Live AID: At the time, did you think Queen stole the show?

I had to work that day and could not see it live on MTV, but I set our VCR to record in long mode, I think like 6 hour mode. I timed my lunch to come home and change the tape. I started watching it that night and finished the next day.....Before any reports came out I instantly thought Queen was the highlight of the event. I was a pretty decent Queen fan back then, you have to remember that Queen had kinda been in pause mode when LiveAid came on, so many were happy they performed.
The Who was the other highlight for me but yea, like U2, their performance was so-so as many others were too. From start to finish, Queen was stellar in that 20 some odd minutes. Watch the various YT performances of the day.......the movie was very accurate when you compare but nothing is like the real deal.

At the time they stole the show......Even today it is evident that Queen owned the day.

 

The show took place in London and Philly so there was a divide between the American acts sort of balkanized and siloed between rock, r&b, and pop while the British show showcased the British scene with more obscure but seminal British acts alongside legends of the 60s and 70s. Many of the Americans were ornery and cranky while Jagger and Bowie shook their arses for world hunger...phil collins took a concorde and appeared at both shows. But right down the middle came Queen.. rocking the global 8 trk with their 70s hits...spanning r&b with bites the dust..britpop and wembley with radio gaga... they could could command stadiums in rio, kansas city, and london and showed it!

 

Live Aid remains one of my fondest musical memory...and i was only watching it on TV

Queen's set was great, easily one of the better live TV performances ever.
unfortunately, it didn't do much to curtail the fading status of Queen in US (that only happened with Wayne's World 6 years later).
i remember being surprised of seeing 'Live Magic' album while browsing through an import section at my local shop...i didn't even know its existence.
Captial/EMI didn't even bother releasing it in the States and this was only year after Live Aid
revisionist these days makes it seem like Queen was Zeppelin all along but that was hardly the case, not in US anyways.

 

True... didnt help Queen as a recording act. Though throughout they were playing to massive audiences around the world. Their post 82 albums were iffy and undistinguished but they got MTV airplay and my cousin who was a fanatic always talked up their 80s work and owned all of it on vinyl and CD.... including Flash and Highlander so they never went away for me!

 

It's no exaggeration to say that Queen were outstanding on the day, but it is an exaggeration to say that they were a band whose fortunes were on the slide in 1985.

Yes, they were dropping off the radar in North America. Yes, Hot Space and FressieFr first solo album were not bbx office blockbusters. But in the rest of the world they'd just had another huge tour, and they'd had an album with a couple of massive singles (The Works).

It might be more accurate to say that the band's commercial fortunes began to rebound with Radio GaGa, in 1984.

Also, Queen were one of the few bands on the bill who were used to playing stadium sized crowds. On their Latin American tours, they had sometimes played to crowds nearly twice as big as Wembley.

 

Oops, got mixed up, thanks for letting me now.

 

Even folks that weren't Queen fans thought that owned the show.

 

I loved Queen's performance but I admit I was dazzled by most of the others.

 

Is there any more context available please to what Jodie said, e.g. did she specifically mention Queen?

 

Live Aid was a massive incredible event! It was a magical experience that brought together a lot of great talent with big hearts. I don't think "competition" was part of the event because they sang to us & the world, we listened & enjoyed! To compare one act to another would be irrelevant because those acts performed for their fans & gained new fans that day. It was an event like no other & should be remembered as such. My opinion.

 

The Zep thing with Phil Collins was abysmal compared to that disaster Queen were Golden Gods.

 

I just read that before starting this thread, but in searching for the article, i found this one:

Who Are Ya? Jodie Whittaker reveals all on her journey to becoming the 13th Doctor

...which is from a month before the movie came out but has the same quote I read today.

So maybe I should do a big Gilda Radner 'Nevermind.'

