Live Aid

[petebassist]

Didn't see it all first time - started watching it in a pub in Ambleside in Cumbria, then hitched back to Co Durham and caught the end at home. Those were the days...

Watched bits of the replay at the weekend. Musically, I enjoyed Simple Minds, Sting, and Dire Straits with Sting on BVs - brilliant. Queen obviously.

Funny to see the mic-lead minders who had to crouch at the front of the stage to stop people tripping - at one stage a bloke ran on stage and had to loop one right over Adam Clayton's head, though I don't suppose anyone now wd've minded if Bono tripped - what a palaver over giving someone in the crowd a kiss. I might give that a try at my gigs this weekend 😉 

 

[HeadlessBassist]

It was always going to be the Queen and Quo sets for me at Live Aid.

 

I just watched Madonna performing Like a Prayer at Live Aid and whoever the bassist was, it felt very thin and empty without Guy Pratt and his Octaver.

 

Edit: Duh! I was watching "Live 8" some years later. 🤣

Edited July 15 by HeadlessBassist

[TheGreek]

18 hours ago, ezbass said:

Likewise. 
 

I was just thinking that the pitch at Wembley took a hammering that year, what with Live Aid and Springsteen.

 

I'd have to ask friends who were at Live Aid but at the Mandela concert there were tarps covering the pitch.

[TheGreek]

18 hours ago, ezbass said:

 

Ooops..double post!!

 

Edited July 15 by TheGreek

[Stub Mandrel]

22 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

I don't think they were..?

They were just beginning their 'Long, drawn out arrangement' phase.

(edit)
I will say that it sounds like their TV feed was mixed by a drummer...

 

Terry Williams said he was very pleased when he rewatched it.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

 

I'd have to ask friends who were at Live Aid but at the Mandela concert there were tarps covering the pitch.

There were tarps at Springsteen, but that’s still an awful lot of traffic. That said, grass is very resilient and it was no doubt in tip top condition for whatever the next big footie game was.

[MacDaddy]

2 minutes ago, ezbass said:

There were tarps at Springsteen, but that’s still an awful lot of traffic. That said, grass is very resilient and it was no doubt in tip top condition for whatever the next big footie game was.

 

Wasn't the stage lent to Live Aid by Springsteen? 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Wasn't the stage lent to Live Aid by Springsteen? 

No idea, possibly. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Just now, ezbass said:

No idea, possibly. 

 

I read it was.

[BigRedX]

Bruce Springsteen's stage was offered but deemed too small and a three part revolving stage was constructed, which allowed one band to perform while another was being set up and the previous band's equipment packed up. The stage movement was supposed to be motorised but technical problems meant that it had to be rotated manually.

[Misdee]

I really enjoyed watching some of the footage again. I remember that day vividly, watched  it on t.v at home and then went out for a pizza with a friend.

 

I didn't agree with Bob Geldof's version of events at the time, still don't now. He certainly never got a penny out of me. Very few people ever have. Before you all rush to judgement, never mind Ethiopia, I've had a hard life too. It's about time someone had a rock concert raising money for me.

 

The first thing that struck me was, by the standards of 2025, how amateurish and home-made it all was. It was all the better for it, too. The second thing that struck me was, bloody hell, don't all the artists look young! Then what struck me was, if they've all aged forty years, so must I have too! 

 

Some very tasty basses and bass playing on display. Those were the days! I particularly enjoyed Martin Kemp playing his Wal (underrated player in my opinion), Paul Denman with Sade(also underrated) and Adam Clayton with U2. 

 

It was a bit of a culture shock seeing Status Quo having to use all their  formidable gigging experience not to trip over each others leads during their choreographed stage moves. Even buskers have got wireless systems nowadays.

Edited July 16 by Misdee

[bigthumb]

I didn't see anything of it. I went fishing on Cransley Reservoir in Northamptonshire with my older brother for the day. I didn't catch anything....  😪

[TimR]

1 hour ago, Misdee said:

The first thing that struck me was, by the standards of 2025, how amateurish and home-made it all was.

 

This was before the disaster at Donnington '88. Everything changed then. It was amateurish. The PA was supplied by Malcolm Hill, who made all the equipment. 

 

https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/inside-the-live-sound-of-live-aid-part-1-london

 

 

Howard Jones was told that the keys on the piano were sticking so he had to give them a good bash to free them up first.

 

The flooring was mainly plastic, with some reinforcement where vehicles would drive. 

 

Crowd control would have been non-existent.

[Linus27]

On 15/07/2025 at 12:37, petebassist said:

Didn't see it all first time - started watching it in a pub in Ambleside in Cumbria, then hitched back to Co Durham and caught the end at home. Those were the days...

