Live Aid (1985) (TV)

Director:

Vincent Scarza

Writer:

Bob Geldof (idea)

Release Date:

13 July 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Music

Plot:

The broadcast of the biggest benefit concert in history.

Plot Keywords:

Concert | Rock Music | Live Aid | Famine | Bass

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Bob Geldof	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bryan Adams	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium)
Stuart Adamson	...	Himself (as Big Country)
Adam Ant	...	Himself
Nick Ashford	...	Himself
Joan Baez	...	Herself
Tom Bailey	...	Himself (as Thompson Twins)
Garry Beers	...	Himself
Big Country	...	Themselves
Black Sabbath	...	Themselves
Bono	...	Himself (as U2)
The Boomtown Rats	...	Themselves
David Bowie	...	Himself
Andrew Bown	...	Himself (as Status Quo)
Jeff Bridges	...	Himself - Host
Pete Briquette	...	Himself (as Boomtown Rats)
Charlie Burchill	...	Himself (as Simple Minds)
Geezer Butler	...	Himself (as Black Sabbath)
Tony Butler	...	Himself (as Big Country)
Warren Cann	...	Himself
The Cars	...	Themselves
Martin Chambers	...	Himself (as The Pretenders)
Chevy Chase	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium)
Eric Clapton	...	Himself
Dick Clark	...	Himself - Host
Adam Clayton	...	Himself (as U2)
Albert Collins	...	Himself (with George Thorogood & the Destroyers)
Phil Collins	...	Himself
Billy Connolly	...	Himself
Elvis Costello	...	Himself
David Crosby	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby Stills Nash and Young)
Crosby Stills Nash & Young	...	Themselves (at JFK Stadium)
Chris Cross	...	Himself (as Ultravox)
Simon Crowe	...	Himself (as Boomtown Rats)
Alannah Currie	...	Herself (as Thompson Twins)
Billy Currie	...	Himself (as Ultravox)
Roger Daltrey	...	Himself (as The Who)
John Deacon	...	Himself (as Queen)
Paul Denham	...	Himself (Sade's backing band)
Ronnie James Dio	...	Himself (as Black Sabbath)
Dire Straits	...	Themselves
Duran Duran	...	Themselves
Bob Dylan	...	Himself
John Entwistle	...	Himself (as The Who)
Andrew Farriss	...	Himself
Jon Farriss	...	Himself
Tim Farriss	...	Himself
Bryan Ferry	...	Himself
Sally Field	...	Herself
Johnnie Fingers	...	Himself (as Boomtown Rats)
Mel Gaynor	...	Himself (as Simple Minds)
David Gilmour	...	Himself (Bryan Ferry's backing band)
Band of H.M. Coldstream Guards	...	Themselves (as Regimental Band of The Coldstream Guards)
Tony Hadley	...	Himself (as Spandau Ballet)
Andrew Hale	...	Himself (Sade's backing band)
Daryl Hall	...	Himself
Michael Hutchence	...	Himself (as INXS)
Chrissie Hynde	...	Herself (as The Pretenders)
John Illsley	...	Himself (as Dire Straits)
INXS	...	Themselves
Tony Iommi	...	Himself (as Black Sabbath)
Mick Jagger	...	Himself
Elton John	...	Himself
Howard Jones	...	Himself
John Paul Jones	...	Himself (as Led Zeppelin)
Casey Kasem	...	Himself - Announcer
John Keeble	...	Himself (as Spandau Ballet)
Gary Kemp	...	Himself (as Spandau Ballet)
Martin Kemp	...	Himself (as Spandau Ballet)
Eddie Kendricks	...	Himself
Jim Kerr	...	Himself (as Simple Minds)
Andy Kershaw	...	Himself
Nik Kershaw	...	Himself
B.B. King	...	Himself
Mark Knopfler	...	Himself (as Dire Straits)
Patti LaBelle	...	Herself
Alan Lancaster	...	Himself (as Status Quo)
Simon Le Bon	...	Himself (as Duran Duran)
Joe Leeway	...	Himself (as Thompson Twins)
Madonna	...	Herself
Stuart Matthewman	...	Himself (Sade's backing band)
Brian May	...	Himself (as Queen)
Paul McCartney	...	Himself
Marilyn McCoo	...	Herself - Hostess
Darryl McDaniels	...	Himself (as Run-D.M.C.)
Robbie McIntosh	...	Himself (as The Pretenders)
Freddie Mercury	...	Himself (as Queen)
George Michael	...	Himself (as Wham!)
Jason Mizell	...	Himself (as Run-D.M.C.)
Alison Moyet	...	Herself
Larry Mullen Jr.	...	Himself (as U2)
Graham Nash	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby Stills Nash and Young)
Jack Nicholson	...	Himself
Petter Nome	...	Programleder (host, Norway)
Steve Norman	...	Himself (as Spandau Ballet)
John Oates	...	Himself (as Hall & Oates)
Ric Ocasek	...	Himself (as The Cars)
Ben Orr	...	Himself (as The Cars)
Ozzy Osbourne	...	Himself (as Black Sabbath)
Jimmy Page	...	Himself (as Led Zeppelin)
Rick Parfitt	...	Himself (as Status Quo)
Teddy Pendergrass	...	Himself
Robert Plant	...	Himself (as Led Zeppelin)
Power Station	...	Themselves
The Pretenders	...	Themselves
David Quinn	...	Himself (as Children to Children)
Nick Rhodes	...	Himself (as Duran Duran)
Griff Rhys Jones	...	Himself
Keith Richards	...	Himself (as The Rolling Stones)
Lionel Richie	...	Himself
Andrew Ridgeley	...	Himself (as Wham!)
Tony Rivers	...	Himself (background-singer with Elton John)
Garry Roberts	...	Himself (as Boomtown Rats)
Nile Rodgers	...	Himself
Francis Rossi	...	Himself (as Status Quo)
David Ruffin	...	Himself
Sade	...	Herself
Carlos Santana	...	Himself (as Santana)
George Segal	...	Himself - Host
Joseph Simmons	...	Himself (as Run-D.M.C.)
Simple Minds	...	Themselves
Valerie Simpson	...	Herself
Mel Smith	...	Himself
Spandau Ballet	...	Themselves
Rick Springfield	...	Himself
Status Quo	...	Themselves
Stephen Stills	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby Stills Nash and Young)
Sting	...	Himself
Style Council	...	Themselves
Andy Taylor	...	Himself (as Duran Duran/Power Station)
John Taylor	...	Himself (as Duran Duran/Power Station)
Roger Taylor	...	Himself (as Queen)
Roger Taylor	...	Himself (as Duran Duran)
The Edge	...	Himself (as U2)
The Thompson Twins	...	Themselves
George Thorogood	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as George Thorogood and the Destroyers)
Pete Townshend	...	Himself (as The Who)
Tina Turner	...	Herself
U2	...	Themselves
Tracey Ullman	...	Herself
Ultravox	...	Themselves
Midge Ure	...	Himself (as Ultravox)
Tommy Vance	...	Himself (Announcer)
Bill Ward	...	Himself (as Black Sabbath)
Bruce Watson	...	Himself (as Big Country)
Paul Weller	...	Himself (as Style Council)
Wham!	...	Themselves
The Who	...	Themselves
Brian Wilson	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as The Beach Boys)
Ron Wood	...	Himself
Neil Young	...	Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby Stills Nash & Young)
Paul Young	...	Himself