 

I was there at the London event at Wembley, and am a fan of each of them, but I’d say U2 were the real stars at the time, followed by Queen and Bowie. It arguably put U2 on another global level, thanks to Bad. History (especially in 2019) has chosen to put Queen first - not least since the movie Bohemian Rhapsody starts and ends with their performance and makes a big play of their rehearsing for it. But at the time I’d say U2 shaded it, as though Geldof had sprinkled the Irish fairy dust.

 

I don't think I even watched any of the Philly show.The only I can remember was Black Sabbath and I think Judas Priest played ..?
But in answer to your question,yes..I think Queen stole the show.And I'd say that even if they had not been my fave band for the last 38 years.
Some how,i missed Freddie and Brians acoustic set.Were there any acts that were not broadcast?I did not have cable at the time,but watched a lot of the show on a local UHF channel based in Kansas City MO.

 

Absolutely! There was no better act that day!

 

I was 3 at the time, so I can only judge by looking at the dvds However...
Queen's immediate surge of album sales following Live Aid might be an indicator that they "stole the show" . I think U2 also had a strong boost of sales right after Live Aid.

Also, it's not by accident that Geldof praised (and continues to praise) Queen's performance.
They got it right. Rehearsed properly, a good selection of songs, and Freddie in great voice. And they were kind of used to the stadium format as well

 

the yanks were cranky? lol now I have to know, who?

 

Not at all. I know they were a standout. U2 and Bowie were also showstoppers.

 

It was felt at the time that Queen had done something amazing. Looking back at the video, I feel an equal case can be made for U2’s “Bad” in that both Queen & U2 managed to turn the entire crowd (seemingly) into their own audience. Bono gets a lot of hatred, but he certainly brought to that performance the confidence of a great front man.

For me though ... I wasn't interested in U2 at the time and I was too big a Queen fan to be surprised by their performance. My personal highlight (which I don't expect others to share) was Howard Jones's performance of “Hide & Seek”. Howard was very much one of the chart fodder pack at the time, yet he came out and performed - solo - at the piano. His performance didn't get a whole lot of discussion in the context of the bigger acts (and it was early in the day UK so it wouldn't have been seen by a large US audience) but it forever changed my opinion of him, and I can't be alone in that.

 

I had no expectations on the day, but when Queen kicked off, it was something really special. As I watched their performance, There was a realisation that these guys were all out to be the best on the day. They were, and by some distance IMO.
Mercury owned the stage and had the crowd eating out of his hand within minutes. The band were terrific. I was not a Queen fan before that performance, but that all changed.

 

Live Aid (Live, 13th July 1985) ... | Various Artists | MP3 Downloads | 7digital United States

I think for the money ($11 for flacs) it's hard to go wrong with this deal, even if it seems to be a rip of the DVD soundtrack. Many of the performances hold up very well. Also, when it says "disc" it's actually DVD timing, so these discs are much longer than 75min each.

 

at the time I thought Queen did steal the show, they were obviously very much at home in the stadium context.

 

At the time, I recall being most impressed by the Who's set, even though it was hit by a relay (ha!) glitch halfway through. I was aware that the Who were supposed to be a great live band and I'd seen some footage, but before the days of youtube, there wasn't that much available. It almost certainly wasn't one of their best performances, but the energy was still there.

I've never been much of a Queen fan and in 1985 a lot of people still hadn't forgiven them for Hot Space. I remember thinking they were good, though, but no more than that. It was only later that you realised something special had happened: one of those rare moments when perfumers and audience achieve such perfect synchronicity that they merge into one entity. It helped that Queen have a lot of anthemic songs which were perfect for the occasion.

 

cool, one of things that struck me was Madonna actually sang...she was basically known as a video star and I was expecting her to lipsynch, but she sang (not too bad), and made fun of her recent nude penthouse cover

 

No, as is the case pretty much any time they hit the stage, especially with other top acts (which brings out their best) the band that stole Live Aid was The Who.





(BTW, this was the consensus of everyone I spoke to at the time who watched the benefit).

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