Reviews & Ratings for
Live Aid (TV) More at IMDbPro »

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
The best day of my life and I was only eleven., 26 December 2004

Author: the_Poppuns

I got this DVD for Christmas and I spent the whole day going through it. Awesome. Just awesome. It's sitting there with all my other DVDs but I already know it will get the most use. All of my favorite bands were there for this historic concert and I'm sure a lot of people can say that. This DVD brings me back to a moment in time where people seemed to be doing the right thing. Banding together to help others. It's re-inspiring me to be a person who does great things. The DVD itself is missing a lot of stuff but apparently everything they had is in there. According to the insert, Mtv dismantled their footage from Philadelphia because Geldof wanted to avoid future legal problems. *shrug* I don't know what that was about, but I wouldn't have listened to him. But even still, this concert is fantastic. All the mullets a girl could ask for and some incredible live performances, especially U2 and Queen. Freddie continues to kick everyone's can to this day. And Bono inciting chicks to squeeze themselves out of the crowd for a hug. Priceless. Seeing my faves like Paul Young, Howard Jones, Adam Ant, Wham! and Duran Duran, in that perfect moment in time. *swoon* Oh, what I wouldn't do to go back there, especially since some there that day are gone now. If you were a fan of music in, oh, let's say the last 40 years, there should be something in there for you, and you should definitely give it a watch, if not a buy.

There are some extras that include INXS from Australia, and other Live Aid performances from around the world, and the original "Feed the World" and "We Are the World" videos. The only thing that I wish they'd have done was an up-to-date documentary with some of the acts talking about the event and what it means almost twenty years later. But that would just be gravy. I could go on forever about this, it's become my most prized possession in just 24 hours.

8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Gem of humanity, 29 November 2004

Author: SpookyDuke from Slovenia

Finally, we got the DVD! I bought it 2 days ago and watched it almost the whole Sunday. I was turning 19 that year and the event meant nothing but the brightest gem on the gleamy crown of the 80's optimism, happiness, joy, global spirit and most of all - search for ultimate humanity. There's no need to emphasize that LIVE AID (and everything else connected to it) is the singular event of the rock'n'roll history, greater then anything seen before or after. Not only for the plead of the spectacular names that joined the effort, but mainly for the cause and the relevance of it. It's probably the only time in our history when people joined hands globally to help people in need. Thank Sir Bob for the good you brought us and unforgettable moments of our lives.

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
The best concert I ever saw, 19 June 2001
Author: waia2000 from Florida

I happened to be in England at the time of this concert and was able to buy a ticket. I got there early and took a place on the field. The crowd was different than at an American concert -- mellower and nicer overall. Once U2 came onstage, though, things changed. The crowd started to move toward the stage in massive wave-like surges. It was a little anxiety-provoking, but nobody got hurt that I could see.

The line-up was nothing short of spectacular and I was particularly happy to see The Who, David Bowie, Sting, Queen and Paul McCartney. This was in Paul's anxious phase, after John was killed; Paul only did one song and seemed to be hiding behind the piano. The surprise stand-out act of the day for me was Queen. Freddy Mercury really knew how to work the crowd and he had 50,000 people (or whatever) in the palm of his hand.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
I was there at Wembley., 8 October 2005

Author: Cinema_Fan from An English Shire.

I was there at the Wembley Live Aid show.

Being that I was one of the last few to buy my ticket at the company that takes you on their coaches to concerts. The last four or six I think, you could only come to their office and buy them in person.

As I was and still very much so a big fan of The Who, I wasn't a Mod, and knowing that they had "retired" this would be or could be the only chance to get to see them. I had a friend who was watching it at home recording their section on VHS for me. Then it happened, the satellite feed broke just as they started My Generation, I sometimes wonder if it was because the rest of the World were using to much power at that time that the system couldn't handle it all at once. Shame, and yes I did Pete Townshend fall over.

The weather was stunning, just as Elton John came on it started to drizzle lightly, but not for long, it was needed, the drizzle not Elton. Queen was amazing; three friends & I saw their very last show as a group a year later at Knebworth House, 120,000 people were also there too!

RIP Freddie, what a Showman.

When we were leaving through our side of the Wembley tunnels the atmosphere was electric, we were singing "Feed the World". During the coach ride home we could make out sets from Sabbath and others on the radio.

Its a shame that in twenty years nothing much has changed for the African people, such as Politics and war.

I have three used T Shirts, a little small for me now, that came in sealed bags and two mint Programmes and a mint Live Aid: The Concert book that came out very shortly after the gig. The Wembley Live Aid concert ticket stub is still in good condition in the photo album.

