{"id":16566,"date":"2025-07-22T22:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/16566\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T22:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:57:10","slug":"bono-george-w-bush-phil-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/16566\/","title":{"rendered":"Bono, George W. Bush, Phil Collins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cIt was our Woodstock, but better,\u201d Nile Rodgers asserts in Live Aid<\/a>: When Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll Took on the World, referring to the all-star charity concerts broadcast around the world 40 years ago. Boomers may quibble, even with the presence of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and a reunited Led Zeppelin<\/a> at those shows. But when it came to ambition, funds raised, and global cooperation, Rodgers has a point. <\/p>\n

\n\tThose 1985 multi-artist shows in London and Philadelphia \u2014 which raised the equivalent of $450 million in today\u2019s currency for African famine relief and boasted lineups full of legends and icons of the MTV era (U2, Madonna<\/a>, Duran Duran) \u2014 aimed big and worked better than anyone could have expected. And that\u2019s not counting the two charity singles from that period, Band Aid\u2019s \u201cDo They Know It\u2019s Christmas?\u201d and USA for Africa\u2019s \u201cWe Are the World,\u201d or the Live 8<\/a> follow-up benefit shows that happened in 2005. All combined, one can easily imagine a multi-hour documentary on that time when pop stars decided it was time to give something back and prove to the world that they weren\u2019t just apolitical hedonists.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirected by Tom Pollard, Live Aid: When Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Took on the World aims to tell that story, and indeed over multiple hours. Part one (about the making of the Band Aid single and plans for Live Aid) debuted on CNN July 13, and the three subsequent parts arrive on Sundays through Aug. 3. Parts two and three delve into the making of \u201cWe Are the World\u201d and the Live Aid shows, and part four explores Live 8. (The Greatest Night in Pop<\/a>, the recent Netflix doc about the making of \u201cWe Are the World,\u201d remains the definitive chronicle of that song, though.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter 40 years, Live Aid is still remembered for a handful of made-for-TV moments: Queen\u2019s triumphant takeover at Wembley Stadium, Madonna saying she\u2019s \u201cnot taking shit off\u201d to a heckler during her set at JFK Stadium (photos of her had just appeared in a porn mag), Jagger and Tina Turner cavorting onstage together in Philadelphia, Phil Collins<\/a> taking the Concorde jet to join Led Zeppelin in the States after playing a few of his own songs in London. (Whether all of these are as iconic as Hendrix playing \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d or Country Joe McDonald leading the \u201cFish Cheer\u201d at Woodstock is another matter.) But Live Aid still manages to unearth plenty of new insights and details, thanks to interviews with organizer Bob Geldof<\/a>, Bono<\/a>, the Who\u2019s Pete Townshend, and politicians (like George W. Bush<\/a> and Tony Blair) who came aboard for Live 8, which aimed to help African nations struggling with debt and the AIDS crisis. A few things we learned from the four-part doc:<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\t\tForty-one years after \u201cDo They Know It\u2019s Christmas?\u201d Bob Geldof remains the tormented soul of the whole endeavor.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Live Aid reminds us, the charity concerts and records began when Geldof, then best known as lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, watched a television news report about people in Ethiopia dying of starvation. Soon after, he found himself at a fashion-book launch party, where, as seen in the doc, he starts talking about the crisis while a fellow partygoer asks him if he wants more champagne. Geldof then became obsessed with ensuring pop could play a role in raising money and awareness of the crisis.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s had to stick with it through all these years, thick and thin,\u201d Pete Townshend says of Geldof, and he\u2019s right. Now 73, the scruffy-as-ever Geldof has the haunted gaze of someone who witnessed (and coped with) more than he\u2019d bargained for. Live Aid shows all the ways he could have easily pulled out all of his now-white hair while working on both the charity concerts and the single. We see his reaction when he\u2019s told, during Live Aid, that not enough people are calling in, leading to Geldof going on camera himself to hector viewers into forking over more cash. Rounding up artists for Live 8 after filling Blair in on African deaths in 2005 (\u201cIt\u2019s happening again\u201d! he screams at the prime minister over the phone), Geldof finds himself again badgering musicians to sign up for another charity show. \u201cDid I have to call all these people again?\u201d Geldof recalls. \u201cThe embarrassment of it, you have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tWe see him phoning Jagger to see if he\u2019d reprise his performance from the 1985 show. (\u201cWe have to think about it, Bob,\u201d says Jagger, who does not participate.) When Geldof learns that it will take five years for the most powerful countries on the world to double their African relief funds after Live 8, he practically loses it at a press conference, which even Bono calls \u201ca very, very intense moment.\u201d Geldof, in other words, has earned his white locks.<\/p>\n

