Tuesday Tunes 211: Live 8 – Not UK

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Last week I played a set of songs from the London concert for Live 8 – it’s here if you missed it – and said that I would also be playing a selection from other concerts around the world for the event. So here we are. There is no particular order to these: they are just songs I enjoyed from the various concerts to give you a feel for what took place. And I managed to find two which show the international co-operation for these shows, as they are British acts playing in another country.

Let’s start with one of those:

That was, of course, The Kaiser Chiefs with I Predict A Riot opening the US show which, like the Live Aid show twenty years previously, was held in Philadelphia. This time it took place in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with a densely packed audience stretched out for a mile along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Estimates vary as to the crowd size, and of course the numbers will have changed during the duration, but it is reasonable to accept that around 1m may have attended at some point. I wonder what the view was like from the back?

My second tune is also from the US show, by a guy who has both US and Australian citizenship, and seems to have brought along one of his movie star wife’s friends to do his intro:

Keith Urban, with Days Go By, beginning the evening segment of the show, which is why I think Naomi Watts gave her little speech to remind everyone what the point of the whole thing was. And Keith put on a lively performance of one of my favourites of his songs.

If asked to name famous French rock musicians those of my generation would probably have managed one: Johnny Hallyday. For the French Live 8 concert, one of the performers was his son, David Hallyday, who has also enjoyed a good career in music. This is him doing a version of a big Seventies hit:

In case you don’t know it, that was My Sharona, which was the debut single for The Knack in June 1979, and made #1 in the US, Australia and Canada, and #6 in the UK. David Hallyday has released thirteen albums from 1988 up to this year, but I don’t pretend to know much about them. He is also an actor and amateur sports car racer, and has taken part several times in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. With a background like that I just had to include him! And in case you are wondering, that big house in the background is the Palace of Versailles – I hope the inhabitants didn’t mind the intrusion!

I said at the beginning that I would be playing two songs by British acts playing elsewhere. This is the second of those:

Following the lead of Ricky Wilson of The Kaiser Chiefs: “more cowbell.” That was of course Roxy Music playing Love Is The Drug in the German show, which was held in Berlin. Given that the song was first released thirty years earlier Bryan Ferry still looks remarkably youthful, though some of the original band members seem to have been replaced by gorgeous young women. Typical of his style! In keeping with the multi-cultural theme of the day, this show also included many visitors from elsewhere: several from the UK, Green Day, Brian Wilson, a-ha, and you can thank me for not inflicting Chris de Burgh on you: yes, he did THAT one!

I’m going back across the pond for three more to close this set. First, one from Canada:

I have played Great Big Sea before, but not often. They are a Canadian band – now retired – whose repertoire contained a lot of folk-based songs and sea shanties, like Donkey Riding. I love their music, and will even forgive them for getting a big hit in Canada with an inferior copy of Oysterband’s When I’m Up! Everything about them was fun, as this video shows. And if the main vocalist in the black shirt looked a little familiar, that may be because you have seen him on TV. He is Alan Doyle, an actor who has appeared in several of the excellent TV shows from Canada that we have enjoyed here: Murdoch Mysteries, Republic of Doyle, Hudson & Rex among them.

Another Canadian native for you now, who also played at the Canadian show, which was held in Barrie, Ontario. You may well recognise him, and he brought his then-wife along to help him out:

Neil and Pegi Young with Four Strong Winds, a song for which he is well known but, unusually for him, didn’t write: that honour is due to another Canadian folk musician, Ian Tyson. It is a lovely song, originally recorded by Neil for his 1978 album Comes a Time. Nicolette Larson did the harmony vocal on that record, but I think Pegi does a great job with it here.

I wanted to close these songs with one which was the final one on the day. There don’t appear to have been the mass singalongs of Live Aid, but this was how the US concert finished, according to Wikipedia’s list. I think you might recognise him:

Superstition is one of Stevie Wonder’s signature tunes, so I think it was a good way to round off his set – as I am also doing. There were so many great performances across the Live 8 shows that I have barely touched the surface, but I hope I’ve given you a taste of them.

And one final thing before I leave you today. Part of the shows was a synchronised finger clicking, at three second intervals, to highlight the fact that every three seconds a child dies somewhere in the world. The concerts were staged to support efforts to reduce poverty, especially in Africa, and this is a poignant way to be reminded of that:

A combined audience of more than 2 billion saw these concerts. Sadly, the issue still remains.