Watched bits of the replay at the weekend. Musically, I enjoyed Simple Minds, Sting, and Dire Straits with Sting on BVs - brilliant. Queen obviously.

Funny to see the mic-lead minders who had to crouch at the front of the stage to stop people tripping - at one stage a bloke ran on stage and had to loop one right over Adam Clayton's head, though I don't suppose anyone now wd've minded if Bono tripped - what a palaver over giving someone in the crowd a kiss. I might give that a try at my gigs this weekend 😉 

 

 

That was Greg Carroll who was Bono's mic-lead runner, band roadie and close friend. He was sadly killed exactly a year after Live Aid in Dublin riding a motorbike doing a courier run for the band. The U2 song, One Tree Hill is written about him as well as Victor Jara. When U2 were touring in NZ in 1984, Bono met Greg Carroll who took Bono to One Tree Hill. Greg then became the bands roadie. After his funeral in NZ, Bono was thinking about the funeral and the time be spent with Greg at One Tree Hill which inspired him to write the lyrics to the song.

Edited July 17 by Linus27

[petebassist]

9 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

That was Greg Carroll who was Bono's mic-lead runner, band roadie and close friend. He was sadly killed exactly a year after Live Aid in Dublin riding a motorbike doing a courier run for the band. The U2 song, One Tree Hill is written about him as well as Victor Jara. When U2 were touring in NZ in 1984, Bono met Greg Carroll and took him to One Tree Hill. Greg then became the bands roadie. After his funeral in NZ, Bono was thinking about the funeral and the time be spent with Greg at One Tree Hill which inspired him to write the lyrics to the song.

That's quite a story, and a great song.

U2 seem to get a lot of stick these days, but in the 80s they were really revered by young people, at least in my experience.

[Linus27]

2 hours ago, petebassist said:

That's quite a story, and a great song.

U2 seem to get a lot of stick these days, but in the 80s they were really revered by young people, at least in my experience.

 

It sure is and I will admit that I am a big U2 fan, or at least up until Achtung Baby. Certainly the music they were releasing throughout the 80's is for me absolutely incredible. There was also a bunch of bands that were universally liked at the time by young people. We all had our favorites but bands like U2, Simple Minds, The Alarm, Big Country were grouped together and then there were others like Echo and The Bunnymen, The Cure, INXS, Tears For Fears and to some extent The Mission were also very much liked by the same groups.

 

Being a huge U2 fan, I was fortunate enough to work with the producer, Mark Wallis when we signed our record deal. He was chosen to produce our debut album and he was the mix engineer on U2's Joshua Tree album. He also produced the B sides on the album. I would spend many an hour discussing U2 with him which was also interesting. The one thing he told me which really stuck with me is something he said about Adam that sadly Adam is criticized for by other bassists. We were talking about Adam just playing 8's on a lot of track but he said there is no other bass player who can do that in time with as much consistency and drive that Adam. If you analyse each note, it is spot on in perfect time. Most other bass players waver in time but Adam is so accurate with his timing, which is why he does it so well. He is the same when playing 16's, for example on Where The Streets Have No Name. He said no other bass player he has worked with is as accurate or in time as Adam Clayton.

 

 

Edited July 17 by Linus27

[Misdee]

In my recollection U2 were already proselytising about various causes by the mid-80's. I think Live Aid just confirmed to them that it could be an integral part of their identity as a band. It also encouraged and confirmed Bono's egotistical delusions that his opinions were important.

 

It was a transitional point in history where musicians pronouncements on issues they were usually completely unqualified to comment on became  important as their music and the clothes they wore ect. Righteous causes became an essential accessory. We are still suffering the effects in the present day. Musicians have to subscribe to certain opinions and values or risk being ostracised. 

Edited July 17 by Misdee

[Linus27]

4 minutes ago, Misdee said:

In my recollection U2 were already proselytising about various causes by the mid-80's. I think Live Aid just confirmed to them that it could be an integral part of their identity as a band. It also encouraged and confirmed Bono's egotistical delusions that his opinions were important.

 

It was a transitional point in history where musicians opinions on issues they were usually completely unqualified to comment on became  important as their music and the clothes they wore ect. Righteous causes became an essential accessory. We are still suffering the effects in the present day. Musicians have to subscribe to certain opinions and values or risk being ostracised. 

 

After the Live Aid performance, U2 very nearly split up. The rest of the band were furious with Bono for taking over and interacting with the crowd which forced the band to cut the song Pride which was at the time a huge hit for them, especially in the States. They ended up playing a 12 minute version of the song Bad due to Bono going off to interact with the crowd which meant they didn't have time to play their current hit single and the rest of the band felt like they were just passengers during the performance whilst Bono did his thing.