Runtime:

960 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:E

Filming Locations:

John F. Kennedy Stadium - 3601 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Trivia:

One artist that did appear onstage during the London finale but went relatively unnoticed was Yussef Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens). He had even written a song for the show, but due to time constraints didn't perform it.

Quotes:

Ozzy Osbourne: I came here to play music, and I didn't really realize the full extent and magnitude of what it is all about. Now I'm here, it's the greatest event ever.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Behind the Music: Teddy Pendergrass (#1.8)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

A Little Loving

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today ...

... Give or take a few hours of course but I still have vivid memories of this ultimate concert . As soon as it was announced I wished I could have attended it but as you can imagine tickets for the Wembly gig were somewhat difficult to get your hands on . I did hear via a friend of mine Rab Kincaid that his sister Vicki got a ticket and would be going to London on the 13th of July , I did feel some self sorrow because the previous Summer my sister acting as courier wanted to know if I wanted to go out with Vicki but I turned her down . She was a very nice girl with a highly developed body for a teenager but from the neck upwards she looked disturbingly like Celtic footballer star Maurice Johnstone with a mullet hairstyle . i wasn't and never will be the sort of guy who'd ever go out with a girl for ulterior motives but it did flash through my mind in the early Summer of 1985 that if I'd been going out with Vicki I might have been able to get a Live Aid concert ticket

Still not to worry it was going to be broadcast live on television and I was really looking forward to seeing my musical heroes U2 perform . I kept rubbing my hands wondering what their set list was going to be while I played their live LP Under A Blood Red Sky to death , I was really hoping they were going to perform I Will Follow . So on the day of the concert I was wishing the dross supporting acts like Status Quo , Howard Jones , Paul Young and Adam Ant ( Who played the title track of his new album ! ) would just go away and let Bono and the boys show the audience how it's done . At 5 O'clock the transmission alternatively switched from Wembley to JFK Staduim Philidelphia where we saw the Bryan Adams set . Jack Nicholson said we're going back to London to hear a band who aren'1t afraid to speak their mind and U2 came on to perform the appropriate Sunday Bloody Sunday . Unfortunately their second track was Bad a song I've never taken to and Bono spent so much time jumping into the audience to get a girl to dance with him that they had to scrap their third track Pride . In fact I thought their whole set was a major disappointment that I couldn't believe the positive feed back they got in the press later and there was no one more surprised than the band themselves !

Major disappointment aside I still stayed in to watch the rest of the concert most of which I watched on my sister's portable black and white TV and it wasn't until a few days later that I started digesting what a monumental event it was where Queen stole the show with their medley , where Bob Geldof swore live on air ( In those days bad language on television was still very rare ) , the dominance of British music that saw every act at Wembly hail from the British Isles and where a third of the acts at the American concert were also British , and the strange fact within a couple of years many of the acts at Wembly had disappeared from the charts altogether . But without doubt the abiding memory for me was the entire lack of cynicism . Artists went out of their way to give a concert while people went out of their way to put their hands in their pockets . Even if you want to be cynical then you can't deny that money was raised and it went to humanitarian Non Governmental Organisations ( NGOs ) that saved countless human lives . That was the difference between Live Aid in 1985 and Live 8 in 2005