49 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 211: Live 8 – Not UK”

  1. Pingback: My August | Take It Easy

  4. A fabulous selection of Tunes,,Keith Urban has always been one of my favourites and I do love listening to Roxy music a couple of new ones for me but that click film is startling reminder that not much has changed and considering the food waste inb the world it shouldn’t still be happening in the western world as for war torn areas where food is a weapon it is scandalous and should be stopped immediately xx

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  5. Thanks for a great selection of tunes today, Clive. Great to hear some familiar songs by Keith Urban, Roxy Music, Neil Young and Stevie Wonder plus I enjoyed getting familiar with some new tunes as well. I was very touched by the Clicking Film. That statistic is tragic and heartbreaking; I was already aware of it but it’s good to be reminded now and again. ♡

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  6. Love these global efforts because they carry more impact when more people around the world are involved. The two I had never heard were by Kaiser Chiefs and Great Big Sea. The only one I wouldn’t listen to again from today’s selection is Donkey Riding. I never had much appreciation for power pop and new wave, but I learned to like My Sharona by The Knack. I had never heard this version before. It’s not bad, but I prefer the original. Keith Urban has always been one of my wife’s favorites.

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    • They drew a lot of attention to the problem with these events but I’m not sure if they have had any lasting effects, sadly. Plenty of good music on offer, though! I’m pleased you found some to enjoy amongst these, as I was trying to give a feel of the breadth of what was played in the various locations.

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      • like Pete, I had never heard of the Kaiser Chiefs or Great Big Sea either. However, I liked both of them. I’ve also never hear of David Hallyday. Not a bad cover…

        And there is something special about the opening notes of Superstition.

        Great choices, and once again showing that Philly rocks! We should have had the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

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      • I’m glad you enjoyed some new music – I thought those would be unknown to many, though the Kaiser Chiefs are well known here.

        Superstition is one of those instant intros, isn’t it.

        That Philly crowd was huge. The long range shots reminded me of those comparisons of the Obama and Trump inauguration crowds 😊

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  8. Your Canadian content almost shocks me, Clive. I had no idea anyone outside Canada knew Great Big Sea. They made many a toe tap many a time.
    Your choice of Four Strong Winds has a connection to me in its original recording. Sylvia of Ian and Sylvia who first recorded it was a cousin of mine. I never met her, she lived far away, but I remember discussions around the dinner table. I doubt she ever knew of me, we were from the “other side of the tracks,” but still it is nice to know someone in our family made it big.

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      • It is, isn’t a it. A simple but powerful idea. There are versions in German, French and Italian too, some of which add a few extra words, but I went with the one I felt most readers could work with.

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    • Their discography bears that out: Canada with a smattering of US, but nothing here. I first came across them from Oh Yeah, which was the theme tune for the tv show Republic Of Doyle, in which Alan Doyle made some guest appearances. I followed them up and bought their albums, which are great fun. Would it further shock you to learn that I also know of Shanneyganock and have played both bands on my blog?

      Interesting family connection on Four Strong Winds, and you’re the second Canadian to share a link to the original! It’s nice, but I think I still prefer Neil Young, as I’ve known his for so long.

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      • And I have known Ian and Sylvia’s recording like amost forever. Nothing at all wrong with Neil’s cover, he does it quite well. (Another connection there. Though born in Ontario, he got his musical start in my hometown of Winnipeg. I got to see him play in The Squires, and it was obvious even then that he was going to hit it hig, though he had to leave Canada to do it. His song, Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing, was on his playlist when I saw him play. But it sounds a lot better with Buffalo Springfield. To take that one step further, have you ever listened to Fever Tree, they do an excellent version on Clancy.)

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      • For me it’s not w matter of better, just different. I saw Fever aTree in Vancouver, and lik3d their music so I bought their album — Clancy was on it. Theydefinitelyplay “my k8nd of music.” It’s a form of psychedelia, 60s style, and I was at the peak of developing my music tastes at t.he time. Psychedelic, or “acid” rock as we cslled it is still my first love. Too bad it only lasted a couple years.

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      • Fair point, but almost anything would be more to my taste than the Carpenters!

        I had several albums like that, from genres that didn’t survive. The music is still there, though, even if the bands aren’t.

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  15. Is there anyone who was not singing along to ‘Donkey Riding’?! 😀 I love Great Big Sea and it is so rarely featured anywhere, great to see them here. I’m thoroughly enjoying the mini-concert on your blog today, Clive!

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