[Linus27]

Live Aid for me was the start of me taking up bass and getting into music. I had just turned 15 and was aware of music due to my two sisters constantly playing all the big groups of the 80's like Duran Duran, The Police, Level 42, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet etc. My dad was also into his big band Jazz and my mum was into her singers like Barry Manilow, Val Doonican, The Carpenters etc. So my childhood was full of music constantly playing in every room of the house. I hadn't at that time really gotten into music of my own as I was more into BMX and computer games but I came in from BMX'ing and sat down and by pure accident turned on the TV and saw the U2 set. I was blown away by it but mostly by Adam Clayton, strutting around the stage, with his black DM's, looking super cool, playing this beaten up Jazz bass and at that point I decided, that's what I want to do, I want to do what he's doing, I want some of that. From then on in, I got into music, took up the bass and the rest as they say is history.

[ezbass]

18 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

After the Live Aid performance, U2 very nearly split up. The rest of the band were furious with Bono for taking over and interacting with the crowd which forced the band to cut the song Pride which was at the time a huge hit for them, especially in the States. They ended up playing a 12 minute version of the song Bad due to Bono going off to interact with the crowd which meant they didn't have time to play their current hit single and the rest of the band felt like they were just passengers during the performance whilst Bono did his thing.

Good for them, that messing about was the most blatant prima donna behaviour, just because the whole World was watching. Live Aid wasn’t meant to be about ‘look at me’ - a total dick move and boring to watch/listen to. Contrast that with Simple Minds.

[Linus27]

7 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Good for them, that messing about was the most blatant prima donna behaviour, just because the whole World was watching. Live Aid wasn’t meant to be about ‘look at me’ - a total dick move and boring to watch/listen to. Contrast that with Simple Minds.

 

True, however, it turned out to be a career changing moment for them and considered one of the best performances at Live Aid. After the Live Aid show, all of U2's albums re-entered the charts and broke them into America. So it turned out to be a good thing for them.

[Lozz196]

35 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

After the Live Aid performance, U2 very nearly split up. The rest of the band were furious with Bono for taking over and interacting with the crowd which forced the band to cut the song Pride which was at the time a huge hit for them, especially in the States. They ended up playing a 12 minute version of the song Bad due to Bono going off to interact with the crowd which meant they didn't have time to play their current hit single and the rest of the band felt like they were just passengers during the performance whilst Bono did his thing.

The dreaded Lead Singer Disease in full flight

[Lozz196]

48 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Being a huge U2 fan, I was fortunate enough to work with the producer, Mark Wallis when we signed our record deal. He was chosen to produce our debut album and he was the mix engineer on U2's Joshua Tree album. He also produced the B sides on the album. I would spend many an hour discussing U2 with him which was also interesting. The one thing he told me which really stuck with me is something he said about Adam that sadly Adam is criticized for by other bassists. We were talking about Adam just playing 8's on a lot of track but he said there is no other bass player who can do that in time with as much consistency and drive that Adam. If you analyse each note, it is spot on in perfect time. Most other bass players waver in time but Adam is so accurate with his timing, which is why he does it so well. He is the same when playing 16's, for example on Where The Streets Have No Name. He said no other bass player he has worked with is as accurate or in time as Adam Clayton.

 

 

I`ve read that in a few places, and agree that whilst it might not seem particularly taxing playing straight 8s (or 16s) through a whole track spot on is much harder than many would think. Probably many wouldn`t even realise how off they were until seeing the notes on the display in the studio - myself def included in this. It`s quite eye-opening to see just how much you`ve wavered when you thought you`d nailed it. Not all skills involve every fret and every string in a verse.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve read that in a few places, and agree that whilst it might not seem particularly taxing playing straight 8s (or 16s) through a whole track spot on is much harder than many would think. Probably many wouldn`t even realise how off they were until seeing the notes on the display in the studio - myself def included in this. It`s quite eye-opening to see just how much you`ve wavered when you thought you`d nailed it. Not all skills involve every fret and every string in a verse.

 

On the other hand if you can't "see" how much you are out if you think that you'd nailed it you probably had well enough for to serve the song. In the days before DAWs all you had were your ears to know if your performance was tight enough.

 

These days I'll only look at the screen if I don't like what I hear on playback, and much of the time it's simpler just to have another go, then starting moving individual notes about.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve read that in a few places, and agree that whilst it might not seem particularly taxing playing straight 8s (or 16s) through a whole track spot on is much harder than many would think. Probably many wouldn`t even realise how off they were until seeing the notes on the display in the studio - myself def included in this. It`s quite eye-opening to see just how much you`ve wavered when you thought you`d nailed it. Not all skills involve every fret and every string in a verse.

 

The key is to play along to tracks and ifyou can get it so your notes 'disappear' you are tight.

 

For straight 8s and 16s  I often push certain beats deliberately when I want it to have more energy.