Tuesday 13 July 2010

You are kidding right?!


It hit me square in the stomach when I read this morning that today is the 25th anniversary of Live Aid. My first reaction was that 'It can't be' and the second was, 'How did that happen?' Today has become another day when I feel quite old.

You see, I was there. That thing that they will wheel out as a history piece on the news this evening which will look visually odd compared to the HD images of today, I was one of the many in the crowd. I endured both the heat and Spandau Ballet and I once had the tee-shirt to prove it.

I remember it as being a day of celebration and hope, despite Spandau's best efforts. So many snippets come flooding back:
  • Quo opening, Rocking all over the world being the perfect start.


  • Geldof stopping mid song after the line, "The lesson today is how to die"


  • Missing U2 because you had to go to the toilet sometime.


  • Bowie using a song slot to play the incredibly emotional Cars video instead.


  • Queen


  • Booing Paul McCartney because his microphone didn't work. Completely unfair but everyone was so hyped up.

My friend Martin went and queued for tickets - an heroic effort. I haven't seen anyone else in the car load of people that went up to Wembley for 20 years I guess. Long time ago.

Tom Robinson wrote a good song about this on his Love Over Rage album (I think) called Days That Changed the World, concluding "Humanity's still waiting for the day that changed the world." You can get the link at the top of the right hand side of this page.

Me? I'm looking for my slippers and going to have a quiet sit down to listen to Howard Jones.

2 comments:

  1. To make you feel really old, I was in my last year at junior school!

    ReplyDelete
  2. :(

    I'm going back to the history channel...

    ReplyDelete