A GREAT DAY FOR... A GREAT CAUSE
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Live 8 |
"We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we hope you will enjoy the show..."
So launched ten hours of music
and message - billed as "the biggest and best rock concert the world
has ever seen", Live 8, on 2nd July 2005, was a collection of some of
music's greatest acts from the past and present, with concerts held in
countries worldwide. The shows were in aid of a message, not money -
the message being that poverty and death in Africa is avoidable if just
eight men, gathered in a room in Edinburgh in July, make the right
decisions.
Twenty years previously, the
world was witness to a unique event - the original Live Aid. Sadly,
present day conditions in the African continent forced the hand of Bob Geldof
to act again, to raise the profile of the problem, with the hope that,
once and for all, the situation is resolved for good. As we were shown
on the video screens, 50,000 children die a day from extreme poverty.
As a father to two small boys,
the message hit home on a very personal level. From the atmosphere in
London's Hyde Park during the day (where the UK show was), many of the
other 205,000 felt the same.
The day began with good natured
streams of people converging on the park, which is right in the centre
of the capital. An optomistic vibe travelled along the streets, a
flutter of excitement and wonder.
Standing halfway along Park Lane,
looking at the preparations for the event (and for the Gay Pride March
taking place around lunchtime, next to the park), we heard some last
minute rehearsals. It was very strange to be in London, at 10:30am on a
Saturday morning, hearing Paul McCartney and U2 going through their set!
Despite long queues (stretching
some three kilometres around the perimeter of the park) the crowds
waiting to go in seemed very good natured, and the British spirit of
queuing showed itself in its best light. Matters were helped by the
Live 8 signs dotted along the route, giving encouraging messages to
those waiting.
Fast forward a few hours - the
gates are open, people are streaming into the park, getting into
position for what promises to be a fascinating show (and a longer one
than anyone suspected). A predictable scrum surrounds the
merchandising, with t-shirts and programmes being snapped up, and
tempers start fraying as the concert start looms and the harried staff,
overstretched, struggle to serve their customers.
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U2 & Paul McCartney |
All
this is forgotten as 2pm strikes - under a grey sky, cloud heavy with
the threat of rain - we are taken back to 1985, and scenes from the
original event hit the screens that pepper the venue. Then, following a
curiously brief fanfare from a military band, on comes Paul McCartney and U2...and a foursome on brass wearing gaudy-coloured uniforms.
It was the first time that Macca
had performed the full version of "Sgt Peppers", and with U2 as his
backing musicians, a great way to start the show. Into the U2 set
proper, and "Beautiful Day" sets the mood wonderfully. What could be
seen as cheesy, watching at home on TV, hits exactly the right chord in
the park, when a flock of doves are released midsong, to wheel over the
crowd. At one point, Bono reminds the crowd: "This is our chance to
stand up for what's right".
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Sir Elton John |
The song "One" completes their set, to tumultuous applause. A hard act to follow, but Coldplay
are helped by the very tardy stage changes which are experienced
through two-thirds of the show (and contribute greatly to the overrun).
"In My Place" and "Fix You" go down well, and a big cheer met Richard Ashcroft
(The Verve) who performed "Bitter Sweet Symphony" with them. Coldplay's
Chris Martin echoed the feelings of many when he said "Geldof is a hero
of our time". He also threw in a bit of the Quo's "Rocking All Over The
World" for good measure, making up for their absence.
Sir Elton John is
introduced (no doubt to utter bewilderment worldwide!) by Lou and
wheelchair-bound Andy, characters from the BBC's popular comedy series
"Little Britain", and gives the crowd a couple of his livelier tracks -
"Bitch Is Back"/"Saturday Night's Alright", before introducing "one of
the best new talents of the moment, Pete Doherty".
The Babyshambles singer staggers
onto the stage, and gives his carcrash performance of T Rex's "Children
of the Revolution". Mouths are agape as the song comes to an end...
