Live Aid (4 Disc Set)
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Movie Reviews of Live Aid (4 Disc Set)
Movie Review: Great collectors item and cause despite few bad performances
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree most with Kasky's review above.
I would give this 5 stars for the cause alone. The proceeds go to Band Aid to continue fighting for life and economic justice and this fight still continues worldwide today. Anything you spend on this DVD considering the proceeds goes to Band Aid is well worth it. Give it up. Buy 2 NEW copies and give one to a friend for Christmas. DO NOT buy it used or sell it back.
This is a great collectors item for anyone that loves Rock and Roll and anyone interesting in becoming a rock historian (or even for someone who just thinks they are). However, I also agree with some of the other reviews in that some performances are rather poor. In my opinion Clapton and Jagger - 2 of my favorite artists - come to mind as poor performances and that IS WHY LED ZEPPELIN opted out (because they know they sucked after Bonham died). I remembered this from watching it the first time when it aired live but bought it anyway. Many other artists performances simply can not be found or were not recorded as the information in the booklet will tell you and another reviewer mentioned. It's a miracle that MTV found their incomplete 'B' edition of the tape. There are also several other artists I could care less about. Phil Collins and Madonna come to mind. In fact I'm only interested in about 10% of the artists on this DVD and about half of those performances sucked.
BUT THEN AGAIN...It's 10 hours of Music, plus extra never before seen performances, BBC documentary, newscasts, the Christmastime, We are the World, and Dancing in the Streets video (Jagger/Bowie). And it was whipped together on short notice. What do you expect!!! Did you really think you would have 10 hours of great music for only $28?
Great Performances for Live Aid DVD that stand out for me...
1. Queen (and I am not a Queen fan at all...at least not until I saw this).
2. U2 (great early performance...reminds me why I liked them back then and can't stand them now).
3. Bowie
4. Pretenders
5. B.B. King (on the extras menu)
6. INXS (on the extras menu)
The 60 minute BBC documentary at the end is worth owning as well.
Ok. now that's over 2 hours of worthwhile music that I purchased at Target for $28. Oh and did I mention the money goes to a great cause. Again, DO NOT BUY THIS USED! Instead, buy 2 copies NEW and give one to a friend for Christmas.
Movie Review: Well Worth The Money
Summary: 5 Stars
I own this set and watched the concert live in 1985. I've been reading some of these reviews and would like to clear up some myths and misstatements I've read.
First of all, to clear satellite time and do a live broadcast all over the world at the same time was unheard of and untried in 1985. There were some technical glitches and sometimes the feed was even lost and the time would be filled in by MTV DJ's (MTV aired the broadcast and provided commentators).
As far as the missing material of some of the acts it doesn't exist in any recorded form anymore. Bob Geldof asked that the show not be recorded or rebroadcast and the BBC destroyed the tapes at his request. There was no plan to make a concert DVD (there were no DVD's) and sell it after the fact to raise money. The concert was supposed to raise donations that day and awareness of what was going on in Africa. The only reason that any Wembley footage exists is that some of the tapes were lost and found years later in some dusty corner. Then they had to salvage what they found and use what could be used.
MTV recorded the broadcast also but a lot of the footage is with handheld cameras and substandard audio. They supposedly had over 100 hours of various types of footage and also salvaged what they could.
The Who are missing half of their set because the BBC had a power outage and it never made it to the air. Led Zeppelin specifically withheld their permission for their material to be used because they didn't like their performance. The rest of the footage is just gone.
Musicians were not paid. The reason you see US bands in London and English bands in Philadelphia is because they were touring at the time and played at the closest venue. Bands are not missing off the DVD because they wanted more money etc.
As for the quality the sound has been remastered to 5.1 and actually sounds pretty good for the most part. The video is not always crisp but they did a pretty good job considering they were working with 20 yr old tapes. Its a 4 disc set that's well worth the money. It's a great snapshot of some of the acts that were at the top of their game in the 80's. Maybe you can educate your kids. My 14 year old daughter actually asked me who Madonna was. I told her in her day she was way bigger that Britney Spears.
The money from the sale of the disc still goes to Africa so buy it!
Movie Review: Good Knight Bob
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally picked up this set today after checking my local big box mega-retailer two or three times last week to see if it was back in stock. This won't be a very comprehensive review since I've only sat through the first disc so far, but if nothing else, I can at least say that after reading some of the complaining and nitpicking from other reviewers, I am truly ashamed to be an American tonight.
For a relatively minor star from the Rock & Roll galaxy like Bob Geldof to fill up two of the biggest stadiums in the world with such a wide array of talent, it was truly an impressive feat to say the least. As with all spontaneous musical events, Live Aid had its high points and its not-so-high points. But who played what with whom where was hardly the issue here. This was one day where hundreds of thousands of music fans got together to do something truly magnificient for the people of Ethopia, and I think many of the other reviewers here are missing that very important point entirely.
