CMH LIVE AID

This transcription is about the Live Aid concert that took place in 1985 with performances in London and Philadelphia. It mentions the lineup of artists, the excitement and anticipation of the event, and some behind-the-scenes stories. It also mentions the mishaps and challenges faced during the concert, including technical difficulties and the absence of Wham! from their scheduled performance. The performance by Queen is described as rushed and not well-received. Overall, the transcription provides a glimpse into the atmosphere and experiences surrounding Live Aid. Oh, we were determined we were going to change the world that day. The concert will take place on July the 13th, which is a Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London and at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. The people taking part in alphabetical order will be Brian Adams, Adam Ant, the Boomtown Rats, David Bowie. We were going to make a difference. We didn't have that much spare money, but what we did have, we were going to put with some purpose into the global jukebox. It's 12 noon in London, 7 a.m. in Philadelphia, and around the world, it's time for Live Aid. Wembley welcomes their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales. Now, I didn't think much of the first band on, some bloody brass band. All them flags and bunting, I could have seen all that at a village fete back home, which to this day, I still get a flea in my ear for missing from my mum. She was minding the cake stall on her own, but they weren't on for long. I'm afraid I just burst into tears at the excitement of it all. The weather, if you like, was the proper guest of honour. It was a perfect, beautiful British summer day. Can you imagine what it would have been like if it had been raining? Rather wet, I imagine, and we hadn't brought our pack-o-macs. I was rather hoping to see the Queen, but I think they'd sent along the Duke of Edinburgh and Sarah Ford, if you like, which was a bit of a blow. Well, I couldn't see much anyway, I was at the back at the time, but we had some sandwiches and a flask of tea, so it was going to be OK. And now, to start the 16 hours of Live Aid, would you welcome Sailors' World! Oh, my God! Are you all right? Are you all right? Everybody, hands down, are you all right? That was funny. It still makes me laugh. I suppose they do sound similar, don't they? ELO and status quo. Francis Rossi and Rick Hartwig were absolutely pissing themselves. They were backstage at the time, listening to it all from a herbal bath. Splashing about in this enormous herbal bath. Huge thing. Geldof, he had the thing brought in specifically for George Michael, for him to prepare for the extended Wham! set later in the afternoon. Oh, yeah, it was a dream for me. I'd just done my A-Levels. I live locally, and I found myself there backstage, stroke of luck. I mean, just to take in the whole event, I was doing a bit of roadie-ing, a bit of catering, a bit of everything. I was a band-aid volunteer. Elastoplasterers, or the Stratocasterers, we called ourselves. Who was I most looking forward to seeing, apart from the Queen? I don't know, there were so many to choose from. Adam and the Ants and Wham! Coming here for the musical for charity. For charity, and the musical. I think it's the best thing I've ever done. I think it's the best thing I've ever done. For charity, and the musical. I mean, I wouldn't go if it was just the Wurzels, and if it was the Wurzels and the Sack Fizz, I wouldn't bother. But, I mean, it's all these people, I mean, it's making history. So, here's something that we don't normally get to talk about when it comes to Live Aid, because this is kind of thrown under the carpet. Wham! was originally due to have the slot immediately before Queen, late that afternoon, Saturday. They'd been rehearsing for weeks. They'd had the whole thing sorted out, so that all their hits were condensed into this one fantastic medley. They were going to showcase it live, and then use that as the platform for George, God rest his soul, to go solo. And credit to Andrew Ridgely, because he's arrived 24 hours early on the day. And he phoned George that morning, having had a fantastic time, out on the town the previous evening, really letting his hair down, while he had some hair. But, unfortunately, he'd read the production schedule wrong, and so he's been out on the raft all night, in Philadelphia. So, George, well, George is apoplectic, as you might imagine. I mean, they were like some old married couple, even then, they were bickering, they were squabbling, they were quarrelling. I remember him screaming, get your fucking skinny arse and your bass guitar over here, now, Ridgely! Well, I'm going solo, I don't care how you do it, I am, I am! I will, and I mean it! And he did mean it, too, because, of course he did. They went their separate ways, next year. And just like any couple that's been together that long, you did wonder So, calming him down was very difficult, it was a very highly pressurised day. He had to be persuaded to get into