Female singer Dido runs through a well-judged, calm set, with Youssou N'Dour guesting on "Thank You" and "7 Seconds", which was received extremely well. This was followed by the Stereophonics, who got a good but not ecstatic reception.
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REM |
REM
completed the first main chunk of the show with a great performance.
Singer Michael Stipe, wearing his customary face paint, which
co-ordinated well with the colour of his shirt, got the crowd bouncing
up and down for "Man On The Moon", one of the big, memorable moments.
This followed from an emotional "Everybody Hurts", which sent a shiver
down the collective spine of the audience.
Despite her best efforts, Miss Dynamite
failed to grab much attention, and provided a good time for many to
head off for the burger vans and dubious portable toilets, being around
three hours into the show.
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Bob Geldof |
Keane
gained a number of new fans with a couple of songs - an impressive,
dynamic performance that proved you don't need a guitar amongst your
instrumentation. Travis furthered the reasonably mellow
late-afternoon feeling, with their catchy brand of music hitting the
spot for many. With the audience nervously eying the skies, "Why Does
It Always Rain On Me?" was well timed, and a number of umbrellas were
waived and twirled during the song.
Many people see Bob Geldof as a
hero, and who would therefore deny him a turn on the stage to run
through "I Don't Like Mondays"? The expected pause came with "...and
the lesson today, is how to die", and even if the impact felt at that
moment in the original Live Aid concert was lesser, 20 years later, it
still sent a shiver down the spine.
The poignant "Why" started Annie Lennox's
emotional performance, with video footage of AIDS-ridden little
children - especially poignant when the footage ended, telling us that
a large number of the children in the film had since died. "Sweet
Dreams", the Eurythmics classic, concluded her set, to tumultuous
applause.
For many, another lull in the acts followed, with UB40 running through a competent if rather tired set of their better known singalongs, Snoop Dogg and his cohorts throwing in lots of unnecessary swearwords, and Razorlight, a new band out to make an impression. As one of my friends said during their act: "If they are half as good as they think
they are, they are absolutely fantastic!" The lead singer, Johnny
Borrell, did both the standard media attention grabbers of taking off
the shirt, and jumping off the stage to get closer to the audience. Or
was it the cameramen?
Bob returns to the stage while
the crew do the changeover for the next act. To the eventual
accompaniment of The Car's "Drive" (a technical glitch had Geldof
bellowing at the crew to sort out the sound), we see the 1985 footage
that shocked the world into action. Bob stood in the middle of the
stage, watching the footage, and at the end, dared anyone to applaude.
With tears in most eyes, the film had obviously lost none of its power.
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Birham Woldu & Madonna |
The
film concluded with a shot of a near-dead girl. Geldof explained, "See
this little girl? She had 10 minutes to live 20 years ago, and because
we did a concert in this city and Philadelphia, and all of you came and
some of you weren’t born... because we did that, last week she did her
agricultural exams... She is here tonight... Don't let them tell us
[aid] does not work." He then introduced her - Birham Woldu - who is
now studying at a university in Ethiopia. Deservedly so, she got an
even bigger reaction from the crowd than Madonna, who shared the first number - "Like A Prayer" - with her.
Madonna went down as one of the
best received acts on the day, getting the crowd clapping along with
"Ray Of Light" and "Music". Dressed all in white, along with her band
and large choir, Madonna caught the attention and despite not dancing
as vigorously as she might have done in the past, she still showed her
command of an audience.
Five artists followed - all of
which of smaller stature, and keeping the crowd going until the
heavyweights arrived on stage later on. Hamstrung by most of the
audience being unfamiliar with their work, the bands still gamely
plugged away, making an impression on many, if not for the music, for
the effort they put in.
With time moving apace, it certainly felt like the first of these - Snow Patrol and The Killers - had their sets chopped down (indeed, The Killers even used some of Snow Patrol's instruments). Joss Stone hit the stage some seven hours into the show, and her impressive vocal talents nudged a weary crowd into life.
Next up, the Scissor Sisters.
