Do they know the real story of Bob, Elton and Live Aid?
URBAN MYTHS: BACKSTAGE AT LIVE AID Thursday, 9pm – Sky Arts
CREDIT where it is due, Live Aid was a remarkable achievement. It was little short of a miracle in terms of the logistics alone.
Nor can we overlook the fact that Bob Geldof – by then very much past his sell-by date as a player in the music industry – managed to persuade some of the biggest stars in the world to perform. Remember, it is quite likely that some of these people had never even heard of him before.
It is well over 30 years ago now, of course, but still the debate flares up occasionally as to whether Live Aid was actually a good idea. We’re not going to solve that one here. I certainly don’t have any great insight to offer on the matter.
What I can say with some certainty, however, is that it was the worst concert ever from the perspective of the TV viewer. Mind you, I’d imagine it was even worse if you had the misfortune to be there in person in either London or Philadelphia to witness it all.
My recollection of the day is of The Pretenders and The Style Council being pretty good. Maybe even David Bowie. But there was precious little to recommend it after that.
Popular legend has it that the performances by Queen and U2 were the highlights of the whole thing.
Not from my vantage point on the couch, they weren’t. The only thing more excruciating than listening to their sets was watching the accompanying images onscreen.
According to the Sky blurb, Urban Myths which had its first run last year is a series of oneoff ‘mischievous comedies about bizarre tales from the worlds of Hollywood, music, arts and literature’. It adds that they are ‘all fictionalised accounts of mostly true events’.
This episode begins at 10.18am on the big day with an exasperated Geldof (Dubliner Jonas Armstrong) trying to calm down Elton John (Rufus Jones). The bespectacled singer is in more petulant form than usual after his prize begonias were ruined when ‘dozy b ***** d’ Noel Edmonds landed his helicopter on the front lawn.
Nor, like a number of the other performers, does he want to be first on stage at Wembley in case
the sound levels still need tweaking. Or is it because appearing too early will mean little or no exposure in the States due to the time difference? Probably a bit of both, in fairness.
Meanwhile, Ultravox singer Midge Ure (Martin Compston) – co-writer of Do They Know It’s Christmas? and a key organiser of the Live Aid spectacle – is in a huff over the amount of stage time he has been given.
He relents later on and gives Geldof a backhanded compliment. ‘That’s what makes today so impressive, Bob,’ he says.
‘You didn’t do this as a big star that people want to be seen with. You did it as a washed-up w ***** clinging to a record deal.’
There were several cameo appearances by figures like Freddie Mercury (David Avery) and Status Quo’s Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt (Dustin Demri-Burns and Seb Cardinal).
But the best line of all came during a fleeting, uncredited role by someone playing Phil Collins. ‘I’d love to send a message to Africa during my set,’ he explains to a bemused Sade (Karla Crome).
‘Is there an Ethiopian tribal word that means “This is your day to shine”? Oh, and it would be great if it rhymed with Sussudio.’