his herbal radox bath, which was totally unheard of, although understandable, because status quo was still in it at the time. Comatose by now, of course. All of a sudden, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Adam Hanks I stuffed my sandwiches back into their little bag and I started making my way to the front of the arena at some speed. Yeah, but even on my way to the back, I said, come on, on his own, without the Ants, just him. There's no Marco, Merrick, Cherry D, there's not even Gary Chibs that I could rank out, never mind Diana Dawes, which was a crushing disappointment. Adam Ant, he was dressed in a black leather jacket with dangly, frilly accessories, and he was doing these very, very energetic physicals, dancing back and forth, and back and forth, way up and down, wherever you like, all over the stage. He was very excitable. I remember, I remember that, and I charged my way to the front, barging my way through. I did love Adam and the Ants, and I would yell him, stop being dandy, show him being handsome, stand and deliver your money all your life. And I got a punch in the face from a burly gentleman who had his arm around his wife. Anyway, I just about got to the front, I was nursing a black eye, and I was just so happy, I just burst into tears. And then he buggered off. What a crippling song. I didn't feel much of that world epic, really bloody two shoes in my eye. But Nick Kershaw and I got through it, and we still head round to look forward to. So, let me take you back. If you are a UK TV viewer, you are in the midst of all the excitement going on on stage, and rambling, and what's due to happen in Philadelphia. You're faced with a TV screen that basically has nothing on it but a guy, and a guy, and a guy talking to a guy about Phil Collins trying to get to New York. This was ridiculous. So, pointlessly, Phil Collins is heading off to Philadelphia. He's done a set here in the UK. Noel Edmonds is flying a helicopter from Wembley to Heathrow. Phil Collins is on that helicopter. Phil Collins gets off that helicopter and gets on a Concorde. Concorde goes from here to Philadelphia or thereabouts. We don't actually know where it was. Would you like to contribute your piece and talk to Phil Collins, please? Now, a link-up like that these days would be no problem at all. That's what we do all the time. We text each other and we speak to each other and we make sure each other knows where we are. It isn't a problem. But back in 1985, it really was. And it didn't make for good TV. And it was the BBC, of course. They could not possibly have gone to an ad break A chance to win the cruise of a lifetime and Leslie Proud has gone. Because that wouldn't have worked at all. So, the TV picture has dropped out. Phil Collins is sky high and he's supersonic traveling above the Atlantic moving towards America but hang on who's this coming the other way checking his watch, head in his hands in his own Concorde of course, it's Andrew Ridgely He's heard what George has said and naturally Andrew Ridgely in his Concorde and Phil Collins in his Concorde they're going to pass each other in mid-air and thanks to the ridiculous marvels of technology lost forever is that magic moment halfway between the two concerts symbol of global togetherness when they manage to pass each other at 35,000 feet and they wave to each other from their two Concordes this is quite a feat at a combined closing speed of 2,708 miles per hour but of course it's lost so by then word had got round backstage that Andrew Ridgely was on his way back and George Michael obviously had come down and he wouldn't get out of his bloody bath which was usual but I persuaded him to leave the Sophie Suds behind and I started to tell him down a bit but he kept yelling where's Andrew, when's he going to be here he was very very insecure about it it sounds a bit harsh now but I tell it like it is you could see that they depended on each other so much and George was having a bad time waiting for Andrew to turn up and still at that time there was no sign of Ridgely so he's on his way we know that but while you two were on George was asked if he doesn't turn up do you just want to go on your own and do the set on your own and George was having none of that and he stuck to that so Wham didn't go on the crowd weren't happy I mean the Wham fans of course all the teenage girls in the crowd they were booing and they were throwing bottles of piss at the stage guess who had to collect all that and poor Queen they came on 15 minutes late bearing in mind at this point we've tipped the wink to Bono he's gone into the crowd to let people know that Wham weren't coming on it seems individual so Queen very famously had to condense their slot into what amounted to a very rushed and rather pedestrian trot through some of their hits and Queen's performance at Live Aid that day has gone down sadly as one of the worst performances in musical history now this is a bit of proper rock history because all the daytime acts of Live Aid were limited to a strict 15 minute set or most of them anyway