Presumably in deference to Pink Floyd, there was no airing of their
biggest hit, but "Laura" and "Take Your Mama" got the crowd bouncing up
and down, as the clouds parted for the first time that day, giving a
glorious sunset over the back of the crowd.
Velvet Revolver,
made up of ex-members of bands such as Guns'n'Roses, provided a heavy
rock interlude to a largely bemused (and to be honest, bored) audience.
However good their performance might have been, it failed to grab
people's attention and few were upset when their three songs had
concluded. A shame for them, and their fans, on a day such as this.
With time cracking on, it was getting on for 9:30pm when Sting
reached the stage. The ex-Police frontman had the crowd singing along
with "Message In A Bottle", delivered a powerful "Driven To Tears", and
changed the lyrics to "Every Breath You Take", putting a new focus on
the G8 leaders - who appeared on the screens behind him.
Certainly, many of us in the audience were feeling very twitchy when Mariah Carey
appeared at around 10pm. The show was already half an hour over it's
extended finishing time, and looking at the running order, there were
still many artists to go. Would they all appear? Would they have their
sets curtailed?
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Mariah "Diva" Carey |
And
then Mariah starts wandering around the stage, in finest Diva mode,
demanding a flunky appears on stage so that she could take a couple of
tiny sips of water. Then, to compound matters, she starts asking for a
micstand. "I don't need one, I'd just like one. Is there one there
backstage? I'd like a micstand..."
Alternately booing and laughing
at her, the audience, in my section at least, seemed aghast at her
behaviour. With the clock ticking, no-one was interested in her
fancies. To make matters worse, Carey then, cynically, performed her
new single.
Thankfully, with the schedule
dramatically askew, and public transport services close to their
nighttime end, the stage crew were starting to get a lot snappier, and
the transition for the final acts was much better (even if The Who took
their time reaching the stage).
Next up, the irrepressable Robbie Williams,
someone who easily won over the crowd and had everyone singing along.
Never taking himself seriously, he's a great entertainer with great
songs - the perfect combination for big gigs. Starting with "We Will
Rock You", a tribute to the absent Queen, he ran through "Let Me
Entertain You", "Feel", and an emotional "Angels" which was THE
singalong of the whole show.
The Who, looking older and
not in the best of moods, thundered their way through "Who Are You?"
and a blistering "Won't Get Fooled Again". They may be not as young as
many of the other artists (and the black and white used throughout
their set on the videoscreens certainly added to the years on their
faces), but they still showed just how powerful they could be. One
curious thing though... part way through their set, the screen behind
them showed a green heartbeat for around 10 seconds. A bit of a
giveaway of what was to follow!
"Home, home again..."
Almost on the dot of 11pm, came the only band that didn't have (or didn't need?) an introduction.
The stage shrouded in darkness, with the heartbeat showing on all the
screens this time, and the sound of that vital organ thudded around
Hyde Park. I spot the backstage curtain being moved, stage right, and
see David Gilmour, with a huge smile on his face. This bodes well...
A hushed anticipation gripped the
crowd. Even the non Floydheads were aware of how big a moment this was
- and the atmosphere was electric.
On walk the band - Gilmour, Nick
Mason, Richard Wright, Jon Carin (who is stationed in the dry ice and
darkness, behind Richard), and Tim Renwick. Oh and Roger Waters... Us
fortunate ones down the front send up a roar of appreciation, which
spread like a wave to the back of the park, adding to the cheers for
the start of Speak To Me. An incredible reception - the biggest of the
show?
Whilst
we all knew that Roger was appearing with them - after all, it was THE
story of the event, for a couple of weeks beforehand (following those
momentous phone calls on the night of Friday 10th June), it was still a
very strange, but wonderful, sight to see him on stage next to David.
After all, most Floyd fans in the audience were either too young, or
not even born, the last time that happened!
With the heartbeats in the air
building, and the trace on the screen slowing disolving to a moon, the
lights around the stage died, leaving everything shrowded in darkness.
