Customer Reviews

Live Aid

5 star:		(129)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

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

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.

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!

I just read through all of the reviews for this DVD, and one thing is glaringly obvious - no one has actually seen/heard the thing! I have an advance copy, and it's funny to hear people pontificating about something they have never seen - I particularly enjoyed comments like "Phil Collins doesn't perform 'Against All Odds' on this DVD". Hmm. I rather enjoyed the performance that I just watched.

Folks, it's a 20-year-old television broadcast that they've remastered in beautiful surround sound that shows off all of the performances, warts and all, and it sounds AMAZING. Branford Marsalis' haunting soprano sax rings through like a plaintive siren in the night. Yes, there are some glitches, and some out of tune harmonies - the Beach Boys segment alone has some that are cringe-worthy. But again, that segment illustrates the beauty of the set - there they are, Brian up with the rest, Carl singing his heart out, Mike Love as nonplussed as can be, all doing it for a wonderful cause.

Each of the 4 DVDs is over 2 hours in length. That's a lot of music. Yes, some performances were left off. But please wait and whine until after you've actually had a chance to hear/see what a remarkable job these folks did with this set.

What an amazing concept. Imagine you're Bob Geldof. You've just made a kickass movie as the alter ego of Roger Waters in Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Your band, The Boomtown Rats, is doing pretty damn well. So now what? Go to Africa, get millions of dollars for starving people, and make your concert the most memorable in history. Not too shabby, eh?

I am 16 and wasn't alive during Live Aid. I love this DVD. There is over 12 HOURS of stuff! Some of the great bands at this concert were: U2, Queen, David Bowie, The Who, Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Boomtown Rats, and George Michael. The list goes on and on, but those were my favorites.

Some of the true HIGHLIGHTS on this DVD:

DVD 1: The Boomtown Rats do "I Don't Like Mondays." Bob Geldof has the audience eating out of the palm of his charitable hand. He is absolutely spellbinding. LOVE HIM!! SIDE NOTE: PEOPLE, WATCH THE MOVIE SPICE WORLD! YES, YOU MAY WANT TO DIE WATCHING IT, BUT BOB'S IN IT, AND SO IS ELTON JOHN! GO FIGURE!

*Elvis Costello: "All You Need is Love" was awesome!

*U2 were absolutely amazing! In the song, "Bad," Bono goes out into the crowd pit and picks 3 girls to dance with! I shiver and smile at that! Imagine being one of those girls!! Kudos, U2!

DVD 2: CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH: QUEEN!!!! They stole the show for me! You can just see the excitement in the audience when Freddie and Company parade onstage! I bought the DVD because of them! Breathtaking!

*David Bowie: Is there anything this man CAN'T do?! His faster rendition of "TVC15" is 10X better than his version on his album. His haunting performance of "Heroes" is great too.

*The Who: All I can say about them that hasn't been said is: GOOD GOD, how old was Roger Daltrey here? He is more ripped than most people in their 20's!! Brava, Roger. You caught my attention.

*Elton John/George Michael: Elton is always amazing, but I have to give it up to George! His voice is just awesome! His version of "Don't Let the Sun..." is superb. Not a fault there.

DVD 3: *Freddie Mercury and Brian May, "Is This the World We Created?" I cried a little. Haunting, simply, heartbreaking.

*Paul McCartney, "Let it Be." It seems the audience doesn't know it's him until the lights come up. Their reaction is the best next to Queen in the whole concert. He plays, with the help of backing vocals from Bowie, Geldof, and Pete Townshend. This gives way to the Band Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which is awesome!!! Every performer comes out and sings. Notably, Sting (who i didn't mention earlier, but did an awesome job!), Bono, Bowie, Geldof, George Michael, and... EVERYONE ELSE!!!

I have to be honest, every band I liked played in London, so I skipped the rest. Well, I watched Madonna, Black Sabbath, Duran Duran, and Phil Collins who flew his ass from London to Phili to perform AGAIN!!! Best Spirit Award to Phil!!

DVD 4: WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY!!!! It's about 1 hour long, and goes through the whole process of Live Aid. Simply elaborate, which makes no sense, but for this it does. I found Bob's short conversation with the, excuse me England, bitch Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher particularily interesting. She had no care about Africa at ALL!!! Hey, neither did Regan! No one did but the pop stars! YAY! GO POP STARS!! Funny side note for anyone who cares: There are two "Aids" that raise more money before the real Live Aid. One is a comedy show in London. What I loved was Monty Python's Michael Palin is in it. I love him and all Monty Python! Hey, any Python fans in NYC need to go see the Play "Spamalot" coming direct from Chi-Town in a month! HILARIOUS! Ahem, anyway, the other great thing was the Fashion show the rock stars did. What I found so damn funny was Freddie Mercury was walking down the aisle in a weird tux with his BRIDE!! He must have been laughing at the world inside!! Too great!

