Live Aid / Live 8

[Troyminator]

I remember everything
I remember EVERY little thing as if it happened only yesterday
I was barely seventeen and...
(sorry Meatloaf)
it was a hot summer day
our town had it's carnival that day
but the buzz in the air was for something else
the BIGGEST rock concert in the whole wide world EVER!

Live Aid was THE defining moment of the 80's for many people, and I'm happy to hold my head up and say that I was one of them.
From the opening bars of Status Quo to the finale with Geldof orchestrating the audience and the biggest gathering of pop stars on the planet ever in a rousing chorus of "do they know it's christmas?"

I spent HOURS watching that concert, and reflecting on the imagery from African that the BBC and had brought to our attention.
Everyone said they wouldn't make a difference.
They did.
People saved lives that day and continued to do so for a long time afterwards.
I know that it left me with a very different view of the world and what I could do to change things that I didn't like.

20 years have passed and some things have changed and some things have stayed very much the same.

The original Live Aid concerts were designed to combat a famine.
Today they're fighting for a different cause:
the abolition of third world debt.
The opportunity for Africa to hold it's head up high and achieve it's potential once and for all.
Not a bad goal
Not at all

I've watched the concerts broadcast from around the world today and once again I've been moved by the dedication, integrity and hope displayed.
I've shed a few tears today too, when Geldof sang "I Don't Like Mondays", when Madonna took the stage with a survivor of that famine from so many years ago, but especialy when I watched that tragic film that started it all 20 years ago with my six year old son.
He was upset, I was upset.
A generation apart but we shared the same emotional response.
Incredible.

If something like that can affect someone so long after the event then maybe we CAN make a difference...
Just maybe there IS hope for Africa...
If only the leaders of the eight richest nations on this planet can share the same emotional response that the MILLIONS who have witnessed this event have...

20 years ago they wanted our money.
today they merely want our support.
You can lend your support HERE.

I have my fingers crossed that for once, the people we have elected actually listen to us and do what our hearts, minds and spirits demand...

[jwa1107]

i watched too and loved just about every minute (other than MTV breaking for commercials)

a highlight for me was the collaborations of a band i'm lukewarm about making me like them: Coldplay covering The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' It was appropriate and coll at the same time.

and a Pink Floyd reunion - nice, not overwhelmingly great, but nice to see/hear.

BTW Canada got the short-end of the concert stick...



Also, you can still help by buying the Live Aid 4-disc DVD set. All proceeds go to charity. I was lucky enough to see it live on television 20 years ago, but I'll end up buying the set too. It is missing about 6 hours worth of music including the Led Zeppelin reunion and The Who performance, but there are still gems on the set

I hope you guys got a chance to see some of the concert.