The scream builds, and "Breathe" starts with no indication that the
four of them had ever been away, or apart for all those years. The
tightest of starts, fluid and beautiful, and setting the scene for
their whole set.
In a nod to the location, and the
history of the band, the screen behind showed Algie the pig floating
between the chimneys of Battersea Power Station. (I was later to
discover that a BBC cameraman panned across to the REAL building, to
the right of the stage in the distance. Nice!)
As David moved from his slide
guitar to take the vocal, faces within the band were still pretty
serious. The occasion seemed to be impressing itself on them; maybe not
the 205,000 in the park, nor the 2 billion-plus worldwide audience, but
the occasion of being back after some 24 years, playing a song they
last did as a team back in 1975.
First line over, and faces
relaxed. This was going well - very well indeed. Roger mouths some of
the lyrics, turns and exchanges a huge smile with Nick. Richard, along
with Nick and Roger, looks around too - David is the only one faced
forward throughout - concentrating on delivering the words. A powerful
bridge between "Breathe" and "Breathe Reprise" is a nice touch.
"Breathe Reprise" commences with a great run down the fretboard from
Roger, during "Home, home again...", taking the mood down again from
the dynamic bridge.
David still looks pretty nervous
at this point, but seems to calm a little after exchanging a brief
smile with Roger. A wonderful start to proceedings...
They bring the song to its
conclusion, and a "Thank You!" from Roger leads to the sound of coins
jingling. The familiar bass refrain of "Money" kicks in, and despite a
slight timing issue at the start (the looped sound effect running at a
different speed to the instrumentation) the band soon fell into the
groove of a song that they've played so many times before.
This was the first time I'd seen
them so visibly enjoy running through it, though. The tiredness seen on
the umpteenth performance, as part of a long tour, was nowhere to be
seen. And neither were backing singers, adding in a tired "woo-hoo"
throughout. This was a stripped-back-to-basics performance - how the
song should be heard. With Dick Parry coming on to provide sax duties,
and a great reading from all the musicians, this was a joy.
Missed on the TV broadcast was
the way that messrs Gilmour and Waters delivered the final, crashing
note of the song - facing each other, bringing the almost vertical
necks of their guitars down decisively and in unison.
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Pink Floyd |
Confusion
on some faces as the radio gets tuned in at the start of "Wish You Were
Here" - no, the radio mics aren't picking up bogus signals! Tim Renwick
kicks off the acoustic guitar strumming, and, for the first time ever,
Roger then uses this as background for an introduction, his voice
cracking with the emotion: "It's actually quite emotional, standing up
here with these three guys after all these years. Standing to be
counted with the rest of you. Anyway, we're doing this for everyone
who's not here, particularly, of course for Syd."
It is Syd who's face appears on the screen behind them, and provides the focus for the vocal, shared between David and Roger.
And so, onto the song that was to
conclude this most remarkable and unexpected reunion. With a
matter-of-fact "Here we go" from Roger, the band launched into one of
the tightest, and certainly the most memorable, versions of
"Comfortably Numb" I've ever heard.
The screens fade to black, and
the lights on the stage dim. A solid red screen fades up, which is
repeated throughout the concert arena (meaning only those close to the
stage can see what the musicians are doing - but then I guess this
echoes the original 1980/81 shows with the band behind The Wall) as
Roger takes up the vocal. Another lovely duet with David, who has his
vocal augmented with Carol Kenyon, providing added depths to his tender
delivery.
The first solo starts, Nick takes
off his headphones (worn just for the first part of this song), and the
red screen turns into a white wall. Next verse, and the wall has turned
blood red again; Nick looks lost in the moment, eyes shut, taking it
all in.
The final solo sees the white wall again, and Gerald Scarfe's red pen slowly and deliberately writes MAKE POVERTY HISTORY
over the left, middle and right hand stage screens...as David rips out
one of the most blistering solos ever on his black Strat. And then it
was over, with the final crashing chords echoing into the London night
sky.
