Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Live Aid - 24 Years Ago


This is one of those "God I feel OLD" posts. I found out that the Live Aid concerts - held in Philadelphia and London to raise money/awareness for African famine relief - happened exactly 24 years ago (yesterday).

I can remember that day perfectly. I had just graduated from Carlisle (PA) High School, and was working at the local McDonald's. It ended up being a slow day at work, so I BEGGED to go home early so I could watch Live Aid.


Even though the biggest names in music at the time performed that day, some of the lesser known acts were the biggest deal for me. First of all, Madonna (above) - who was just an up-and-coming pop star in 1985 - famously said "I ain't taking SHIT off today" in reference to the nude photos that had recently been published of her. And Madonna finished her set by performing "Love Makes The World Go Round" with the THOMPSON TWINS! Squeeeeeee!!!!!!

Here is another highlight (for me) that not many others will remember. A big deal at the Philadelphia concerts was the performance by local Philly band The Hooters. They had a minor hit with "And We Danced" and they also wrote the Cyndi Lauper hit "Time After Time" - and since they were from Philly, they got to open the Philadelphia concerts. Trust me, the Hooters were BIG in my part of Pennsylvania at the time, so it was a huge deal. I even saw The Hooters in concert later that summer at Hershey Stadium.

But the biggest performance of Live Aid for me occurred at the London concert by two performers who were not nearly as popular as the other superstars. In the middle of his set, Paul "Every Time You Go Away" Young introduced former Yaz singer Alison Moyet - and they performed "That's The Way Love Is"...



I was in HEAVEN! I would later see Paul Young in concert at Penn State, and I finally got to see Alison Moyet perform last year during the Yaz reunion tour.

Yes, of all the huge superstars (Bowie, Queen, U2, The Who, Jagger, Spandau Ballet, Dylan) - the parts I remember most were Madonna talking about taking off her clothes, a Philly band called The Hooters, and the Paul Young/Alison Moyet duet. No wonder I don't write a music blog...

Anybody else remember Live Aid? Anybody ATTEND Live Aid??