What a fantastic piece of History, 1 out of 72000 people seeing the real deal out of 1.5 to 2 billion watching on their telly's. When people talk about it and you mention that you were there they tend to look at you like you are lying, at first they just don't believe it, you really do, sometime's, have to prove it. It does fill me with pride to know that I was at a very Historical Musical event.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today ..., 12 July 2005

Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

... 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

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
The Global Jukebox - Relive a Musical & Cultural Touchstone, 16 June 2009

Author: moosfriend from Australia

This is a cultural, musical and historical treasure trove of some of the greatest and most influential rock/pop musicians ever. Stand out performances for me were Queen, The Who and U2, I have watched them over and over. It is hours and hours of footage, and even after you have gorged yourself on it, there is still more! And then not even all the acts and songs were captured, as Geldof had originally requested that the event not be recorded!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3604680.stm

Live Aid was not only a great and memorable musical event, but a major technical achievement of its time. Remember this is in an era before the internet, mobile phones, when even sending and receiving an international fax was hit and miss. According to Wikipedia, an estimated 1.5 billion viewers, across 100 countries, watched the live broadcast.

It is also arguably the single biggest charity and cultural change event ever in terms of not only it scale, but its impact.

Bob Geldof always said, as acknowledged in the very name 'Band Aid', that the record and the ensuing concerts were a stop-gap - emergency relief. The point of the event was to raise money, yes, but also to put the issue of extreme poverty on the political agenda.

Bearing in mind that these kinds of immense social changes can take decades, it can be safely said that Live Aid did do just that by sowing some seeds of change.

The story of Live Aid and what it is about in its broadest sense has stayed with many people. It is bigger than its critics.

Fans of LIVE AID can also join a group on Facebook http://groups.to/liveaid

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Wish I'd seen it live, 21 April 2005

Author: deancapetanelis from United States

I was just a young pup with barely enough allowance to cover a movie. I never could have bought the pay per view. Now that I'm an adult I'm paying a fortune for bootlegs and authorized versions.

That's the thing about nostalgia, what seemed unimportant as a child becomes the stuff that dreams are made of sitting in a cubicle all day. Still, the official release is worth picking up.

I'm disappointed some acts chose not to participate in the re-release. I guess Led Zepplin doesn't need any new publicity but if I was the Hooters I'd be begging for a chance to get back into daylight, never mind the spotlight.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
wow!, 10 February 2005

Author: skistar123 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I just watched the whole thing the other day and blimey it nearly blew my head off. u2, Queen, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, The Who, Status Quo, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, The Boomtown Rats, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney have to be my favourite performances. Wow it is the most amazing thing ever... everyone should go out and buy it, even if they don't like anyone who was in it because it all raises money for the Band Aid Charitable Trust anyway. People have complained about the complete concert not being there, that's only because most of it was locked away in the BBC's stores for years and years, some of the tapes were destroyed. In America, they were told to destroy the tapes and they did so, MTV luckily had some of the us concert, but not all of it! Also there were things like 'Rat Trap' by the Boomtown Rats was discarded because Bob Geldof ripped the microphone off the lead! I thought it was really well done... when's the next one?

Live Aid: One Of The Biggest Concerts Ever Held, 19 September 2012

Author: Kazuya_Ryuzaki from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on July 13,1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine.

The event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom,which was attended by 72,000 people and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States,which was attended by about 100,000 people.

It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast.It is estimated that 85% of the world's television sets were tuned in to Live Aid that day

This is one of the best concerts ever held in history.The concert has live performances from great artists such as Spandau Ballet,Elvis Costello,Paul McCartney,Sade,Sting,Phil Collins and many more. It is a must-see for everyone who loves great music.

better for me then than now, 23 January 2005

Author: kwiggins from Reynoldsburg, OH

I watched this on TV and, like many others, was moved by many of the performances, especially U2. Now, looking back, most of the performances are not that great. As others have noted, Queen and U2 steal the show. Bono and Freddie Mercury define the term, "stage presence." Other notable performances are INXS and the Cars, among others. I have Woodstock on DVD and the music's better, many performances are better (or worse in a more entertaining way than Live Aid) and the overall feel of the occasion is more alive. But the DVD is definitely worth the money. It's a time capsule of music stuck between the hippies and the grunge bands that would put many of these bands out of work. If you were there or saw it on TV, it will take you back to a place "we've been cast out of" as Chrissie Hynde put it. It was the greatest musical event of the 80s but, when I bought the DVD, I asked an attendant where it was located. The woman typed "Live age" into the computer. I corrected her and asked her if she had heard of Live Aid. Of course she hadn't, she was about 20.

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another review

Related Links