Next time, don’t bother. Really, I would rather just hear the audio coverage and call it a day. That was by far the worst TV coverage of a worldwide event I have ever seen. There have been some bad ones – don’t get me wrong. The editing on the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony special is right up there. But this? This easily denied us history. Why? Well, we didn’t see it.
In 85 at the original Live Aid – those moments were tremendous and became even more so many years later. Bono coming down and dancing with the fans. Phil Collins doing both gigs taking the Concorde to do so. Freddie Mercury commanding the world during Queen’s performance. Even Geldof doing “Why I Don’t Like Mondays”. These were moments that gave us chills then and now, 10 times over. You know why ? WE SAW the actual performances. What the hell was that excuse of TV coverage this past weekend. Does anyone know how tremendous it was to have Richard Ashcroft, one of the greatest songwriters ever to come out and sing “Bitter Sweet Symphony” with Coldplay? No – because they cut to a VJ interviewing Jimmy Fallon to talk about his highlights. Are you fucking kidding me? (no dis to Fallon, I dig him and his corduroy suit he wore at the hall of fame ceremony in 2003 when I saw him) but this was about the performances not the commentary.
Is the argument that they didn’t have the rights to the footage cause AOL owns it all? Ok – cool. Don’t broadcast it then. The result, for the past 3 days we all have been seeking the clips out on line. That in itself is a delight waiting for them to download all the way. It’s fun watching half the clip and then having it freeze. In fucking 85 I taped it on VHS and played it back til my tape got worn out.
My friend decided to Tivo the event this past weekend but then deleted it due to too much commentary. 8 hours on Tivo for 40 minutes of music.
Richard Ashcroft came out fucking barefoot to do Bitter Sweet. Dude was holding his shoes and then he put them down. Did you know that? No – we were watching an interview with the ice cream vendor.
What an insult to the kids today who were looking forward to what could have been their history. Instead, well, we settled for a guitar solo from Pink Floyd – why bother with a full song.
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