All language subtitles for LIVE AID - 2 - Documentary [2025]

This programme contains
some strong language.

Around the world,
it's time for Live Aid!

40 years ago, music
brought the world together

to fight a famine in Ethiopia.

# We can be heroes... #

32 million human beings
dying of hunger in a world of

surplus food, and it's this simple
thing that drives me nuts.

# Just for one day... #

It all began with a song.

The most remarkable number one ever.
It's sold a million in a week.

Well, that's more than any other
record in the history of music.

It inspired Live Aid, one of the
biggest global events in history.

To be honest, it seemed
a harebrained scheme.

It seemed like
this could never happen.

I remember the stadium shaking.

I was singing my face off, honey.

# Well, it was 20 years ago today
Sergeant Pepper... #

20 years on, Live 8 challenged
the leaders of the world's

richest countries to address
the causes of poverty in Africa.

People said, "Why the hell
are we going to spend money

"over in Africa when we got
road problems in my state?"

I said to Bob, "I'll do the
politics, you do the public."

Nothing can ever repair the damage,
colonisation, slavery did.

Nothing.

But this was demonstrating
what we could do.

# Lonely Hearts Club Band... #

This is the story of how a pop song
inspired a movement

that secured tens of billions
of pounds for Africa.

You can't change the world
with a song or even a concert.

But you can plant a seed.

# Lonely Hearts Club Band. #

CHEERING

Bob Geldof announces his newest

and biggest idea to help
victims of the African famine.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm very pleased to announce
Band Aid start the second part of

their programme by announcing
Live Aid, which, without a doubt,

will be the largest pop concert ever
held, with the greatest audience.

Hello, Bob.

The Band Aid record money
was dwindling.

Bob came in and said,
"I've got this idea,"

and he announced
the idea of Live Aid.

I think we all thought
it was technically impossible.

This was a shock.

One of the trustees whispered
in my ear, "Kennedy, he's mad.

"You have to stop him.

"We do not know anything
about putting on concerts."

But Bob knows a man who does.

He brings Harvey Goldsmith
into the trustees' meeting,

one of the most successful
promoters of all time.

Bob asked me to come to a meeting
of the Band Aid Trust

and just announced,
"We're doing the concert.

"Harvey's doing it. See you later."

Bob realised that he wasn't going
to get enough global traction

if we just did one concert.

I needed something equal
in the United States.

If we had it on two continents,
then we united Band Aid

and USA for Africa, and that
brought in those two countries.

So for me, it had to be the two. But
also, it had to be a spectacular.

I stepped back and said, "He's
barking mad. How do we do that?",

because that had never
been done before.

I'd never seen, in all my working
life, as many press that turned up

for this gathering
in the ballroom of Wembley Stadium.

I kept saying to Bob,
"What are we going to say?"

At that stage, I can't really
remember who we had.

I listed a bunch of people
who we probably could talk to.

The people taking part will be...

..Bryan Adams...

..Adam Ant...

..The Boomtown Rats...

..David Bowie...

..the Cars...Queen...

I literally kept kicking him,
saying, "No, you can't say that.

"No, you can't say that.
No, we don't know about this.

"No, we don't know about that."

And about five minutes ago,

we heard some wonderful news,

and that is that The Who,
one of the greatest bands ever in

rock music, are re-forming
specifically for this event.

No, we weren't
getting back together. Erm...

It was blackmail, really. He was
brilliant, because he believed

that it was something that he
passionately felt needed to be done.

I don't think he would deny that
he bullied us into doing it.

I sort of winged it
because of the Band Aid record

and the USA for Africa record.

So I was absolutely certain
that, you know,

a good 80% of those guys
would show up on the day,

in which case we have got
a serious concert going on.

If I had done that, I'd be sued.
I'd be shot. I'd be... You know.

But Bob doing it,
he got away with it!

Box offices in London
have been besieged by fans

queuing for the tickets
despite their £25 price tag.

How much of the money do you think
will actually reach Ethiopia, then?

I should imagine
the majority of it.

But, I mean, I wouldn't pay it
if I didn't think it was going.

No, I wouldn't pay 25 quid if
it wasn't going to most of Ethiopia.

Are you coming here for the music
or the charity? For charity.

And the music.

25 quid's a lot of money to spend.
Why are you doing that?

Because I want to see David Bowie.
That's it?

You don't really care about the
charity, you just want to see him?

Well, not particularly, no.
I just want to see David Bowie.

It's to be approved
by either me or Mike Mitchell.

I first came in contact with Bob

through a mutual friend.

This friend had known
what I'd done at the Olympics

and knew what Bob was trying to do.
You got to put it in perspective,

from where people
were coming from in 1985 -

in the Olympics,
we have one location, LA,

three satellites going to the world.
In this particular broadcast,

we would be drawing
from seven locations,

using 16 satellites, then mixing
and going all back to the world.

So it had never been done.

I didn't know enough that it was
impossible. No-one had ever

had 16 hours of anything
on television.

Even the Olympics weren't that long.

Band Aid's inspiration now spends
20 hours a day on the phone.

See, the point is that,
for the first time,

the whole world is linked
physically through electronics.