BUY THIS DVD, I CANNOT SAY THAT ENOUGH!!!! FOR 30 DOLLARS OR 17 POUNDS, ALL THE MONEY STILL GOES TO AFRICA! AND THAT MAKES YA FEEL GOOD INSIDE! SUPPORT A GOOD CAUSE! MAKE BOB PROUD!

I think the majority of reviews here miss the point: This was never meant to be dissected 20 years on. It was meant to raise money in July 1985, then become nothing more than memory. Decisions made in haste then led to omissions now. But what is here is often electric.

Fortunately, at least some of the concert survived. More than perhaps was intended, and less than would be archived now. Despite the passion of the moment, watching the (now very young looking) Bob Geldof, the manic catylist behind this, it's easy to see how the intensity of the moment may have overswept the perspective and dicipline to document all of this event for posterity.

The carping about missing songs, and the lack of documentary backstage footage, etc. seems over critical to me. The DVD IS the documentary, it's just up to the viewer to add their (nostalgic?) thoughts to the event. It doesn't have a commentator speaking over it, but if you saw this event on TV back then, the feelings of that day will flood back unfiltered by time. This is more of a historical marker than a concert film, really. And to watch it is to melt back into 1985 for, as David Bowie puts it in one of the concert's highlight moments "...just for one day...."

The music, not to mention the film quality, is like the decade it sprang from: often erratic. A sampling of everything from the ridiculous (Thompson Twins and Madonna doing a Beatles cover? Honestly!) to the sublime. U2 were not icons they are now, but to see them in 1985 you can't be surprised at their metoric rise that lay just ahead, like an unpolished gem. But their day hadn't quite arrived yet....

Seeing Queen again walk onto the stage at Wembly and unleash perhaps the greatest live music onslaught ever will give you chills. I'm not even a big fan of the group, but they not only stole the show, but single-handedly lifted the concert from significant to legendary in the span of 20 minutes. Seeing Freddie Mercury so very alive that day, the irony of his passing in the context of all the suffering in Africa is almost too much to bear.

The scenes of the hungry in Africa are no less disturbing now as then, and the music is no less compelling either. Perfect DVD? No. The concert wasn't technically flawless, and despite the money raised didn't solve all the world's problems. This DVD is both thouroughly worthwhile but falls short of it's promise. Just like the concert that it captures so well.

No...this DVD isn't perfect, but it may be fitting that it isn't. For a decade often derided as superficial, for a moment the people of the world came together for something greater than themselves, and despite the flaws created something that still inspires awe.

This DVD saves lives, so it says on the front cover. Nearly every other DVD you might buy in your local music store or supermarket is designed just to entertain you for a while. Then the movie or show finishes, and then that's it, until you play it again... But not this one!!

The idea of Live Aid as an international fundraising concert therefore has significance in that the usually-passive, one-way entertainment contract (you pay the ticket price, you sit/ stand/watch/get entertained, then you leave: end of story) has been changed so that you are now an active participant in effecting real change somewhere in the world. Sir Bob Geldof, the outspoken, noble Irish rock singer, conceived the project in 1984-85 as a pragmatic way to put a Band Aid on the gaping wounds being suffered by the population of East Africa as a combination of drought and debt claimed over a million lives.

So many people in the rich parts of the world were horrified and maybe shamed into action that the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? , released in Britain in December 1984, raised a total of over 8 million UK pounds. The money was used to buy grain and food oil, as well as set up a supply route to ship this aid from Europe to the stricken lands of Ethiopia and Sudan.

I bought my copy of this record for A$2.99 just before Christmas that year. I was nearly 15, and it was the first music record I ever bought. So it was nice to see the video, included here on this package, with a sort of "Class Of '84" of UK pop & rock musicians singing along to the Feed The World slogan. The USA did a similar thing soon after when a whole host of the most high-profile American musical stars performed We Are The World - one of the biggest hits of the decade. The video of this is on here too!

