Twenty years after Bob Geldof harangued the music industry to fundraise for Ethiopia, Live Aid is out on DVD, writes Kevin Courtney
'Give us the money!" A dishevelled Irishman, looking as if he hasn't shaved, bathed or slept in a proper bed for weeks, is angrily demanding cash with menace. Do we run? Do we beg for our lives? Do we call the police? No, we dig deep into our pockets, pull out a handful of coins, and cheerfully vow to hand them over.
"Don't go to the pub tonight," roars the pugilistic Dubliner. "Stay in and give us the money! There are people dying NOW, so give me the money!"
With those immortal words, Bob Geldof kick-started the world's biggest charity event, and startled millions of television viewers into pledging money to help save the starving in Ethiopia. It was around 7 p.m. on the evening of July 13th, 1985. The world responded by giving this swearing Irishman more than $140 million to date - not a bad haul for a foul-mouthed young punk.
Nearly 20 years later, Geldof is back on our screens, and still asking us to show him the money. He's looking slightly better-groomed, his shirt's a bit snazzier, and he's since been awarded a knighthood; but he's also looking more world-weary and not a little peeved that, two decades after Live Aid, he still has to get in front of the camera and state the obvious - that people continue to die in Africa.
"The crap continues 20 years on," says Geldof. "What's interesting is that Live Aid continues 20 years on. What's disgraceful is that the necessity of it continuing is still there."
He's addressing the sales staff and managers of the various record stores, who will be pushing this season's big product - the Live Aid concerts on DVD. It features 10 hours of footage from the two concerts held on that day - one in London's Wembley Stadium and the other in Philadelphia's Giants Stadium.
Live Aid - the DVD will be released on Monday, November 8th, almost 20 years to the day on which Band Aid recorded the single, Do They Know It's Christmas? Geldof had seen Michael Buerk's film of the unfolding crisis in Ethiopia on the BBC News of October 23rd, 1984, and was so shocked by what he saw he decided to recruit some fellow musicians and record a charity song. The idea was to raise around £75,000, but the song subsequently went on to become the UK's biggest selling single of all time, holding that record until beaten by Candle In The Wind, Elton John's tribute to the late Diana Princess of Wales in 1997.
In the run-up to Christmas, 1984, you could buy a copy of the Band Aid single for about two quid; this Christmas, a copy of Live Aid - The DVD will set you back around €70. If you buy it, not only will you be helping the Band Aid Trust's continuing efforts to relieve hunger in Africa, you'll be getting a visual record of what Geldof describes as "without question one of the greatest musical events in any period of history". And you'll be helping to stop the bootleggers profiting from substandard pirated DVDs of the original broadcast.
"I always thought that we'd never put out a DVD or a video or anything," says Geldof. "I always thought the event would be more powerful in memory and would grow like memories do in your mind, and you would remember that great day when power was taken from those who do nothing with it, and put into the hands of people who were prepared to act."
Among those who were up for it on the day were U2, Sting, David Bowie, Elton John, George Michael, The Who, Madonna, Queen, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Duran Duran, Neil Young, Spandau Ballet, Dire Straits, Paul Weller, Bryan Ferry, Bryan Adams, The Beach Boys, The Pretenders and Elvis Costello. Among those who politely demurred were Bruce Springsteen and Prince; and a much-touted Beatles reunion - with Julian Lennon replacing his late dad - never materialised. Some bands hesitated about doing it, but were cajoled into appearing by the persuasive Geldof. U2 - still a cult band at the time - had to cut their set short by one song because Bono used up their allotted time bringing a girl from the audience up to dance. However, the stunt turned out to be one of the highlights of the event, and fuelled the Dublin band's rise to superstardom.
The BBC cleared its schedules to broadcast the event in its entirety, and the fledgling cable channel MTV broadcast it in the US, while ABC Network ran two hours of highlights. Compiling the DVD proved a painstaking task for producer Jill Sinclair.
The BBC had destroyed most of the unused footage, so the only surviving footage was whatever had been broadcast on that day. Also, getting clearance from the numerous acts proved a headache. Most had agreed to appear on the understanding that it would be a once-off broadcast, never to be seen again on video. Led Zeppelin - who re-formed for the gig - refused to let their set be used for the DVD, claiming that the quality was below standard. Or maybe they were just embarrassed that Phil Collins was sitting in John Bonham's vacant drumstool. Bob Dylan allowed only one song from his shambolic set to be used. Midge Ure, who co-wrote the Band Aid single with Geldof, complained recently that he had been sidelined by the Live Aid organisers, claiming that his band, Ultravox, had their slot moved so that The Boomtown Rats could appear when Prince Charles and Diana were in the audience.
Back in 1985, the Irish were praised for their response to Geldof's pleas - we gave more per capita than any other country. The 1980s may have been the age of loadsamoney elsewhere, but most of us here were poor as church-mice. But, in the post-Celtic Tiger hangover, when the price of a house in Blackrock, Co Dublin now exceeds the amount donated by Saudi Arabia to Live Aid in 1985, and when we are regularly accosted by aggressive "charity" salespeople in the street, Geldof's entreaties may be met with stony inaction. If another Live Aid were announced now, would the reaction be as globally united? Media is irrevocably fragmented: we have terrestrial TV, satellite TV, digital TV, the Internet, blogging, gaming, downloading, mobile phones and MP3 players. Could a modern-day Geldof pull all these disparate strands of communication together and focus the world's weakened attention span on a single, culture-defining event? Perhaps the best Geldof can hope for is that someone buys the Live Aid DVD this Christmas instead of The Office.
Geldof and Ure are reported to have also approached such stars as Coldplay, Travis, Keane, The Darkness, Dido and Robbie Williams, to record a new version of Do They Know It's Christmas? Will it outsell the Band Aid original? Doubtful, but it should definitely top the download charts.
www.liveaiddvd.net