Product Details

• Actors: Bob Geldof, Bryan Adams, Stuart Adamson, Adam Ant, Nick Ashford
• Directors: Vincent Scarza
• Writers: Bob Geldof
• Producers: David Fein, Hal Uplinger, Rich Zielinski
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Rhino
• DVD Release Date: November 16, 2004
• Run Time: 960 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (237 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002Z9HT8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,636 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #6 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > Britpop
  • #52 in Movies & TV > DVD > Music Videos & Concerts
  • #65 in Music > Classic Rock > Arena Rock
• Learn more about "Live Aid (4 Disc Set)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Billed as "the day music changed history," the Live Aid concerts of July 13, 1985, were held to raise money to fight the horrifying famines sweeping Africa. The brainchild of Bob Geldof and representing the efforts of countless musicians and technicians, Live Aid was a genuine and inspiring effort to help the victims of an overwhelming calamity. Twenty years after the twin concerts (one in London, one in Philadelphia) were broadcast worldwide, the 4-DVD treatment furthers the cause, with proceeds going toward the Band Aid Trust.

The DVD set opens with a heartbreaking documentary on the crisis, followed by videos of the two hit songs that represented the collaborative nature of Geldof's efforts—Band Aid' s "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and USA for Africa's "We Are the World." Since Live Aid was never intended to be released in a recorded format, preservation of TV footage has been unreliable, resulting in some glaring omissions. Led Zeppelin's semi-reunion doesn't appear, and neither does a legendary session with Bob Dylan, Ron Wood, and Keith Richards. Some sets by performers who were popular at the time may inspire either nostalgic glee or head-scratching (Kiki Dee fans, you know who you are). Sprinkled amid these performances are a couple real gems, including a performance by Run DMC, the event's sole representative of the ascendant rap movement. Much of the music here was a passing fad, but the sentiment that brought it all together is timeless. -- Ryan Boudinot

Product Description

Any music fan can tell you exactly where they were on July 13th, 1985. There had never been a concert event of such magnitude-the biggest names in music performing in a concert broadcast live from 2 continents to an audience of over 1.5 billion. It is estimated that 85% of the world's television sets were tuned in to Live Aid that day. Now, for the first time on home video, you can own the concert that was arguably the biggest rock event in history-featuring David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Sting, The Who, U2, Neil Young, and many, many more. Over 10 hours of performances in a premium-packaged 4-DVD set. Royalties will benefit Band Aid Trust, which continues to provide direct hunger relief in Africa.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 102 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Complete Track Listing November 20, 2004

By M. Smith

Format:DVD

as a 24 year old i had only heard about the "legend of Live aid" well this dvd certanlly showed me the event was bigger than the legend. i havn't found a complete tracklist so here is one:

Disk 1

Artist

Prequal

BBC TV News Report

Band Aid Video Do They know it's Christmas?

USA for Africa Video We Are The World

Coldstream Guards Royal Salute

Status Quo Rockin all over the world, Caroline

The Style Council Internationalists, Walls Come Tumbling Down

The Boomtown Rats I Don't like Mondays, Drag me down

Adam Ant Vive Le Rock

Ultravox Dancing with tears in my eyes, Vienna

Spandau Ballet Only When You Leave, True

Elvis Costello All you need is love

Nik Kershaw Wouldn't it be good

Sade Your love is king

Sting Roxanne

Phil Collins Against all odds

Sting & Phil Collins Every breath you take

Howard Jones Hide & Seek

Bryan Ferry Slave to love, Jealous Guy

Paul Young Do They know it's christmas?, Come & Stay, Every time you go away

Paul Young & Alison Moyet That's the way love is

Bryan Adams Kids wanna rock, Summer of `69

U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bad

Disk 2

The Beach Boys Wouldn't it be nice, Good Vibrations, Surfin' USA

Dire Straits & Sting Money for nothing

Dire Straits Sultans Of Swing

George Thorogood & the destroyers Madison Blues

Queen Bohemian rhapsody, Radio Gaga, Hammer to fall, Crazy little thing called love, we will rock you, we are the champions

Simple Minds Ghost Dancing, (don't you) forget about me

David Bowie TVC15, Rebel Rebel, Modern Love, Heroes

CBC Ethiopian film

Joan Baez Amazing Grace

Pretenders Stop Your Sobbing, Chain Gang, Middle of the road

The Who Love Reign O'er me, won't get fooled again

Kenny Loggins Footloose

Elton John Bennie and the jets, Rocket man

Elton John and Kiki Dee Don't go breaking my heart

Elton John and George Michael Don't let the sun go down on me

Disk 3

Madonna Holiday, get into the groove

Freddie Mercury & Brian May Is this the world we created?

