that the US show featured several British acts, who I ignored for this post: Eric Clapton, Duran Duran, The Thompson Twins among them.

      The Hooters were local to Philly, so were a good choice. It helps that I like them too, though I couldn’t say the same for Hall and Oates!

      You’ll see that I chose not to pass comment on We Are The World, having been brought up with the belief that if you don’t have anything good to say you should keep quiet.

      No, I hadn’t heard of Jacob Collier. Neither, it seems, has the UK public as he has done absolutely nothing in our charts. Too jazzy for my taste, to be honest.

      The right team won Euro 24 – they were the best throughout the tournament. I’m interested to see what the US women’s football team does at the Olympics now that you have a British manager. No Team GB in the football, though: England are good enough, but not allowed to represent GB because the Welsh and Scots are too insular and won’t join in. At least it means I can enjoy it without getting nervous, and there are a few other sports in it too 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Hey, Jim. Thank you for the Jacob Collier video. It is the most amazing story. I hate that I cannot appreciate it musically — because I don’t understand the language of music — but even flat-eared tone-deaf me can appreciate Collier’s genius. (Is it a coincidence his initials are J.C.? He is going to have a great number of followers!)
      Personally, I think he is the reincarnation of John Lennon — and someday, after I have moved on from this plane, he is going to take Imagine and turn it into a classical rock masterpiece.

      Putting it onto my blog. I don’t have many readers, but maybe one of them will reblog it. So thank you again. Ma y times over!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. Phil Collins is amazing. I love many of his songs and I enjoy the Zombies too. I will agree that Band-Aid did a better job than the US with the We are the World song, but it was fun to see the old video. Lionel Richie was sooo young as they all were!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I like a lot of Phil Collins’ stuff too, and this was one of his best.

      Zombies? Hooters? Great band, and it was a good idea to start with a local band.

      I thought I was very restrained in my comments about We Are The World, and you already know how little I like Lionel Richie 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. Wow, this was like a time capsule back nearly 40 years ago. In defense of Bruce (not that anyone has to defend The Boss!), but hadn’t he recently been married and just finished a long tour and just wanted to get back home and rest? I thought he was involved in the show in some way though but it escapes me now.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. You’ve brought back good memories of a genuinely iconic event Clive. I remember it very well, but didn’t remember the Tom Petty slot. I too love The Waiting, and a couple of others from that same album, Woman In Love and Something Big particularly.

    I still miss Tom too, a truly underrated rock songwriter.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m glad you got the memories, Paul. I don’t recall seeing Tom Petty on the day either, but the coverage here of the American leg was a bit on the ropey side. With you on the Hard Promises album, which for me is still one of his best.

      Like

      Reply

  9. You brought back a lot of great memories, Clive. I was an enormous Benjamin Orr fan, and I took his passing very hard. Besides many of The Cars hits that he sang lead vocals on, I paid attention to his shortened solo career. Stay the Night was one of my favorites.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m glad to have brought those back for you, Pete, though I fear they may be bittersweet ones. I loved The Cars but didn’t really follow Benjamin in his solo career. Judging from this track I think I should have done! It has a feel of Foreigner and Richard Marx about it, which is good for me 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. Very cool seeing/hearing these videos; personally I would have loved a little H&O but that’s just me. The idea of these types of concerts being held outdoors appeals to me, for whatever reason, and JFK Stadium is massive compared to Madison Square Garden. More seats, more people, more money; 90,000 people attended Live Aid, paying $35 a pop. Cheaper than wha we pay now but not chump change! Madison Square Garden only has 19,500 seats for concerts … big difference.

    Interesting tidbit of info about Bruce; I didn’t know that. If he agreed to play, they probably could have gotten away with adding an extra 15 per ticket.

    Great seeing some vids I haven’t seen in a while. As always, Clive, a great presentation. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I can see why they persuaded Bob out of his first thought, though to us Madison Square Garden always sounds special! Hall and Oates weren’t nearly as successful here as they were over there, and I didn’t like them so I’m sorry, but they stood no chance of being included! I’ve been to loads of concerts both inside and outside and whilst there is something to be said for being out in the fresh air the acoustics are so much better indoors.

      I’m pleased to have played some reminders for you – it was quite a day, wasn’t it!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. Top choices by The Cars and Petty. Even the Boss has his regrets, I Guess. And how strange to see some local names scrolling along the bottom of the screen in your clips. I even rang and put in my two bucks worth at the time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you. I found this one harder than last week’s: the video quality was much poorer and so were the performers! I had to fall back on grainy uploads of clips from Oz and NZ, as you saw 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • These are among the best of the US show, which for me was just a shadow of the UK event. I wasn’t as spoiled for choice as I was last week. As you may have gathered I don’t share your appreciation of We Are The World! Thanks for sharing the Canadian one – I hadn’t heard that before.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think