\t\tMany had doubts about many different aspects of the records and shows.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAs revealed in new interviews, Queen\u2019s Brian May thought the idea of broadcasting Live Aid around the world via satellite was \u201ca hare-brained scheme.\u201d Ultravox\u2019s Midge Ure, who co-wrote and produced the Band Aid single, recalls hearing Geldof\u2019s acoustic demo for \u201cDo They Know It\u2019s Christmas?\u201d and thinking it sounded too much like Bob Dylan. Geldof readily confesses that he wasn\u2019t the biggest fan of Queen, who did not get a headlining slot at Live Aid. \u201c\u2019We just use the studio as an instrument\u2019 \u2014 fuck off!\u201d Geldof says, describing his initial, punk-raised skepticism of them. (But like most of us watching, Geldof was won over by their utterly commanding set.) When Geldof reached out years later to Madonna \u2014 by mail \u2014 to see if she\u2019d play Live 8, as she did Live Aid, she wrote him back, dispensing with the cordialities and expressing skepticism about where the money would go. As Geldof recalls of the way the letter started, \u201cIt said, \u2018So\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tQuestions about the lack of Black artists dogged both Live Aid and Live 8.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAs soon as the lineup for the first Live Aid was announced, the low percentage of prominent Black pop stars (only 10 percent) was duly noted, and Geldof was taken to task. A Black U.K. journalist is seen here saying the show was coming from a \u201cwhite paternalistic place.\u201d In interviews at the time, Geldof replied that his organization had approached the Black artists who participated in \u201cWe Are the World\u201d \u2014 Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross \u2014 and well as Prince (who didn\u2019t partake in either), and said they\u2019d heard nothing back. In a new interview, Geldof still defends the absence of diversity at the London show as being \u201can entirely logical and practical matter,\u201d meaning there simply weren\u2019t too many massively popular Black British artists at the time, in his opinion; only Sade is represented.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Philadelphia show wound up being more diverse, thanks to the participation of Tina Turner, Patti LaBelle, Ashford and Simpson, Run-D.M.C., Billy Ocean, and the Four Tops. As we see in the moment where she flung off her shoes and danced barefoot, LaBelle was concerned she would be electrocuted thanks to water and wiring on the stage. And in the end, Richie says he flew to Philadelphia just in time to participate in the unfortunately anticlimactic \u201cWe Are the World\u201d finale, which was still missing about 90 percent of its original participants.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe diversity issue re-emerged at the 2005 Live 8 shows, especially in London, where the only African artist on the bill was Senegalese pop star Youssou N\u2019Dour. (Again, the Philly show was more wide-ranging, thanks to a lineup that included Jay-Z, Destiny\u2019s Child, Alicia Keys, and Will Smith.) Of the London show, Bono says, \u201cWe did our best to make it more involving of African artists and failed. We fucked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tThe reunions were as fraught as we assumed they probably were.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBetween Live Aid and Live 8, a number of heritage acts whose members barely spoke to each other anymore \u2014 Led Zeppelin, the Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath \u2014 decided to put aside their grievances for the cause. Live Aid: When Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll Took on the World doesn\u2019t chronicle each of those reunions (nothing on Floyd, alas), but the ones included hint at the backstage drama.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time Geldof held a press conference to roll out the first lineup of Live Aid, the Who had been disbanded for several years. But that didn\u2019t stop Geldof from announcing they were participating before they\u2019d even been asked. \u201cNo, we weren\u2019t going to get back together,\u201d says a deadpan Pete Townshend. \u201cIt was blackmail.\u201d Looking back at the premature announcement of that band and others, Ure now says, \u201cIf I\u2019d done that, I would have been sued,\u201d but no one could deny Geldof\u2019s passion and commitment, and he prevailed. (And with \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again,\u201d the Who played as if they meant to blast poverty out of existence.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there\u2019s Led Zeppelin, who hadn\u2019t performed live since the death five years earlier of drummer John Bonham. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones clearly thought their set (with Collins filling in on the drum kit) was such a trainwreck that they\u2019ve never allowed it to be rebroadcast. Sure enough, we don\u2019t see even a second of it here. As MTV VJ Alan Hunter attempts to interview all four backstage after the set, he encounters such a non-responsive band that Collins has to continually speak on their behalf. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a very friendly place, the Zeppelin dressing room,\u201d Colins says now. \u201cRobert was great, but the other guys didn\u2019t seem to be keen on the idea of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tSpeaking of Collins, Cher materialized onstage at Live Aid in Philadelphia thanks to \u2026 him?