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Irish Independent
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: Self Aid: How Ireland tried to sing its way out of unemployment
Forty years later, Live Aid is remembered as a cultural and humanitarian high point – a moment when music tried to change the world. But in Ireland, it sparked a very different idea. Less than a year after Live Aid, Dublin hosted Self Aid. This wasn't about famine relief in Africa. It was about Ireland's own wounds: rampant unemployment, economic stagnation and a generation losing faith. The goal was to rally support, raise funds and – perhaps more importantly – raise morale. It featured the biggest names in Irish music: U2, The Boomtown Rats, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy. It was the first and only concert of its kind in Ireland But did it work? Today on the Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Tony Boland, former music director at RTÉ, and by Tony O'Brien, former Irish Independent journalist and now media consultant, to go back to the day Ireland staged its own Live Aid – and ask why, nearly 40 years on, Self Aid still raises eyebrows.
Irish Independent
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Indo Daily: Self Aid: How Ireland tried to sing its way out of unemployment
Forty years later, Live Aid is remembered as a cultural and humanitarian high point – a moment when music tried to change the world. But in Ireland, it sparked a very different idea. Less than a year after Live Aid, Dublin hosted Self Aid. This wasn't about famine relief in Africa. It was about Ireland's own wounds: rampant unemployment, economic stagnation and a generation losing faith. The goal was to rally support, raise funds and – perhaps more importantly – raise morale. It featured the biggest names in Irish music: U2, The Boomtown Rats, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy. It was the first and only concert of its kind in Ireland But did it work? Today on the Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Tony Boland, former music director at RTÉ, and by Tony O'Brien, former Irish Independent journalist and now media consultant, to go back to the day Ireland staged its own Live Aid – and ask why, nearly 40 years on, Self Aid still raises eyebrows.
Otago Daily Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Rock stars reunite for Live Aid's 40th anniversary
Sir Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats performs during the gala performance after party. Musicians who performed at Live Aid, the transatlantic concert that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia, have reunited in London to mark the event's 40th anniversary, attending a special performance of the musical Just For One Day. Queen guitarist Sir Brian May. Photo: Reuters Among the stars gathered at Shaftesbury Theatre on Sunday were Live Aid organisers Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, musician Nik Kershaw and actor Vanessa Williams. On that day in 1985, some of the biggest names in music came together for the televised international charity show, held simultaneously at London's Wembley Stadium and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. An estimated 1.5 billion people globally watched Live Aid via live satellite broadcasts. The event raised about $US100 million ($NZ167 million) and spawned similar events all over the world for decades afterwards. Irish rocker and activist Geldof told Reuters that Live Aid was still important because it showed the power of collaborative action. "And today in the age of the death of kindness, which [US President Donald] Trump, [Vice President J.D.] Vance and [Elon] Musk have ushered in, it probably resonates all the more strongly," Geldof said. David Bowie performing at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985. The musicians attended a performance of Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical, a behind-the-scenes stage musical featuring songs from Sunday's attendees as well as Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Madonna, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney. The musical, which had a run at London's Old Vic in 2024, transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End in May. It is produced with the permission of the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which gets 10% from the sales of all tickets. Queen's Freddie Mercury and Brian May on stage at Wembley. "It made me very emotional at the time. Even thinking about it now makes me emotional," May told Reuters, referring to Live Aid in 1985. Queen's performance that day at Wembley Stadium is widely regarded as a landmark concert in rock music history. "There has never been a day like that in my life," May said.