But the real interest is with the live concerts, which were staged on July 13th, 1985. Of course, there were two shows: one in London's Wembley Stadium, and the other at an open-air venue in Philadelphia. With the time delay, the UK concert started first. An amazing 8 or 9 hours of live rock followed. Looking back on it 20 years later, the performances are fantastic, even more so when you consider the haste the show was put together with, the potential clashing of star egos, the logistic difficulties, and the fact that no-one, anywhere had tried such an event before.

The UK hightlights for me:

U2 - Bono of U2 is just the best frontman ever in rock. No one else makes such a direct connection wiith their audience. He jumped off the stage and danced with a fan! The strident urgency of their messages was a cut above nearly everyone else.

Queen - Their performance was electrifying and 100% engaging. Every single audience member contributed to the spectacle with upraised hands. The best British rock band, they had the incomparable talents of Freddie Mercury on vocals.

Boomtown Rats - Previously known here in Australia mainly for the chilling but classic 1979 #1 hit single I Don't Like Mondays, Sir Bob commands centre stage. It was his idea, his day, and his glory. He conducts the Band Aid finale to the UK show too.

David Bowie - His 1978 song Heroes seemed very much to refer here to these Heroes of popular entertainment whose talents had been amassed here to such an effect.

Dire Straits & Sting - Dire Straits were brilliant live. Sting joined them on Money For Nothing. This bit of the show was extra good.

Elton John - The Rocket Man is one of the biggest benefactors in the entertainment world. No other piano showman could possibly have been asked to play Wembley. He is terrific, and does a nice double act with the youngest Live Aid performer - George Michael - on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Paul Young & Alison Moyet - Two singers who may be less familiar to modern audiences (though very popular in 1985) team well on the great old Marvin Gaye tune That's The Way Love Is.

The US highlights for me:

The Beach Boys - They got things rolling at the US concert and did a flawless version of Good Vibrations that had just the desired effect on the summer's day crowd at JFK Stadium.

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Teach Your Children is one of my all-time favourite songs, and it was delightful to hear this tune performed acoustically by CSN at the front of the stage (as the organisers were changing the stage equipment behind the curtain)

REO Speedwagon - Although not a major fan of this band, I really like their two performances here - the exciting rock n' roll of Roll With The Changes and their recent US #1 hit tune Can't Fight This Feeling.

Phil Collins - Enjoying his best-ever run of popularity, good-guy drummer Phil boarded the now-defunct Concorde supersonic jet and dashed from Wembley to JFK to appear at BOTH shows on the same day!

Patti LaBelle - The most dynamic singer seen at Live Aid, this powerhouse US soul performer was unforgettable, and wrung every ounce of emotion out of her 20 minutes on stage.

Teddy Pendergrass with Ashford & Simpson - A truly beautiful moment not seen for 20 years was found in an archive and dusted off just in time to be included here. Soulful US singer Teddy, making his first public appearance since being paralysed in an auto crash, sings the inspirational Motown number about friendship : Reach Out And Touch.

I can't find fault with this concert repackage. I know some might be upset about certain tracks not being included, but what is here is historic and magical, and should be owned by all fans of pop and rock music.

And just when the last strains of the USA For Africa ensemble singing We Are The World have faded, there is an essential 1985 documentary : Food And Trucks And Rock 'N Roll that shows the horror of the famine, the valour of the charities and the global reach of the campaign to aid the victims.

AND IN 2005 IT IS STILL HAPPENING AND WE SHOULD ALL KEEP TRYING TO HELP . BUY THIS VIDEO AND FEED THE WORLD!

Peace.

Jeremy

After reviewing the listing of performances it looks like whomever was in charge of producing this release did not follow the official concert agenda and opted to not include all of the music. I'm happy that an official release is on the way but disappointed that more care was not taken to include all the music in the correct order and also when VH1 showed the "10 years later" there were some comments from the artists and also the fans like the girls with U2 that should have been included. It could be that the producers think 20 years later nobody will care but obviously they don't know how many of us fans of this event are out here. It could have been 5 or even 6 discs and cost a little more I don't think anyone would have minded.

Yes, I am one of the few who did record the concert almost 20 years ago, waking up in Brooklyn, NY at 6:00am to catch Status Quo lead off and watching from beginning to end. I've been watching my VHS copies all these years, so I was a bit hesitant to own the DVD releases after reading all the negative reviews here. I got the DVD set as a Christmas gift, and I've been able to review it against my VHS copies. So let's compare:

First the bad news: Yes, it's true that there are a number of artists missing, not only Led Zeppelin, but also Men at Work, The Four Tops, The Hooters, etc. And yes, there are also many songs missing from artists' sets. (for example, Black Sabbath's Iron Man, nearly all of Nik Kershaw's set, etc.). I don't completely buy the excuse given in the booklet that the footage is simply lost, since Duran Duran's full performance is included with the exception of a laughably bad performance of a View to a Kill (Simon Lebon hits a wonderfully sour note), so I suspect some performances were deliberately excluded.