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the things we learned from Live Aid is that not every moment at these shows was purely altruistic. Collins participated in the London show (backing Sting on \u201cEvery Breath You Take,\u201d for one thing) before hopping on a Concorde jet that took him to the U.S. in time for him to sing his own songs and then join Zeppelin. As a show promoter admits, the stunt was also a way to promote the Concorde, the One Percenter plane that could zip from London to the East Coast in just over three hours.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatching the way the media tracked Collins from his departure from Wembley to his arrival in Philadelphia was inadvertently comical at the time and remains so. The added bonus here is Collins recalling how he ran into a fellow passenger on that flight, Cher. When he told her of the show, she said, \u201cOh, could you get me on it?\u201d And there she was, joining in on the \u201cWe Are the World\u201d finale.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe tale of Paul McCartney<\/a> and his microphone is worth a documentary of its own.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe London Live Aid show was set to close with McCartney singing and playing piano on \u201cLet It Be.\u201d But the best-laid plans of Macca and men can easily go south, which happened that night when McCartney\u2019s mic went dead. He didn\u2019t realize the glitch, but Geldof, David Bowie, Townshend, and Yaz\u2019s Alison Moyet did and walked onstage to sing along. (\u201cPeter or David said, \u2018Let\u2019s help him,\u2019\u201d Geldof recalls.) The crowd joined in too, salvaging a potential disaster, but Geldof still recalls the moment with head-shaking disbelief, and production manager Andrew Zweck now recalls, sheepishly, that he\u2019s \u201cbeen forever embarrassed\u201d about it and has \u201cnever been invited to work with Paul since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEven Bono knew he was having a bad hair day.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tRemembering the mullet he sported at Live Aid, Bono still winces: \u201cI can\u2019t look at that fucking thing,\u201d he says. He also admits that the moment he waded into the crowd to help a young woman in distress was somewhat calculated: \u201cThe performer in me is looking for some kind of moment,\u201d he says. But it was effective, so give him that.<\/p>\n

\t\tRaising the money for food and relief was one thing; getting it to the people who needed it was another.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThis part of the story isn\u2019t news, but the various hurdles that the Live Aid organization faced, both in 1985 and 20 years later, are still eye-opening. The grain shipment to Ethiopia in 1985 was delayed due to local cartels charging a heavy surcharge for transporting it. Still flashing raw emotions, Geldof feels he was practically coerced into visiting Africa in 1985: The press was already bored with the story and needed a fresh angle, so he felt he had no choice but to visit a refugee camp. Two former Ethiopian government officials add now that they took issue with the title and lyrics of \u201cDo They Know It\u2019s Christmas?\u201d: \u201cThey didn\u2019t do their homework,\u201d says one. \u201cEthiopians are the oldest Christians in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tIn so many ways, Live Aid proves it really isn\u2019t 1985 or 2005 anymore.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the most jarring moments in Live Aid arrives with footage of world leaders convening for the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland. George W. Bush is there, as is then-British prime minister Tony Blair \u2014 and even Vladimir Putin, not looking entirely at ease but cooperating with the other heads of state regardless. As Blair says, \u201cIt was probably one of the last moments of truly global solidarity that I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInterviewed for the doc, Bush also supplies its most comical moments, intentionally or not. For Live 8, Bono had stepped up to be as much of a spokesperson as Geldof. (As Geldof notes wisely, \u201cBy this time he was a mega global superstar. I wasn\u2019t.\u201d) After Bush chief of staff Joshua Bolten tells his boss that Bono has requested a meeting, he then asks if Bush knows who he\u2019s talking about. \u201cYeah, he married Cher,\u201d Bush replies.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI could not tell if he was kidding,\u201d Bolten says, \u201cand I said, \u2018No, that\u2019s Sonny Bono, who is dead.\u2019\u201d When Bush convened with Bono and Geldof, the former president recalls, \u201cI didn\u2019t have a clue who Geldof was,\u201d adding that he \u201clooked like he\u2019d crawled out from underneath the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYet it\u2019s also striking to see an American president making the case for his country stepping up to assist poor, debt-ridden nations amidst the AIDS crisis. \u201cAt the time \u2026 I\u2019m president of what I consider to be the most generous nation in the world,\u201d Bush says, \u201cand we\u2019re doing nothing about it.\u201d And he made sure it happened, with no transactional aspect. Imagine that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was our Woodstock, but better,\u201d Nile Rodgers asserts in Live Aid: When Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll Took on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10863,10864,96,10865,10866,10867,1007,10868,2839,6470,10869,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-16566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-bob-geldof","tag-bono","tag-entertainment","tag-george-w-bush","tag-led-zeppelin","tag-live-8","tag-live-aid","tag-madonna","tag-movies","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-phil-collins","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}