With the impact of Live 8 still fresh in many music aficionados’ minds,
the time is ripe to go back to the concert that started it all: Live
Aid. Amazingly, in the digital age of today, footage of Live Aid had
until recently been conspicuously intangible. This is due in part to organizer
Bob Geldolf’s pledge to only broadcast the event once, live as it happened
on July 13, 1985. Forces of resourceful individuals undoubtedly recorded the
entire MTV broadcast and have been able to savor the day’s stellar performances
all these years. But the vast majority had, in all likelihood, forgotten about
Live Aid.
Earlier this year, just before Live 8 was announced, the Live Aid
four-DVD box set was rolled out. It encompasses 10 hours of key performances
from the likes of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Who,
Phil Collins, Sting, David Bowie, U2, Queen, Madonna and plenty of others. As
to be expected, various songs and artists are missing from the set. The booklet
mentions that video of many performances either suffered from technical difficulties,
indifferent destruction, or total abandonment. The most notable MIA is the Led
Zeppelin reunion, reportedly blocked for inclusion by the band’s surviving
members because of its striking resemblance to a disastrous train wreck. How’s
that for artistic integrity over historical significance? Well, you can’t
always get what you want…
In an effort to cultivate renewed interest in the four-disc set, a leaner,
one-disc set of Live Aid’s most magical moments has been released to coincide
with the concert’s 20th anniversary: July 13, 2005. For that sentimental someone
with a passing interest, this low-cal version is a pleasant token. But for the
discriminating music fan who prefers complete performances of U2’s mesmerizing
reading of “Bad”; a reunited Black Sabbath blasting through “Paranoid”;
Dylan playing “Blowin’ In The Wind” with Keith Richards and
Ron Wood – the four-DVD box set, with some tasty extras on the side, delivers
the goods and then some. Tell the completists to get a life. Tell the producers
of Live 8 to take note. The Live Aid DVDs, in whichever format
you desire, are poignant reminders of the day the music changed the world.
~ Shawn Perry