if you're not Bono the stage built into Wembley one band on another setting up behind a backdrop at one point they had the idea of pulling the stage around on its axis underneath with a team of shire horses that isn't a joke that is fact anyway they decided against that and this guy Kieran he had the job of pedalling this converted rally grifter bike hang on I'll just jump on it here we go the gears they are here the derailleur system leads to a crankshaft there's a long series of rods and spindles that leads to a much larger sprocket you can see the actual radial projectors there if you look closely there's a flange which is unusual eventually as you can see above his head there would be an enormous automatic lazy Susan which leads to the turning of the stage there it is a bit faster than necessary at the moment but you can see it still works bloody hell of course Kieran doesn't know and accidentally lean your elbow on this little lever the thing starts flying backwards but it's a safety insurance it's in case the stage starts turning and the band that were on before aren't quite ready to come off or if Bono for example comes back late from snogging some bird in the crowd now Elton John is backstage he's getting ready to come on and this guy Kieran he's fallen asleep at the wheel so off it goes slamming into action and Billy Connolly has to go on a bit earlier than planned and then comes Elton and the whole world gets the unfortunate sight of him coming into view stage right in someone else's undercrackers and to this day we don't know who they were but they weren't Nick Kershaw I'm going to meet a fan of mine and I'm going to sing one of my songs and this guy I admire very much for his musical talent more than anything else so on stage it's the George Michael Mr Andrew Ridley and he's made it Andrew just in time but old Andrew Ridley he's a stalwart there's no bass guitar there he hasn't brought that on he just shrinks Andrew Ridley to the rear of the stage yeah they loved each other they knew each other's strengths and they worked towards them both and God bless him George to me it's even odder to think that they left it the next year after Live Aid they left each other so we do kind of get to see after all don't get me wrong it wasn't really me that was their fan really we met at school when Curtis Whistler was number one in the charts and a funny thing actually she and George Michael had very similar hairdos which was a bit odd it's funny neither George nor Andrew seemed to me to function as well apart and without the other I understand that Andrew Ridley spent most of George's solo career time doing little acts of kindness he was playing for things he was allowing people to enjoy themselves quietly he was letting George take some of the credit and of course the thing about that day all of us there were inspired to do a bit more good and be a bit nicer to each other because in the end it's who you share the good times with that's more important than the good times themselves do you see and very sadly like George she died not long ago but I hear our happiness in their music which is part of me and it's inside me and it's very sad she'll never ever leave me because I shall never let her go I think you know the next note it might be a bit of a cock up but if you want to cock it up you may as well do it with 2 billion people watching the last cock it up together when the whole thing ended everyone was in such a state of awe things would have gone by in such a dash it was just one amazing day I just burst into tears I'll never forget it I'm not a very privileged man to have been part of it at all and being part of the whole scene that day and beyond working with unruly musicians and their egos and their habits and their swearing and their drunkenness it has served me well because I'm now a bus driver for a primary school it was so hard to pick out one highlight from all the music I suppose my highlight of the day would also have to be my low light we'd all seen it on the news reports of course but it was no less upsetting the second time and more so even backstage we all stopped what we were doing except status quo it was a very curious decision to have made the way the whole day had gone it wasn't a surprise because everything up until that point had been so perfectly well executed and all the decisions made were sound and valid this seemed to me to be a misstep what they did to the video was a great idea but badly executed it turned out to be crap everyone was crying it says it wasn't just me I had tears in my eyes and all I mean did we really need to see old wrinkly leather faced rubber lips and the great dames dancing and prancing and gurning through the desert arms flailing around like agitated frenzied windmills the video had an unfortunate effect on me it made me hungry which I don't think was the point 35 years on we didn't solve very much really in the grand scheme of things did we? just for one day maybe just that day the world did shift just a little bit on its axis and it was it was such a beautiful glorious day