Live Aid

[Sergeant Wilson]

Queen are shite. FACT!

The day before was Glasgow Fair Friday. I was absolutely mortal, but somehow had met a woman daft enough to agree to meet the next day. Fortunately she remembered me because I had no clue what she looked like, although my expectations weren't high. Went for lunch and it was on in the pub. She had to go to work as a waitress later at night so the date was curtailed. A brief dalliance followed and over the next week I realised why she'd agreed to meet. She was bat shite mental and a campaign of harassment began. She waited outside my work and house, went to places I would be etc. Seemed to go on for ages before she moved away and I felt safe to go out again.

I hated Live Aid.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

 

There is a case that Live Aid caused more deaths than it prevented. A lot of the money raised was passed through the Ethiopian Government, who were a major cause of the famine. This helped them and probably elongated the civil war by several years, causing thousands of deaths.
 

I remember doing the Tour at the Johnnie Walker plant in Kilmarnock (with a couple of Uni mates, so 1981-83 time), and the guide had us guessing which countries bought the most whisky from them. In the top five, just above the Vatican City(!), was Ethiopia, and he said that as far as they could tell it was used as a more stable currency for backsheesh than the local currency.

[Shotgun]

I was seeing a lassie at the time who was a huge fan of Geldof the philanthropist - not Geldof the musician. I couldn't stand the grubby little twat, even back then but she persuaded me to read his autobiography "Is that it?" Honestly, I have never read such an utter pile of pretentious crap. If ever there was an example of someone utterly in love with themselves it was this. Every positive in his musical career was solely down to him. Every negative was someone else's fault. Page after page after page. I also started to grind my teeth every time he bragged "I had no choice but to hit him." A regular Bullet Tooth Tony was young Bob.

However, once you got to the second half, where he's talking about the logistics of setting up Live Aid, it was really quite interesting. I'm sure he embellished things to paint himself in the best possible light but even so, that part was quite a good read.

I had a friend who was at Wembley on the day and she said that while it was fun being in the crowd and a part of something "that big", as a concert, it was utter shite. 

[Lyle Lanley]

 

[Shandon Par]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

Do folk mean "I don't like Queen" rather than "Queen are shite"? Because it's undeniably wrong to call them shite at what they do.

In terms of making terrible music, they were absolutely superb at it. 

[paranoid android]

It was a big day for me, as I was just getting into music in a big way, and it was a huge event that most people watched.

I stayed up till about half-four in the morning to see Zep, but they weren't great - they blame Phil Collins, but Page was off his tits, and he was well past his best as a player - Plant's voice was shot, and they had a shit sound - I also think they chose the wrong tunes to play - if you're given a 20 minute set, it has to be rock all the way - Stairway denied!

I thought Queen pretty much owned it, like them or not. 

I  like U2's ten-minute version of 'Bad' - there's a funny bit just after Bono's been slow-dancing with that lassie - as he's climbing back up, he spots these two other lassies that had been pulled out of the crowd, and he puts his head down, probably thinking -'f**k's sake - not these c***s!' He gives them a wee hug, and shoves them away.

During the middle part of the afternoon show, while c***s like The Style Council, Adam & the Ants and Spandau Ballet were on, I fucked off up the stair to listen to Abbey Road for the first time! 

I'd heard there may have been a possibility that George Harrison might have been joining Macca, but that was a bit of a wash-out with mics and monitors playing up.

The Who fucked up Don't Get Fooled Again as they lost track of the keyboard sequencer/tape, and Townsend fell on his arse while trying to jump over a mic stand.

My favourite story is about Bob Dylan telling Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards to learn three of his songs, then deciding at the last minute to play three entirely different tunes without telling them! I really hope that's true! 

 

 

[The Moonster]

10 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

In terms of making terrible music, they were absolutely superb at it. 

"I don't like Queen" is what people mean then. 

[Dan Steele]

16 minutes ago, gogsy said:

McCartneys solo hits in the 2 years prior to live aid were "Pipes of Peace" and "We all stand together"

Was he not in a popular beat combo in days of yore?

[Dan Steele]

16 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

In terms of making terrible music, they were absolutely superb at it. 

