Live Aid 'to be released on DVD'
 

The historic Live Aid concert is to be released on DVD after chief organiser Bob Geldof discovered pirate copies were being sold on the Internet.

Geldof hopes the classic DVD will raise "a few million pounds" during the planned release next Christmas, almost 20 years after the 1985 event.

Organised by the Boomtown Rats lead singer, Live Aid was held in London's Wembley Stadium and the JFK Stadium, Philadelphia - six months after Do They Know It's Christmas?, which raised £8 million, was released.

The live 16-hour broadcast instantly raised £50 million - climbing to £80 million - for African famine victims.

Organisers have now decided to auction the rights to release the DVD of Live Aid, which has never come out on CD, video or DVD.

The successful bidder will have to get the permission of all performing artists, which included U2, Madonna and Sir Elton John.

Founding Band Aid trustee John Kennedy told BBC News Online: "We don't expect any of them to be anything other than co-operative."

He added that Geldof, who received an honorary knighthood in 1986 for his charity efforts, "sees it as an asset of the people of Ethiopia" that was not being fully utilised.

"It's a surprise to all of us that we're still here 20 years on spending and receiving money.

"But because of piracy, it's becoming available without earning any money," he said.

I have approximately 8 hours captured on VHS - some amazing performances! Let's hope this project makes its way to DVD!

Hope this is true. I could watch this over and over again. U2, Led Zeppelin and Queen were my most memorable performances.

who's betting we get a "best of" set and not the whole thing?

Box set, uncut, or no sale!

I remember this as being a good selection of perfomers, but upon review, it's pretty much a mixed bag:

Adam Ant
Ashford & Simpson plus guest Teddy Pendergrass
Avtograph
Band für Afrika
BB King
Bernard Watson
Big Country
Billy Ocean
Black Sabbath
Bob Dylan plus guests Keith Richards and Ron Wood
Boomtown Rats
Bryan Adams
Bryan Ferry
Crosby - Stills - Nash
Crosby - Stills - Nash (& Young)
David Bowie
Dire Straits
Duran Duran
Elton John
Elvis Costello
Eric Clapton
Freddie Mercury and Brian May
George Thorogood & Destroyers
Hall & Oates and guests Kendricks/Ruffin
Harry Belafonte
Howard Jones
Joan Baez
Judas Priest
Kenny Loggins
Kool & The Gang
Lionel Richie
Madonna
Mick Jagger plus guest Tina Turner
Neil Young (backed by The International Harvesters)
Nik Kershaw
Opus
Patti Labelle
Paul McCartney
Paul Young & the Royal Family
Peter, Paul & Mary
Phil Collins
Power Station
Queen
Reo Speedwagon
Rick Springfield
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones
Run DMC
Sade
Sheena Easton
Simple Minds
Spandau Ballet
Status Quo
Sting + Phil Collins
Style Council
The Beach Boys
The Cars
The Four Tops
The Hooters
The Pretenders
The Who
Thomspon Twins
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
U2
Ultravox

Ahh, memories. Howard Jones, Madonna (when she was hot), Simple Minds...

Damn I feel old.

You feel old? Lordy! I was there (Philly show)... free tix too!
I'd buy the box set in a heartbeat.

This might actually be longer than 16-hours as the London and US shows were running simultaneously for a few hours.

Of course, once you cut out all the incessant babble while they were changing the stage between acts, it may just end up being about 10 hours. Do we really need to see J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn saying over and over how great Phil Collins was?

Re: Live Aid 'to be released on DVD'
 

Well, at first I was happy.... but this part doesn't bode well.

That's my fear. :(

At the very least, I want the UK concert, featuring loads of awesome '80s New Wave acts. The US concert paled in comparison (too much "classic rock" for me).

I also demand commentary from band members for each set, "Where Are They Now?" exposes on defunct bands, and corresponding audio CDs. :D

Actually VH-1 did a nice retrospective on the 10th(?) anniversary, which I have recorded on VHS.

And please, let us not forget the co-founder of Band-Aid/Live-Aid; the man who wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas" - the number one selling single of all-time for many years; the man who was in Ethiopia to receive the first shipment of food; the man who was unjustly overlooked for knighthood: Midge Ure - lead singer of Ultravox and musician extraordinaire. We salute you Midge!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Wannabe
I remember this as being a good selection of perfomers, but upon review, it's pretty much a mixed bag:

::snipped list of performers::

---

Let's not forget the Prince video "4 the Tears In Your Eyes".

I pray that they use only the raw stage feed without the announcers babble. Several of the acts were truncated due to cutaways to the announcers, poor switching between locales, etc. I really hope the pure stage footage exists.

The MTV stuff would complicate things further, with regards to legal rights, anyway.

Didn't the sound cut out durring McCartney's set?

A lot of people back then taped the whole show off MTV.
ANd with dvd burners now all those people are making a small fortune.

I'm all over this!!! Can't wait!!!

That wasn't from Live Aid, was it? I remember that being on the "USA for Africa" album.

The song was on the USA For Africa album. The video was broadcast once ever on Live Aid.

To me this just says that Geldof is offering the concert to distributors to bid on for the rights.

Nobody's taken him up on it yet.

Could you imagine the headache waiting for the company that gets the rights? They'd still have to negotiate with each and every performer before the could release it, or else they'd have to cut out anyone who refused to allow it.

I'm sure there are some DVD Talkers that wouldn't mind the headache... ;)

Paul McCartney's mike wasn't working during "Let It Be"- I have the ABC special where they ran that with Dick Clark saying over and over "Once again, his microphone is not open, it will be fixed!"

This sounds great!
Lots of flashbacks reading the list of performers.

I've got a fair verison on DVDr of the whole thing. It would be great if they release it uncut.