Live Aid - any info?
 

Was watching the VH-1 top 100 list o' the week, this one dealing with 100 best moments in rock on tv, and they showed Live Aid footage (they also listed the playing of Smelly Cat by Phoebe and Chirssy Hynde on <i>Friends</i> above it, so yeah, it was a bogus list) -- but back to the point, does anyone know if there is a plan to release Live Aid on DVD. As far as I know, it was never even on VHS (could be wrong about that though)

It never was released on any form of home video - and I really treasure the 8 hours of it that I videotaped at the time. So much good music - and it's a bit trippy looking at the original MTV VJ's !

Did abc do a condenced 1 hour version later? And I hope some day, supposing we can get clearences, that this will eventually get this on dvd

man...forget Star Wars...THIS is the holy grail of DVDs...

if they EVER got the clearances straightened out to put this puppy on DVD [COMPLETE], I would bow down in appreciation..

I know that RTE Television in Ireland rebroadcast the entire show on the ten-year anniversary. Does Bob Geldof own the rights? He had a production company for a while that he sold off to the UK's CHannel 4... they may be the ones to contact.

I don't know of any for "Live Aid", but I do own the "We Are The World", the get together of top artists for the starving people of Africa. Came out on LP Vinyl or Vhs that I own. Really catchy theme, you have it in your head for hours days or ? Jane Fonda was the hostess and seller.:)

This will never be released, IMHO. I saw an interview w/ Bob Geldof a few years after Live Aid and they asked if it would ever be avalible on video. He said "no, never." Apparently, there were NO contracts signed with any of the musicians, crazy as it sounds. He just contacted everyone and said "Show up and play 20 minutes." Everyone did.

Therefore, you'd have to get releases from all the musicians/record companies to put something like this out, and that would be impossible.

-Videophile

Wow videophile, that sounds crazy but I guess that's how things work sometimes. Too bad, I'd like to have this on DVD as well.

I second that Rogue588. Good to see you back btw.

I haven't looked at my videotapes in about 15 years, I wonder if they're still watchable. (Well, except for the constant shots of Martha Quinn singing along to Led Zeppelin, and messing up the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven....we know that's not watchable.)

DS
 

Before you use the video tapes give your VCR a good cleaning, just in case the tapes are good, you wouldn't want some dirt scratching your valuable to you vids
would you. I use ratshacks no tape just drops on cloth in cleaner, to bath the VCR in Isopropinol Alchohol. :)

VH1 did a special (I think it was around 6 to 8 hours if I recall correctly) on the 10th (or was it 15th in 2000? I forget) anniversary. It had alot of the performances plus recollections from people involved (like the girl Bono pulled out of the crowd during "Bad") If another special is aired I would suggest taping it because like others have said, it will never see the light of day on video due to all of the rights issues.

Not true, as there was an import "Best Of" laserdisc many moons ago. I remember being in a NYC Tower Records flipping through some music LD's and found it. To my surprise they were even playing it in the store! This "Best Of" collection was a 2-Disc LD set. The picture quality was not too great and the sound was equally as questionable. A good friend of mine had it in his collection up until about five years when it became plagued with laser- rot. Over the years I have stumbled upon mp3's from this collection that really sounded quite poor. Sorry, don't shoot the messenger.

I remember getting up at the crack of dawn to watch this. Does anyone remember Mark Goodman(MTV VJ) noting how nice it was that Sting "changed the words" to Driven to Tears, just for Live Aid? What an idiot.

"...Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced to a shallow meaningless party
Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
'Cause this is what we've seen
Driven to tears..."

This will be one of the first things I put on DVDR when I get my first recorder in July. I had planned to spend all day videotaping on more than one machine, and then was called in to work at the last minute for a problem (specifics of which I don't remember), and was stuck at work almost all day. All I could do was listen to it on the radio, and was stuck with only the MTV broadcast to sift through on video when I got home. (Yes, we all hated the way MTV kept cutting to their VJs during songs to show them singing along.)

But hey, at least by listening to the radio, I got to hear some of the acts that I don't think managed to get shown at any length on television - like The Hooters and Billy Ocean. And some of my favorite acts were on very early, so I got to see them (and tape them) before leaving for work.

I haven't looked at the tape in a long time. I have something like 3.5 hours of it (self-edited highlights), and I think I filled out the rest of the tape with the first Farm Aid. (This is a Beta tape, not VHS.)

Live Aid Programme
Wembley Stadium, London - JFK Stadium, Philadelphia

UK start
Status Quo
Style Council
Boomtown Rats
Adam Ant
INXS (video from Melbourne)
Ultravox
Loudness (video from Japan)
Spandau Ballet
Bernard Watson
Joan Baez
Elvis Costello
The Hooters
Opus (video from Austria)
Nik Kershaw
The Four Tops
B.B. King (video from The Hague)
Billy Ocean
Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath
Sade
Run DMC
Yu Rock Mission (video from Belgrade)
Sting
Rick Springfield
Phil Collins
REO Speedwagon
Howard Jones
Autograph (video from Moscow)
Bryan Ferry
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Udo Lindenberg (video from Cologne)
Judas Priest
Paul Young
Paul Young / Alison Moyet
Linkup between UK and US
Bryan Adams
U2
Beach Boys
Dire Straits / Sting
George Thorogood and the Destroyers / Bo Diddley / Albert Collins
Queen
David Bowie / Mick Jagger (prerecorded video)
Simple Minds
David Bowie
The Pretenders
The Who
Santana / Pat Metheny
Elton John
Ashford & Simpson / Teddy Pendergrass
Elton John / Kiki Dee
Elton John / Kiki Dee / Wham!
Madonna
Freddie Mercury / Brian May
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney / David Bowie / Pete Townshend / Alison Moyet / Bob Geldof
UK Finale
Tom Petty
Kenny Loggins
The Cars
Neil Young
Power Station
Thompson Twins
Eric Clapton
Phil Collins
Robert Plant / Jimmy Page / John Paul Jones
Duran Duran
Patti LaBelle
Hall & Oates / Eddie Kendricks / David Ruffin
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger / Tina Turner
Bob Dylan / Keith Richards / Ron Wood
US Finale

I taped this also, but lost one of the tapes somewhere. I have the beginning and the end, but not the middle part. Not sure which acts I'm missing, but possibly the part with Madonna. I would love to have this on DVD.

I recorded this on several cassettes when it aired. Loved it! Played it a lot. I have no idea what happened to them over the years, but it would be great to have this again....either on video or audio.