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Live Aid finally gets DVD release [posted 3/8/2004] (1 Viewer)

Johnny G

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This is taken from Duranduran.com
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Live Aid finally gets DVD release
Live Aid finally gets DVD release

The 1985 Live Aid concert, one of the defining events in modern music, is to be released on DVD for the first time.

Organisers will auction the rights to release the DVD after pirate copies were found for sale on the internet.

They are hoping to raise "a few million pounds" for charity and are aiming for a Christmas release.

The concert, split between London and Philadelphia, brought together stars including U2, Queen and Madonna - but has never come out on CD, video or DVD.

Organisers have decided to allow the DVD release after realising bootleggers were making money from it - but none was going to charity.

Proceeds from the DVD release will go to the Band Aid Trust, which still exists to relieve poverty and hunger in Ethiopia and the surrounding area.
Bob Geldof "sees it as an asset of the people of Ethiopia" that was not being fully utilised, according to fellow founding Band Aid trustee John Kennedy.

"It's a surprise to all of us that we're still here 20 years on spending and receiving money," he told BBC News Online.

"But because of piracy, it's becoming available without earning any money."

The successful bidder will have to get the permission of every artist - but "we don't expect any of them to be anything other than co-operative", he said.

Geldof organised Live Aid and the Band Aid single in response to famine in Ethiopia, in which 1.2 million people starved to death in 1984 and 1985.

Live Aid saw 72,000 pack into Wembley Stadium in London to see artists such as David Bowie, Wham! and Dire Straits.

The 16-hour music marathon was completed at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium with acts including Bob Dylan, Duran Duran and Paul Simon.

Live Aid eventually raised £40m. Half of the money was spent on food and half on long term development.

The DVD plan comes after pirated DVDs were found on sale over the internet for £110 for a 10-disc set.

After a tip-off from Geldof himself, police raided a property in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and arrested a man.

Story from BBC NEWS


[posted 3/8/2004 U.S.A.]
 

John Kilduff

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I hope for the sake of all 80s buffs that this gets a Region 1 release. I was 2 when this event happened, and I have heard so many things about it that I want to see it for myself.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

The closest I've come to the event is a book I picked up at the Barnes & Noble Annex.
 

jeff peterson

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We were at a friend's cabin on a lake the weekend it happened, we strung together 10 extension cords so we could take the TV down to the beach with us so we could continue watching.
 

PaulBigelow

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I remember it well. In stereo via MTV. Midnight Oil warmed things up from Australia first then Status Quo opened up the UK segment, finally Philadelphia checked in. Most of Led Zeppelin, Who reformed, McCartney and "Strolling Musicians" (everyone was hoping for a McCartney, Starr, Harrison reunion). Beach Boys had a nice set. Queen put on a great show.
 

EricSchulz

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Billboard

Well, it now seems official...November 10th!!! But a four-disc set will mean it's most likely not the full show. Not a heck of a lot of details in this article.
 

Michael Allred

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Why wouldn't 4 discs contain the whole thing? There aren't a lot of bonus features announced and I doubt there will be a DTS track to take up a lot of space...

...still, do we REALLY want the one hit wonders and baaaaaaad 80s groups anyway? As long as all of the legendary bands are included, I'll be happy.
 

Bill Williams

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I remember this concert extremely well, too. We had an 11-hour live feed from London broadcast on our local Fox station that entire Saturday, followed by a 3-hour highlights broadcast on ABC that Saturday night. I was able to get it recorded in its entirety in my area, but wasn't able to see the entire concert complete and unedited (we didn't have MTV at the time on our cable network - for shame indeed!).

To see this concert on DVD will be nothing short of a dream come true.
 

Joe Karlosi

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Yes, I remember it well. I taped most of it, too. What I'd like to know is, how is it going to be covered, when you consider that both shows were going on together, simultaneously?
 

Ruz-El

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And if I remember correctly, there was a lot of down time. I think there was even added time between sets so local stations could have time. Plus they repeated commercials for the famine relief a whole bunch.

This could fit on 4 flippers, with decent sound. I don't know if it would fit on 4 single sides. how long was the thing? I would think 12 hours.

Hopefully they don't cut stuff, like "The Who", who went off air during their set.
 

Craig S

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Found this page which has a complete rundown of artists & their sets, complete with timing:

http://live-aid.chez.tiscali.fr/page...etaileduk.html

Adding it all up comes to just shy of 15 hours (and that's minus the downtime). Divide by 4 discs and you get 3 hours 45 minutes per disc, which is a lot to cram on a single disc. So unless they go double-sided, dual layer, it looks doubtful we'll get the whole thing. :frowning:

Whoever's editing this down has their work cut out for them.
 

MarcoBiscotti

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I would've prefered a musically-themed release as I really don't care about all those new wave 80's pop and arena rock bands, etc.

This set would be perfect with just the Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Crosby Stills & Nash, Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Beach Boys, Phil Collins, Paul Mccartney, Elton John, The Who, Black Sabbath, BB King and a few other sets...

It would've been a nice option to compile the show by genre as well and release it seperately, or have like a 60's/70's compilation...
 

Bob Turnbull

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You bet...I'd love to see every single minute of this event. Aren't we always asking on this forum for complete sets and original cuts of films? I'd hate to see a best of set that cuts out artists that someone thought weren't relevant or classic, but who I'd love to see (ex. The Hooters).

Looking at the link Craig posted, I'd even like to see the tributes from other countries. OK, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of The Thompson Twins, but they were part of the spectacle. Let me see them!

That set list is quite interesting...Black Sabbath following Billy Ocean? Patti Labelle gets a 20 minute set near the end (not ragging on her, just surprised)? Santana and Pat Metheny?! Kewl...

A best of set would probably never contain that pairing. Or the Japanese tribute, or Sabbath doing "Children Of The Grave", or Judas Priest doing "The Green Manalishi", or the whole Four Tops set, or...
 

Bryan

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Does this mean I can finaly get rid of the VHS I made when it originaly aired? Excelent!
 

andrew markworthy

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I don't want to sound patronising or over-sentimental, but if you weren't part of the twenty-something age group at the time, then you can have no idea the place Live Aid holds in our hearts. We know a lot of the acts were awful, that's not the point. It's the whole thing that's important. Bob Geldof swearing, Bob Dylan making a prize ass of himself, the Brit (male) newsreader wiping away a tear after the film with the Car's 'Drive' as background music, the baking hot day, the really awful bands from continental Europe shown on videolink between sets at Wembley, etc, etc. And just for one day, people actually stopped and thought about being nice to a group of people they would never meet, but who needed help.

Okay, in cold hindsight, this is all sentimental. We know that Ethiopia didn't really recover, that many of the bands and artists who appeared had huge rises in record sales following the event, that poverty and hunger still are part of the world. But is it wrong that at least somebody tried to do good? The set should be a souvenir of the whole experience, and if it raises more money for a worthwhile cause, then so much the better.
 

Sam Favate

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Why do you say that? Most TV on DVD discs have just that amount of material on each disc. (On average, 4 episodes at 45-50 min each.)
 

CraigL

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Maybe the shows you watch. Sitcoms don't have that many on one disc and that amount of time should never be compressed onto one disc.
 

Craig S

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No they don't. Do the math. 4 episodes at 45 minutes (and most modern shows are closer to 42 minutes) is 3 hours. Big difference between that and 3:45. Even 4 50-minute eps are only 3:20, which is 25 minutes short of what would be required for Live Aid.

As CraigL said, if they tried to put that much material onto a single disc, there would likely be horrendous compression artifacts.
 

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