It was on the day after a friend’s 21st and I watched it and bits the Philadelphia concert, with Phil Collins taking Concorde to drum at both.
For reasons I don’t understand I recall The Cars, Heartbeat City, most out of both gigs and wasn’t a Cars fan at all.
All that and more. It was a significant event in some ways but really not worth commemorating musically as it contained some of the very worst but most successful music of the 1980s. Over the two venues, if I were to judge on musical merit, then I’ve seen 10 of those acts and probably 8 when they were much better than they were at Live Aid for example. Based on the lineup would I have nought a ticket for Wembley? Absolutely not.
Based on outcomes? Well it highlighted the very worst of white saviour complex. Beyond that we can now see that it served little meaningful purpose. Here we are 40 years down the line with a parade of “what an amazing day” and yet no-one saying “this really didn’t work so what do we now need to do differently.”
White middle aged blokes eh.
My memory tells me exactly those words the comment about addresses was later in the same clip.
I’m sure it’s been edited. 
I clearly remember the whole family sitting watching Live Aid on the TV.
So many bands were “underwhelming” and true to form, dad kept saying “they’re rubbish”.
However, when Queen came on, he sat quietly for a while and after a couple of songs declared “that singer has the whole crowd in his hands, they’d do anything he asked of them. Amazing”.
How right he was!
Freddie was a true master entertainer.
Even friends of mine who weren’t fans of Queen turned that day.
They played his plea on BBC Rdaio 2 yesterday and afterwards the DJ said that this was the ‘edited’ version.
From my memory () I’m certain the f word came out!
We’d been married for two years (still are) and watched it live until after our hero finished his set (regulars know 
) then went out for a few drinks and watched selections of the taped vhs when we returned.
Not sure about how ineffective it was - it certainly had an impact on how the general population became aware of third world issues. There was certainly a greater air of optimism that things could & would change for the better for everyone… We can agree to disagree about how things came to pass.
I believe it was Ellen Pao who talked about the problem with diversity initiatives being that they were stuck at “raising awareness”.
In terms of third world issues I think we can say with absolute confidence that 40 years down the line that “raising awareness” did next to nothing. Debate here is now about stopping the boats rather than asking why people are getting in them in the first place.
Live Aid did nothing in terms of how people became aware of these issues. It simplistically presented the issue as “people dying = bad = need money”. Nowt wrong with that but Geldof and others have systematically trashed any suggestion the money addressed symptoms not causes, was diverted by corrupt regimes or that the issue itself was actually caused by corruption. Even Bono now concedes their lack of both understanding and control was embarrassing.
Bearing that in mind I don’t share your confidence it certainly had an impact on awareness. How things came to pass is well documented so I don’t see that there’s anything to disagree with there.
Years ago I knocked around with some Peace Corps characters. I also knew the Chinese ambassador. Our project got no help whatsoever from the PC (although they were fun to socialise with). In contrast, we were inundated with useful materials from the Chinese at zero cost. The Brits just studiously treated us as common peasants even though we were part funded by the MRC.
A moderating note to all; While I understand it’s difficult to separate the geopolitics from such an event, I would suggest sticking to discussion of the music/musicians here rather than the wider issues it aimed to address, otherwise I can’t see the thread lasting very long. Thanks.
Don’t remember too much of it, other than I was watching it on a 12" black and white portable set (it was an era of economy) and caught the early bit featuring Quo.
I remember any thoughts of rail travel into London being ruled out that weekend due to the crowds.
I was 15 at the time and watched it on TV during a hot, sunny day - absolutely loved it.
A time when there were just three TV channels in this part of Devon. A communal experience.
Snap!
Was at my grandparents house. Watched almost every minute from start to finish, other than rest room breaks 
Like you, I loved every minute. Enjoyed watching the 40th anniversary, brought back serious memories 
I’m enjoying the documentary, which feels fairly balanced. Whatever the flaws viewed in retrospect, the intentions were good. Better than doing nothing.
My wife and I watched all the Wembley concert, I remember they had a simultaneous broadcast on Radio 1 I think, so turned the sound down on the TV and the radio through the speakers. Obviously out of sinc with the TV, so I gave up on the radio but recorded it on VHS and cassette
Many years later bought a Pioneer CD rewriter so copied the cassettes to CD. Still got them today
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