Paul McCartney Let It be

Band Aid Finale Do they know it's Christmas?

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers American girl, Refugee

Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne Paranoid

REO Speedwagon Can't fight this feeling, Roll with the changes

Crosby, Stills & Nash Teach your children

Judas Priest Living after Midnight, Green Manalishi

The Cars Just what I needed, Heartbreak city

Neil Young The Needle and the Damage Done, Nothing is perfect (in gods perfect plan)

Thompson twins, Steve Stevens, Nile Rodgers & Madonna Revolution

Eric Clapton White room, She's waiting, Layla

Phil Collins (in Philly) In the air tonight

Duran Duran Union of the snake, Save a prayer, the reflex

Patti Labelle Imagine, Forever Young

Disk 4

Hall & Oates Maneater

Hall & Oates with Eddie Kendricks Get ready (cos here I come)

Hall & Oates with Eddie Kendricks & David Ruffin Ain't too proud to beg, My Girl

Mick Jagger Just Another night, Miss You

Mick Jagger & Tina Turner State of Shock, it's Only rock N roll

Bob Dlyan with Keith Richards & Ron Wood Blowing in the wind

USA For Africa Finale We are the world

Disk 4 Extras

INXS What you need, Don't Change

B.B. King Why I sing the blues, Don't Answer the door, rock me baby

Ashford and Simpson with Teddy Pendergrass Reach out and Touch

Run DMC King of rock

Cliff Richard A world of difference

Overseas Package

David Bowie & Mick Jagger Dancing in the street

Documentary Food & Truck & Rock `N' Roll

70 of 74 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars If all the Performances were here - would be near perfect February 5, 2005

By L.A. Scene

Format:DVD

Today Charity Concerts are very common in the music industry. But when looking at a Charity Concert - the Worldwide July 13, 1985 Live Aid Concert has to be the Granddaddy of them all. It boasted the greatest lineup of musicians ever assembled for one effort. Prior to Live Aid, Woodstock was considered the greatest lineup ever assembled for a concert. Live Aid would far surpass Woodstock. Live Aid would primarily take place from two locations - Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. There would be other feeds from several other countries. The feeds for all of these shows would be synchronized to create one big concert to both the TV audience as well as to the fans in attendance at the venues. I remember the Saturday in July when this show took place. In the United States, the coverage would be split between Cable and Network TV. I think many of us took this for granted - because that would basically be the only day this would ever be broadcasted - and we didn't see eveything. Unless you had your VCR running, this would be it.- until 19 1/2 years later when the "Live Aid" 4 DVD Set would be released.

According to the liner notes, Band Aid Organizer Bob Geldof - for legal reasons, did not want the Live Aid Show recorded or shown again. However, the fact remains that recordings did exist and thus this DVD set was assembled. This 4 DVD Set consists of about 10 hours of Concert and associated extras. The important thing to note is that this is NOT the whole Live Aid Show. There are many parts of the Live Aid Show that are not included. The official reason for things not being included is the claim that the footage doesn't exist. Therefore things are missing - most notably, the Led Zeppelin Reunion, But still there is plenty of good stuff on this concert and there is enough to give you a good feel for both the atmosphere and flow of the concert from all the venues.

Here are 10 great moments from Live Aid that are included on the DVD:

1.U2, "Bad": This established U2 as an incredible live act. Watch carefully at the end as two young girls literally climb over the crowd at Bono's invite to join him on stage.

2.Beach Boys, "Would it be nice?": They might be past their prime, but I thought this was an incredible performance.