Instruments get put down, and the
foursome convene at the front of the stage. Then came the moment we
never thought we'd see - the four of them, arm-in-arm, revelling in the
moment and thanking the crowd for the incredible reception. Any doubts
they must have had before going on, surely were swept away.
At almost 25 minutes long, Pink
Floyd had the longest set in the show. And they made the most of it - a
remarkable, moving, unforgettable performance...and with the songs
stripped back to basics, with little of the (in some cases)
unneccessary frills added in later years. Each member of the band
appeared at various point to be lost in the music, the angst and anger
of the preceeding years stripped away and forgotten, to leave a band,
together, playing its heart out - standing up to be counted for what
they believe in, and showing an awareness of what is really important
in this brief thing we call life.
Throughout their set, the
electronic message board above the stage was unchanged: "NO MORE
EXCUSES" it read. Referring to the G8 summit, it made a fitting message
from the band, even if it was unintentional. It might well have proved
too much of a distraction to cycle round the messages that it was
displaying the whole day.
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Paul McCartney & George Michael |
One
final thought uppermost in many minds: if they could play this well
after just two days of rehearsal, wouldn't it be wonderful if they sat
down together and thought about what the future might hold for them as
a unit again?
Some fifteen minutes later (if
you're going to overrun, you might as well do it in style!) on comes
the man who started the show, some nine and a half hours earlier.
Beatles legend Paul McCartney was a great choice to finish the show...
and launched straight into "Get Back". "Drive My Car" sees George Michael come on to sing with Macca, George's excellent vocal proving the perfect blend.
I was astonished to hear "Helter
Skelter" performed next - this Lennon and McCartney song from "The
White Album" is rarely heard performed or on the radio, so many of the
audience, whilst enjoying it, didn't seem to know it. It's one of their
rockier tracks (and indeed, at the end Ringo screams "I've got blisters
on my fingers!") and went down a storm. Wonderful to hear this!
"The Long And Winding Road", as
promised, finished the concert proper. The idea of the concert, was to
start the journey to Edinburgh to present the people's views to the G8
leaders - and it would indeed be a long and winding road for many.
All that was required, was the
big singalong finale. On comes Gilmour, one of the first, who plonks
himself down next to Macca on his piano stool and takes his microphone.
Stationing himself behind the grand piano, Gilmour is joined by many of
the artists for "Hey Jude". Amongst those was Nick and Rick - but,
curiously, no sign of Roger for this last song.
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All-star finale |
Midnight
strikes, and the last word goes to Geldof: "It has been a day full of
hope, possibility, and life for those who have none".
Streaming out of Hyde Park,
virtually everyone is in a tired, but exhilerated mood. The
now-finished public transport for most preys on the mind, but fails to
dampen the spirits. When you are faced with a once-in-a-lifetime show,
it is very difficult to leave before the end. A number of people had to
make that incredibly difficult decision, and their sadness was written
all over their faces as they made their way through the crowd, while
the headliners were still to make their appearance.
With hindsight, there was plenty
the organisers could have done to improve the situation, and stop the
show from overrunning some two and a half hours. The stage changes in
the early stages were painfully slow, and the antics of some
performers, either taking too long to reach the stage (The Who) or
spending too long on stage, not doing much (Mariah Carey), had a huge
impact.
Still, it was a wonderful,
memorable, emotional day, with a hugely important message that made
itself felt throughout the crowd - and nothing on this scale could ever
have gone totally smoothly. The many highlights thoroughly outweighed
minor niggles, and made them seem almost insignificant. On a mixed
bill, too, there will always be parts of the show less interesting than
others.
It was clear though, that whilst
most artists were content to just come on and play some songs (and in
many cases, did so extremely well), it was only the Floyd that really
made the most of it, and put on a proper show to stick in the memory.
There were no tricks - no elaborate fireworks, no shirts taken off -
just the music and the emotion. And much of this, sadly, could never be
captured by television cameras.
As someone said to me in a text message in the morning: "We are part of history. Enjoy it." And boy - we certainly did!
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