Live Aid (1985)

The broadcast of the biggest benefit concert in history, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

Directors:

Vincent Scarza, Kenneth Shapiro

Writer:

Bob Geldof (idea)

Stars:

Bob Geldof, Bryan Adams, Stuart Adamson

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bob Geldof	...	Self
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bryan Adams	...	Self (at JFK Stadium)
Stuart Adamson	...	Self (as Big Country)
Mo Amin	...	Self - Photographer
Adam Ant	...	Self
Nick Ashford	...	Self
Joan Baez	...	Self
Tom Bailey	...	Self (as Thompson Twins)
Garry Beers	...	Self
Big Country	...	Themselves
Black Sabbath	...	Themselves
Bono	...	Self (as U2)
The Boomtown Rats	...	Themselves
David Bowie	...	Self
Andrew Bown	...	Self (as Status Quo)

Storyline

This show features Live Aid, the biggest benefit concert in history. Taking place simultaneously in two seperate stadiums in the USA and the UK, many of the top contemporary rock music acts play many of their most popular songs to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. In addition, short films illustrating the crisis in Africa are run with the appeal for aid.

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Plot Keywords:

ethiopia | famine | live aid | rock music | london england | 

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Taglines:

Feed The World

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Did You Know?

Trivia

U2 were planning to play three songs, but when Bono jumped off the stage to dance with a girl from the audience, this caused the song to overrun, so they dropped the third song.

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Quotes

Tommy Vance: Ladies and gentlemen, the royal salute.
Tommy Vance: [the Coldstream Guards play the Royal Salute]
Tommy Vance: And now, to start the 16 of Live Aid, would you welcome Status Quo!

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Alternate Versions

In its original form, the concert ran 16 hours. There were two versions of the U.S. telecast - one incarnation aired complete on MTV, another produced by ABC was in two parts, part one (the first eleven hours) airing in syndication, part two (the final three hours) airing on ABC. In any case, the DVD version is edited to ten hours, leaving out many key performances, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Power Station, The Hooters, The Four Tops, Rick Springfield, Bernard Watson, Santana, and Led Zeppelin. The DVD version also contains an aurally altered version of Paul McCartney's performance of "Let It Be" (due to a microphone problem in the first half of the song, McCartney had to re-record his vocals twenty years after the fact so that it could be included on the DVD).

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Connections

Referenced in This Is Your Life: Phil Collins (1988)

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Soundtracks

Internationalists
Written by Paul Weller and Mick Talbot
Performed by The Style Council

User Reviews

The Day the World United

I say with great certainty that this was the greatest musical event of my lifetime. Yet there seem to be no video or audio copy that is available. This Live Aid album would have brought in Millions of Dollars in relief aid. Think about the cassette, album, CD, & DVD money we would have all paid? I am lucky enough to have a scratchy cassette recording off of the radio from that day. Long live Freddy!!!!

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 July 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Live Aid

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

GBP150,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Broadcasting Company (ABC), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Music Television (MTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

960 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1