3.Dire Straits & Sting, "Money For Nothing". Live Aid was the place that put this song on the map. It's probably the only place where you can hear Dire Straits and Sting perform this live - incredible stuff.

4.Queen: All six songs. This was probably one of the last great hurrahs for this band. Freddie Mercury and Co deliver a most passionate performance. Watch how Mercury has complete command of the crowd with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Radio Gaga", and "We are the Champions"

5.Paul McCartney, "Let It Be". Great penultimate song to the London set. McCartney will be joined by Pete Townshend, David Bowie, Bob Geldof, and Alison Moyet. You can see the audience is exhausted at this point. McCartney and Townshend will lift Geldof over their shoulders.

6.Band Aid Finale: The performance may be out of sync, but its true improvising as you see the London performers perform "Do they Know It's Christmas". Why wasn't Freddie Mercury given a solo bit in this song?

7.Thompson Twins/Madonna/Nile Rodgers/Steve Stevens, "Revolution". Live Aid gave many artists a chance to work with others they hadn't worked with before. This was one of the more interesting combinations of artists performing the Thompson Twins remake of the Beatles classic.

8.Teddy Pendergrass/Ashford and Simpson: "Reach Out": One of the most emotional moments of the show was Teddy Pendergrass' performing for the first time after what was near fatal car accident. Very few dry eyes for this song. This is included as an "extra" on the DVD set since the footage was extracted from MTV at the last minute.

9.Mick Jagger: "Just Another Night": The Philadelphia Crowd was exhausted, but Jagger manages to fire everyone up with this solo hit.

10.Bob Dylan/Keith Richards/Ron Wood "Blowing in the Wind": While I don't care for this song - especially for a penultimate song for the U.S. show, I thought it was one of the great moments when Bob Dylan's guitar string breaks and Ron Wood gives him his guitar to keep the performance near seamless.

There are so many other moments and performances in this show to enjoy as well - too many to list. There are a lot of great extras. There are moving BBC Documentaries on the Famine and about the Band Aid Project. Both documentaries were very interesting. There is a section that shows several of the International Feeds. This includes the Pendergrass performance, INXS from Australia, and the feeds from Austria, Germany, Japan, Russia, and Norway. The Austria performance is very passionate. You also get the "Do They Know It's Christmas" video, the "We are the World" video, and Mick Jagger and David Bowie's "Dancing in the Streets" video (that debuted at Live Aid). They also chronicle Phil Collins transcontiential journey from the London Show to the Philadelphia Show - although I thought that footage could have been better.

Another thing that is really good is some of the camera work. You get a good sense for some of the stuff and people who are backstage - this really is seen well at the Philadelphia venue.

For the most part, the quality of the audio and video on this DVD is excellent. . On the negative side, the missing footage is a lot to overcome. I would have preferred the International Feeds and Pendergrass performance to be inserted in the actual order of the show to give a real sense of the performance. Overall, this is still something for all music fans - highly recommended.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Let Them Know It's Christmas! November 9, 2004

By R. Epstein

Format:DVD

A couple of reviewers here have trashed this DVD set because Led Zeppelin and Rick Springfield aren't on it. The reason Led Zeppelin weren't included on this set was because they didn't want to be included. From a BBC news report dated August 4: A statement from the members said: "Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are in absolute full support of the fundraising project for the people of Sudan. However, Jimmy, Robert and John Paul found that both the sound and general reproduction of their performance at Live Aid Philadelphia was substandard." As for Rick Springfield, one of his songs is included among the extras. Virtually every act had some songs cut on the DVD, with the exception I think of Queen, who thankfully have their entire set included (if memory serves, there were six songs in their set). I would have liked every song presented that day from every band, live or via video, to be on this set but I guess an extra disc or two might have made it more expensive, thus inaccessible to less affluent people. But one can look at the tracklistings and extras at liveaiddvd.net and they'll see that there is still a wealth of good stuff in this compilation! Really, most of the bands and songs are on the DVD! And come on people, the proceeds from this set are going to a good cause. Spread a little Christmas cheer this year for yourselves and for others and get into the spirit of this unforgettable, amazing event!