RTÉ News
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Live Aid at 40: Geldof, Queen and everything in between
Two venues, two billion viewers and, as pomp rockers Queen, who pretty much stole the whole show, would say - one vision. On the 13 July 1985 what still remains the biggest concert in history took place in Wembley Stadium in London and John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia - Live Aid, the global jukebox which just for one day united the world in an effort to help the starving peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea. This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the event and it really was a day when the world rocked out and united in a common goal. The eighties was a cynical decade of rampant financial deregulation, an era when "greed is good" trumped sixties idealism and seventies socialism. Today, we are even more jaded and pessimistic and looking back at this four decade remove, it is hard not to wonder at the bloody-minded naivety of Live Aid all those years ago. But somehow, despite the enormous technological and logistical challenges, it worked. More than 75 acts played London and Philly on the day, billions watched at home, egos were kept in check and the short sets guaranteed crowd-pleasing greatest hits packages from some of the biggest acts in the world. Even they felt like they were part of something bigger. In 2024 terms, $370 million was raised, with Ireland donating £7 million, more per capita than any other country in the world. And, of course, the whole thing was a very Irish affair. Dun Laoghaire boy Bob Geldof made it happen and it was also the day that U2 were propelled onto a higher plane with their spinetingling afternoon performance. They played Sunday Bloody Sunday and a very extended Bad that wandered off into snatches of Satellite of Love, Ruby Tuesday, Sympathy for the Devil and Walk on the Wild Side. And it wasn't just the song that wandered off and took a walk on the wild side: Bono, much to the chagrin of his bandmates, took off on another one of his then frequent peregrinations and climbed off stage and plucked a girl from the crowd for a slow set in a moment that seemed to crystallise the Live Aid dream. Bono's fellow Dubliner Geldof also provided another striking and frankly chilling moment during the early afternoon set from his band The Boomtown Rats. By 1985, the one time hit makers were pretty much a spent force but a jolt of electricity shot through Wembley when Geldof stood alone on stage and delivered the key line from I Don't Like Mondays - "and the message today is how to die". But it was Queen's 21-minute set that stole the whole day and is now recognised as one of the greatest live rock performances of all time. With front man Freddie Mercury commanding the whole of Wembley, the band played six songs, including Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You, and We Are the Champions, and quite simply mesmerised both the audience in the stadium and at home. It is generally agreed that the show in John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, just wasn't as good, with criticism and indeed anger focussing on Bob Dylan's utterly weird (imagine!) late evening performance. Dylan, who was already having a strange eighties, invited Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood to join him for acoustic takes on Blowing in The Wind, The Ballad of Hollis Brown and When the Ship Comes in. However, it was a clumsy comment he made from the stage that people remember the most. In halting tones, he said, "I hope that some of the money that's raised for the people in Africa, maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe one or two million, maybe, and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks." He had a very good point but his timing was all wrong and back in London, the other Bob was furious. However, Dylan got his wish and just two months later, the inaugural Farm Aid concert took place in Champaign, Illinois. As to Live Aid's legacy, some modern aid workers insist that the event helped put humanitarian issues at the centre of foreign policy for many countries. Call it soft power or just plain having an actual conscience. Critics at the time contended that Live Aid let governments and NGOs off the hook even though Geldof has since spent his life cajoling, haranguing and goading governments and NGOs into action. As for its impact on pop and rock music itself, Geldof and his collaborator, Midge Ure of Ultravox, toyed with the idea of calling the original Band Aid project The Bloody Do Gooders and Live Aid certainly gave pop stars a new outlook. A year after the event, U2, Sting, Bryan Adams and Peter Gabriel took off on the six-date 'A Conspiracy of Hope' tour to increase awareness of human rights and to mark Amnesty International's 25th anniversary. Also in 1986, British anarcho-punks Chumbawamba released an album entitled Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records. Of course, it wasn't the first time pop and rock got a conscience. Back in the sixties, peace and love and understanding was where it was at punk had its own crusading spirit but did Live Aid squander rock's right to be obnoxious (an article of faith Geldof held dear)? Forty years later, it remains one of the biggest events in music history and Geldof is justifiably proud of what was an extraordinary achievement. So where were you? Me? I watched the whole thing on RTÉ in a barn in Cootehill, Co Cavan (don't ask) on a battered old black and white TV we'd hooked up to a makeshift aerial fashioned from some cable and a coat hanger.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Music Quiz: How much were the tickets for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium?
Do They Know It's Christmas, the charity song that inspired Live Aid was recorded in which London studio? Abbey Road Studios Britannia Row Studios Olympic Studios Sarm West Studios Which British Army band opened Live Aid? Grenadier Guards Irish Guards Scots Guards Coldstream Guards The Boomtown Rats' song, I Don't Like Mondays, is about the elementary school shooting spree of US teenager Brenda Spencer. In which California city did the incident take place? San Francisco Santa Barbara San Jose San Diego Which Beatles song did Elvis Costello introduce as an 'old northern English folk song'? Yesterday All You Need Is Love Let It Be Here Comes the Sun How many minutes did Queen perform for at Live Aid? 20 21 22 23 Which music act played the longest set on the day? David Bowie The Who Elton John Paul McCartney Which UK pop act at Live Aid did Bob Geldof think of as 'passé'? Status Quo Nick Kershaw Howard Jones Adam Ant How much were the tickets for Live Aid at Wembley Stadium? £5 £10 £15 £20 Which UK music act were so embarrassed by their performance at Live Aid Philadelphia that they disowned it? Black Sabbath The Thompson Twins Duran Duran Led Zeppelin Which US music act officially opened Live Aid Philadelphia? The Beach Boys Madonna Joan Baez Tom Petty
