David Bowie – Well Eye Never

Live Aid Review

I wasn’t old enough to see Live Aid when it was originally held on 13 July 1985, as I was only a toddler at the time. As if anyone needs reminding, the extraordinary concert was organised by Bob Geldof from the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure from Ultravox to raise funds for the victims of the devastating famine in Ethiopia. It brought together many of the world’s biggest music stars in London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, along with some additional contributions from other countries, and was broadcast live for 16 hours to nearly 2 billion viewers in 150 nations.

An event of such magnitude had never been attempted before, so given the speed in which everything was organised and coordinated, the generosity of the performers and other personnel who gave their time and expertise for free, and the challenges of running and broadcasting it all using the limited technology of the mid-80s, it was a colossal achievement.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid DVD booklet. On the left, a colour photograph shows a couple of large water jets being sprayed across the huge crowd in Philadelphia to keep them cool in the heat. On the right, a black and white photo shows frail African children and adults wrapped in blankets outdoors, stretching far into the distance.

It wasn’t a magic bullet that fixed all the problems in Africa of course, nor was it ever intended or expected to be. But it had a huge impact, exposing the suffering of Africans in a way that couldn’t be ignored by politicians, the media or the public, and it raised an estimated £150 million that saved countless lives. It also launched a movement to fight poverty and injustice that has continued in various forms to this day, including the Live 8 concerts that followed in 2005, plus other charity records and events.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid booklet. A yellow strip across the top has text that says Band Aid chartered three ships which sailed every week to Africa.
The ships carried medicine, tents, trucks, vegetable oil, grain, and flour. Below this is a photo of one of the ships and 2 photos of the aid packages on board. Below those images is a photo of the group finale at the end of the Wembley concert, led by Bob Geldof and Bono, and a large photo spanning both pages that shows the huge crowd in Wembley, with the stage on the right.

So obviously I did hear about Live Aid while I was growing up, and saw occasional clips here and there. But it was only when they released a DVD in 2004 that I finally got to really appreciate what it was like. Granted, several tracks were missed out, many of which have since been posted on the official Live Aid Youtube channel, and there are unofficial uploads of most of the others. So it would be amazing if they did an extended 40th anniversary release next year to fill in at least some of the gaps. One can hope at least. But as things stand, the DVD is still a fabulous record of the event, containing 10 hours of material.

I also got a further sense of what the experience must have been like recently thanks to the musical Just For One Day, which has just ended its 2-month run at the Old Vic Theatre. I had an amazing time seeing it with a touch tour and audio description.

So as a special extended post for Easter, I thought I’d take a deep dive into this massive event, by reviewing the DVD in conjunction with other videos online that fill in the gaps and add further context. I’ve also created UK and US playlists on Youtube with nearly all of the performances, along with a selection of interviews and other extras. So I hope you enjoy!

London 2012 Revisited – Olympics Closing Ceremony

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the glorious London Olympics from 10 years ago, hence my recent lengthy reviews of the Opening Ceremony, Days 1-8 and Days 9-16. There are loads of great memories, and some things I’d forgotten about that I’ve been happily reminded of. So naturally it’s time to look back at the Closing Ceremony, which was overseen by creative director Kim Gavin.

As big and important as the occasion was, it’s fair to say it wasn’t quite as epic or impressive as the Opening Ceremony – but then it didn’t need to be. We had already put on a fantastic show over the previous few weeks, and so now we could just let our hair down and have fun, and thank everyone for making the Games such a success. This was more of a party than a ceremony really, focusing on the best of British music and culture with a variety of big-name artists. Most of the tracks appeared on the soundtrack album A Symphony Of British Music, compiled by the ceremony’s musical director David Arnold, which I own in my collection. It contains a mixture of original music written for the ceremony, cover versions of well-known songs, and special re-recordings by artists of their own tracks for the event.

And it was still very enjoyable on the whole. It’s very unlikely that everything would have appealed to everyone but, depending on your musical and cultural tastes, there would have been a few particularly memorable or special moments for each person watching. That was certainly the case for me anyway – there are some parts I can easily skip over, and other bits I can watch over and over again.

And visually it looked very cool as well, not just in terms of the costumes, dancing, fireworks and so on, but also the creative use of the ‘pixels’ – the coloured lights behind each audience member – that created animated patterns around the stadium throughout the show, and the impressive Union Jack stage – designed by artist Damien Hirst – that filled the floor of the stadium.

The ceremony lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes, and is included in its entirety on the final fifth disc of the BBC’s Blu-ray set. There are no alternative audio options and no scene selection menu (though there are chapter points you can skip through). You simply get the broadcast coverage with the BBC commentators led by Huw Edwards, but that’s generally fine as they don’t interfere too much. They’re most involved when the athletes are making their way into the stadium, while at other times they just give a bit of contextual information, which is actually very useful. And by all accounts we had much better TV coverage than some overseas viewers. The only extra on the disc is a long PDF with the full list of credits for the ceremony, which you can see if you put it into a computer’s Blu-ray drive. Not quite as long as the equivalent document for the Opening Ceremony, but still pretty lengthy.

You can also watch the full ceremony on the Olympics Youtube channel, where they have their own commentators. As with their Opening Ceremony coverage, it starts with a beautiful helicopter shot travelling slowly over London towards and around the stadium, showing off the city and the venue wonderfully. And there are other videos online relating to the ceremony as well, including a bit of footage from the audience and behind the scenes. So, like I’ve done with my previous posts, I’ve compiled a Ceremony Playlist on Youtube, with relevant clips and the complete music soundtrack if you want to look through it.

And so, with all that said, let’s crack on with my look back at the ceremony. It won’t be anywhere near as lengthy as my Opening Ceremony coverage, as there’s much less to discuss this time. But I hope you enjoy!

Journal – January 2016 (Guernsey Holiday)

So here we go with another year – hopefully my final one in Devon, as we feel determined to make the move to London happen now after all the delays.

But to start with, 2016 has got off to a fun start, because I’ve visited my best mate in Guernsey again, the first time I’ve seen him since I was Best Man at his wedding last September. These are my first journal entries since that event, as there was nothing else of interest to write about for the last few months of 2015.

So I hope you enjoy reading about my little holiday – including an awkward bus trip, the latest Star Wars film and a games night, among other things – plus a few other updates.

Journal – January-February 2005

Welcome to another set of journal highlights. I’m combining 2 months together here, as I haven’t written a huge amount for each. But I’m currently in the early stages of a new temporary job with my local council, working in their Printing department. There won’t be always a lot to say about it, and there are some details I’ve left out for confidentiality, but you should still get a good sense of how I’ve been getting on. And as always there’s plenty of entertainment I’ve been enjoying, plus another top 100 list from the TV, about music videos this time. So I hope you enjoy!