Now the good news: If you watched this 20 years ago and have been watching your VHS copies all these years you'll be happy to find additional artists and songs in the collection that NEVER aired in America, at least in NYC where I watched. (I don't know if other states got different feeds than NY, but I doubt it). In one particularly infamous memorable moment, stations here in NY cut away from Wembley when Elvis Costello was about to perform in favor of airing Joan Baez in Philly. Being a huge EC fan, I was pretty pissed. Since the concerts were going on simultaneously throughout the world, stations would often cut away from artists midway through their sets to go to another artist elewhere.

In the case of the stateside feeds, some of the European artists less popular in the states were overlooked and didn't air at all. Other artists that never aired in America at the time include Adam Ant, Howard Jones, Freddie Mercury and Brian May's acoustic performance, INXS, and Cliff Richard, for example. Also on a positive note, some of the artists' who did air stateside now have fuller sets than what originally aired. Queen's performance of Bohemian Rhapsody never aired stateside, as they were joined already in progress performing the end of Crazy Little Thing Called Love. (which, oddly enough, then segued into Hammer to Fall during broadcast rather than We Will Rock You as it appears on the DVD); U2 was also originally joined already in progress, so US watchers tuned in midway through Sunday Bloody Sunday. Now you get the full performance. ALSO NOTE: The Who, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin did not appear throughout the day's full broadcasts, they appeared later on that evening on Dick Clark's hosted Live Aid show and he only showed each artist doing 1 song of their sets. People lamenting the lack of Zeppelin on the DVD should understand that only half of Stairway to Heaven originally aired anyway. Only Bowie's Rebel Rebel originally aired. On the DVD, you get 3 more songs from him; And only The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again originally aired. Here, you also get Love Reign O'er Me.

Sound and pictures quality is superior to my VHS copies, though admittedly the sound was a mixed bad from artist to artist. It is what it is.

So overall this is a worthy set to own whether you have VHS copies or not, as you do get performances that did not air to supplement what you may already have.

One caveat though: 20 years later and Phil Collins reminds us just how annoying he used to be. He was Mr. Overexposure at the time, a perpetual media whore who couldn't get enough radio/screen time in the 80's, and unfortunately none of his appearances were lost. He couldn't just come up and do a few songs himself like every other artist, no, he has to overstay his welcome by first playing in Wembley with Sting, then flying to Philly (all annoyingly captured in footage of him boarding the plane, talking on a headset, landing in Philly, etc), performing a second solo set there, then he sits in with Clapton, sits in with Led Zeppelin. Oh yeah, he's also prominently featured on the Do They Know it's Christmas video too. Even without the Zep performance, you'll grow weary of seeing his stupid Gerber Baby head soon enough.

Here is my review, the following 85 songs are missing:

01 STATUS QUO- Don't Waste My Time [04:34]

02 STYLE COUNCIL- You're the Best Thing [05:00]

03 STYLE COUNCIL- Big Boss Groove [03:55]

04 BOOMTOWN RATS- Rat Trap [05:37]

05 ULTRAVOX- Reap The Wild Wind [02:58]

06 ULTRAVOX- One Small Day [03:49]

07 SPANDAU BALLET- Virgin [04:40]

08 NIK KERSHAW- Wide Boy [03:25]

09 NIK KERSHAW- Don Quixote [04:48]

10 NIK KERSHAW- The Riddle [04:13]

11 SADE- Why Can't We Live Together [05:35]

12 SADE- Is It a Crime [06:10]

13 STING- Driven To Tears [03:17]

14 STING- Message In A Bottle [04:32]

15 PHIL COLLINS- In The Air Tonight [04:45]

16 STING + PHIL COLLINS- Long Long Way To Go [03:30]

17 BRYAN FERRY- Sensation [04:31]

18 BRYAN FERRY- Boys And Girls [04:31]

19 BRYAN ADAMS- [04:12] Tears Are Not Enough

20 BRYAN ADAMS- [05:34] Cuts Like A Knife

21 THE BEACH BOYS- [02:31] California Girls

22 THE BEACH BOYS- [03:07] Help Me, Rhonda

23 GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS + BO DIDDLEY- [05:34] Who Do You Love

24 GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS- [07:02] The Sky Is Crying

25 SIMPLE MINDS- [03:00] Promised You a Miracle (The feed was lost during the song. The broadcast time is only 02:09)

26 BERNARD WATSON- All I Really Want To Do (Bob Dylan Cover)

27 BERNARD WATSON- Interview (Original B. Watson song)

28 JOAN BAEZ- [02:34] We Are The World

29 THE PRETENDERS- [03:35] Time The Avenger

30 THE PRETENDERS- [03:15] Message of Love

31 THE WHO- My Generation [01:40] The BBC blew a fuze during the two first numbers by The Who.

32 THE WHO- Pinball Wizard [03:02] The band didn't stop playing but the broadcast was interrupted.

33 ELTON JOHN- I'm Still Standing [03:20]

34 ELTON JOHN- Can I Get a Witness [03:42]

35 ASHFORD & SIMPSON- [04:56] Solid

36 KOOL & THE GANG (pre-recorded live video)- [02:01] Stand up and Sing

37 KOOL & THE GANG (pre-recorded live video)- [03:11] Cherish

38 MADONNA- [05:17] Love Makes The World Go Round

39 TOM PETTY & The HEARTBREAKERS- [04:46] The Waiting

40 TOM PETTY & The HEARTBREAKERS- [05:42] Rebels

41 THE HOOTERS- [04:37] And We Danced

42 THE HOOTERS- [05:44] All You Zombies

43 THE FOUR TOPS- [02:42] Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)

44 THE FOUR TOPS- [01:43] Bernadette

45 THE FOUR TOPS- [01:20] It's The Same Old Song Motown Medley

46 THE FOUR TOPS- [01:36] Reach Out I'll Be There Motown Medley

47 THE FOUR TOPS- [02:28] I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) Motown Medley

48 BILLY OCEAN- [04:08] Caribbean Queen

49 BILLY OCEAN- [03:38] Loverboy

50 BLACK SABBATH- [04:18] Children Of The Grave

51 BLACK SABBATH- [07:44] Iron Man

52 RICK SPRINGFIELD- [03:37] Love Somebody

53 RICK SPRINGFIELD- [04:04] State Of The Heart

54 RICK SPRINGFIELD- [02:32] Human Touch

55 CROSBY, STILLS & NASH- [04:57] Southern Cross

56 CROSBY, STILLS & NASH- [08:05] Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

57 JUDAS PRIEST- [07:16] You've Got Another Thing Comin'

58 SANTANA- [03:22] Brotherhood

59 SANTANA- [02:11] Primera Invasion

60 SANTANA- [05:14] Open Invitation

61 SANTANA + PAT METHENY- [07:32] By The Pool/Right Now

62 THE CARS- [03:02] You Might Think

63 THE CARS- [04:04] Drive

64 NEIL YOUNG- [04:45] Sugar Mountain

65 NEIL YOUNG- [04:22] Helpless

66 NEIL YOUNG- [04:49] Powderfinger

67 POWER STATION- [04:20] Murderess

68 POWER STATION- [06:00] Get It On

69 THOMPSON TWINS- [07:59] Hold Me Now

70 PHIL COLLINS- [03:45] Against All Odds

71 LED ZEPPELIN- [04:43] Rock & Roll

72 LED ZEPPELIN- [05:20] Whole Lotta Love

73 LED ZEPPELIN- [09:19] Stairway To Heaven

74 CROSBY - STILLS - NASH (& YOUNG)- [03:33] Only Love Can Break your Heart

75 CROSBY - STILLS - NASH (& YOUNG)- [03:09] Daylight Again

76 DURAN DURAN- [04:07] A view to a Kill

77 PATTI LABELLE- [02:51] New Attitude

78 PATTI LABELLE- [02:20] Stir It Up

79 PATTI LABELLE- [02:43] Over The Rainbow

80 PATTI LABELLE- [02:44] Why Can't I Get It Over

81 HALL & OATES- [04:27] Out Of Touch

82 HALL & OATES w/EDDIE KENDRICKS & DAVID RUFFIN- [02:41] The Way You Do The Things You Do (voc : E. KENDRICKS)

83 MICK JAGGER- [03:25] Lonely At The Top

84 BOB DYLAN + RON WOOD + KEITH RICHARDS- [04:34] Ballad Of Hollis Brown

85 BOB DYLAN + RON WOOD + KEITH RICHARDS- [03:36] When The Ship Comes In

Total: 6 hours missing

That has been my review.