And they stole a couple of Marx Bros film titles for albums. Unforgivable.

[Dan Steele]

1 minute ago, gogsy said:

You mean the one that did Mull of Kintyre or the other one?

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Where does all the music snobbery regards Queen come from?

 

Approximately 300 million single and album sales for a supposedly shite band - what would a successful Queen have been . . .

 

Like it or not they absolutely stole the show at Live Aid.

 

Agree what was said about Led Zep - definitely not their finest performance!!!

 

 

[peasy23]

McCartneys solo hits in the 2 years prior to live aid were "Pipes of Peace" and "We all stand together"

Maybe so, but wheeling out an ex Beatle for 1 song put him top of the bill. Just a pity they forgot to switch his mic on.

[Academically Deficient]

Watched most of it in an old man's pub in Hamilton. 

Main memories are of being disappointed by Zep and The Who. 

When Madonna came on it was genuinely a relief that there was someone on who appeared to know what they were doing.

In summary, not that great.

And worst of all, it revitalized Queen's career, for which I find it hard to forgive Geldof.

[DA Baracus]

Queen were ace. Great band, great tunes. Brian May has massively kicked the arse out of it since Mercury's death to the extent that I sometimes wonder if he didn't somehow infect Freddie with AIDS. Live AIDS. 

Anyway, I was approaching my 7th month of existence when Live Aid was on, so my memories are hazy.

[paranoid android]

4 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

35 minutes ago, gogsy said:

McCartneys solo hits in the 2 years prior to live aid were "Pipes of Peace" and "We all stand together"

Maybe so, but wheeling out an ex Beatle for 1 song put him top of the bill. Just a pity they forgot to switch his mic on.

In that documentary, Geldof said he wanted a Beatle to headline, even if Macca hadn't played live for a few years.

For a lot of people, Live Aid was all about 'establishment' bands - where were The Smiths, The Cure, The Bunneymen, etc?

Would The Smiths even have done it?

Interesting to read that Big Country were backstage - I mind seeing Ian Astbury from The Cult backstage anaw.

[Dee Man]

Anyone who thinks Live AID was arguably the best concert ever clearly never witnessed the Soul Assassins tour or the Rhyme Syndicate lads, both Barrowlands gigs. Or Scratch Perverts live at QMU now I think about it. 

[invergowrie arab]

31 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

"I don't like Queen" is what people mean then. 

This is is a really good point.

 

 

Sorry I mean boring, it's a really boring point.

It's as reductive as "let see you do any better"

[DA Baracus]

1 minute ago, Dee Man said:

Anyone who thinks Live AID was arguably the best concert ever clearly never witnessed the Soul Assassins tour or the Rhyme Syndicate lads, both Barrowlands gigs. Or Scratch Perverts live at QMU now I think about it. 

Or any good gig.

Live Aid seems to have been more of a cultural event rather than a musical one. 

[Richey Edwards]

2 minutes ago, paranoid android said:

Interesting to read that Big Country were backstage - I mind seeing Ian Astbury from The Cult backstage anaw.

Apparently there was a "reserve list" in case anyone was unable to perform on the day. Big Country and Marillion were on that list, and I think they came out to sing in the choir. 

[Hillonearth]

3 hours ago, trainspotter said:

I certainly don't remember anyone in the pub watching the TV and clapping in sync to Radio Ga Ga, as portrayed in the sycophantic pile of pish that was Bohemian Rhapsody.

After all the accolades that film got, I was shocked at how shite it was. I can only imagine Rami Malek got the Oscar for manfully struggling through the part wearing those comedy prosthetic teeth.

I'm not any expert on Queen, but ten minutes in I was calling bullshit when there was a fortuitous meeting to start the band...they'd been pals for years before. Between little things like them playing songs live years before they were written IRL, and big things like the way it handled Freddie Mercury's sexuality...they had him starting to be conflicted about it on their first American tour when he'd actually been pretty secure in the fact he was gay years before.

It could have been worse  though...I believe the reason Sascha Baron Cohen left the project was due to Brian May's lunatic early insistence that the only interesting member of the band should be killed off halfway through the film, and the rest of it should be about their thrill-free subsequent re-emergence as their own tribute band post-Freddie.