I remember getting up super-early that morning and turning on MTV to catch the Boomtown Rats play a few tunes to an audience bigger than the combined number of people who had even heard of the band up to that point. Later that day, I tossed my Panasonic boombox in the back of my '66 Mustang convertible and drove around listening to the show with a good friend for most of the afternoon. It really was a special day in my life, and I think I appreciate re-living it through this DVD set even more now knowing how much good came from this effort.
So rather than spending your money on some other pointless crap this year, I suggest that every fat, lazy and spoiled American music lover who reads this review immediately adds this collection to their shopping carts. With the huge range of musical styles and eras covered, there is bound to be something you like somewhere amongst the ten-plus hours of video presented here. And if nothing else, you will be contributing to the legacy of a charitable organization that has helped so many people over the years, and will continue to provide aid to them from the proceeds of this release. Because the whole point of the holiday season is to share and appreciate what you have, and not to dwell on what you think you are missing, isn't it?
Movie Review: Missing stuff? Yeah, but not a lot.
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't gotten this yet, but I know it's going to be five stars because it's Live Aid!
I have an audio bootleg of the whole show, minus a track or two. So I know what was played--as I said, minus a track or two. And I checked out the tracklisting for the DVD. There is stuff missing, but not as much as you might think.
I don't blame Led Zep at all. They played Live Aid with two new drummers, had only a brief practice with Tony Thompson and Phil Collins, and hadn't played together in 6 years. As I said, I have their set on audio--and they were *terrible*. I like Led Zep but I skip past them on my Live Aid CDs. It was probably the worst they ever played in their career. Sloppy, out of beat, out of tune, Plant's voice was out of shape--I'm not surprised they didn't give permission to have any of that abomination included.
Someone said that Queen's whole set (the set of the show, IMHO, and I'm not a huge Queen fan) was included. True. But other artists seem to have their whole sets included--U2 for sure (yes, they only played 2 songs, because "Bad" went on for 14 minutes!). I believe Dire Straits only played the two songs included as well. Bowie's whole set, which was brilliant, is here. I think that that's Clapton's whole set as well.
The artist that got screwed? The Cars. One song, and it's the completely boring "Heartbeat City"? I wonder if Ric Ocasek had a say in that, because he's always had an unhealthy attatchment to that song (I've always wondered why they even *played* it there). Meantime, the stunning version of "Just What I Needed" is not included. That's the biggest loss.
Elton John has only one song missing from his set: "I'm Still Standing". Now, I'll miss that, because it's a version that really kicks [...]. However, I understand why they left it off--it might kick [...], but it's badly out of tune!
I would've preferred The Pretenders' whole set--they were amazint that day--and I'll miss the Beach Boys' "California Girls--Help Me Rhonda" medly. But I do have those on audio.
Other than that? The highlights are all there. I can't wait to buy this set!
Movie Review: Amazing!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just received this DVD as a Christmas gift and, honestly, popped it into the player about 20 minutes after I had unwrapped it. I was very, very young when Live Aid took place and had only seen bits and pieces of the day before getting the DVD. While I have to say that I was disappointed that a lot of music was evidently cut from the broadcast, what is included is breathtaking, maybe not always musically but definitely in the "Oh, wow" factor, as in "Oh, wow, look how young they were".
My far-and-away favorite is the Queen set which, thankfully, is included in its entirety (and rightly so, as I'm sure there would be an uproar if anything was cut from this legendary performance). Since I had never really seen a lot of the other artists' performances I never understood why everyone usually says Queen stole the show. Now I see why, in comparison to a lot of other sets (though U2 was stunning, and Phil Collins's "Against All Odds" was wonderful). Seeing those thousands of pairs of hands clapping in unison to "Radio Ga Ga" was enough to stop my heart for a second, they simply rocked the world that day. Well, everyone knows who their favorites are so I'll get off that topic.
What also impressed me was the way the event was put into proper context with the additional material included before the concert. The videos for "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "We Are The World" really took me back...even I can remember hearing nothing else on the radio that year. But the video news footage was mind-blowing. It literally brought me to tears, even though the footage was 20 years old. I just wasn't old enough to understand the enormity of the situation back in 1984. I must say that it made me take a good look around at my pile of boxes and wrapping paper under the tree and thank God (just like Bono says). Good move on the part of those who put this DVD set together to include that, it reminds us why the whole thing took place.
This DVD set is a treasure, pure and simple, and was well worth the wait. I recommend it to any music fan (or nostalgic, for that matter!). Buy it, watch it, sing along. It's well worth it.