Its organisers say it will be
broadcast live to more

than 150 countries. In charge

is Bob Geldof, who also put together
the Band Aid project.

He joins us live from London
this morning. Good morning, Bob.

And here in New York is veteran
rock promoter Bill Graham, who's

in charge of promoting next week's
sold-out concert in Philadelphia.

Good morning, gentlemen.
Good to have you both here.

There were some complaints that
a lot of black performers were not

as involved in this whole production
as they should have been.

In fact, only 10%
were black performers.

Is there any reason for that?
BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.
Well, we asked everybody.

I mean, we asked Michael Jackson,
we asked Lionel Richie,

we asked Diana Ross,
we asked Prince. We asked...

You asked everyone, hmm? We asked
the biggest stars there are.

I couldn't understand
why all those people who were

concerned about the issue at
USA for Africa... Where were they?

Everyone had their own reason -

politically speaking,

philosophically speaking,

who knows? I mean, I didn't have a
chance to meet with Mike or Stevie.

I made a conscious decision at the
very last minute to get on the plane

and go, because I just felt
it was necessary to do it.

A journalist who suggests
there should be more black

performers on the bill at Wembley
gets short shrift.

And I don't care if they're orange,
luminous pink or green.

The object is to stop people dying.

This was a global event. Very good
reasons why it should be happening.

What Bob Geldof was doing,
it's coming from a good place,

but it's coming from a very kind of
white, paternalistic place,

and we were unhappy with that. If
you're putting on an event of this

nature for people in Africa,
it would seem to me to make sense

that you would include artists
of colour from this country.

If there had been
a black British artist,

if there had been a Stormzy
back then... That's

the change in the culture, that's
the change in the society here.

If there had been
anything like that,

I'd have been on my knees, begging.
There simply wasn't.

What he was doing at that time,
there's no way a Stormzy could ever

have come through. But there were
some black artists -

I've said at the time -
who were big.

Five Star, Imagination... Steel
Pulse were a very kind of political

group at the time. Aswad.

"What about so-and-so?"

Yes, but they weren't
selling records!

We'd have got whoever
was selling millions.

This is an entirely practical,
logical endeavour.

How do we stop as many people dying
as humanly possible?

It's the most ambitious
pop project ever attempted.

If everything goes to plan,
up to 1,500 million people

will see the show beamed live
through 11 satellites

to more than 100 countries.

We have this television
running order which dictates things

to the minute and a half, kind of
thing. And that's not rock and roll.

Rock and roll never works
to the minute and a half.

Rock and roll works
when they're ready.

Each group has its own equipment,
so a revolving stage is being

built so two groups can set up and
tear down while a third performs.

If that stage behind me is actually
finished for Saturday, I think

a few people are going to be
well and truly surprised.

Scores of workers are
putting together the stage.

It's 140 feet across. There's
eight tons of scaffolding involved,

two huge video screens either side,

and there's some five miles of
cabling behind that stagework.

Just dealing with the technology of
how to dovetail two shows in, where

everybody can see it, where we

can show what's going on
in Philadelphia over here and

vice versa, and keeping the timings
together, which is a nightmare.

I had no idea whether they were
going to get our pictures

or we were going to
get their pictures.

Even the experts didn't have a clue
whether it was going to work or not.

This scene here at Wembley
is by no means unique,

because of course all this activity
is being duplicated in Philadelphia.

This is the biggest stage
ever built for a rock concert.

It's 100 feet high, 300 feet wide,
the size of a football field,

and it even revolves, allowing
one band at a time to set up

while another band performs.

There's not a little voice
in the back of your head that's

regretting starting all this? I know
that it's a tremendously good cause,

but regretting you being up front
and carrying the can?

I don't mind that, because if you
fail, it's not from want of trying.

Radio 1 will be in FM stereo

in simultaneous broadcast
with BBC TV.

And to get the best effect,
you should switch your receivers

to FM stereo 88-90.2 megahertz
and position the speakers

on either side of the
television set, a few feet away.

And of course you can use
stereo headphones, if you want.

The time is coming up to 12 noon.

I'm sorry to interrupt.
We have to go.

Well, we're just chatting.
They'll just all have to wait!

It's 12 noon in London,
7am in Philadelphia,

and around the world
it's time for Live Aid,

16 hours of live music
in aid of famine relief in Africa.

And now, to start
the 16 hours of Live Aid,

would you welcome Status Quo!
CHEERING

Out comes Quo, and what does Rossi
say? He walks out and he goes...

'Ello! Are you awright?

CHEERING

You awright?

CHEERING

It was so perfect! You know?
So...rock and roll, y'know?

"Awright?" And then...
HE HUMS ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD

# Here we are and here we are
and here we go

# All aboard and
we're hitting the road

# Here we go,
a-rockin' all over the world... #

Go on, now.

The moment the panic lifted for me,
the weight, physically -

I can still feel it now -
was when Status Quo started.

Prince Charles said...

AS CHARLES: .."Why have you
picked these chaps?" You know?

NORMAL VOICE: And I said, "Well,
sir, erm, it's Status Quo."

And I said, "They are
archetypal rock and roll."

AS CHARLES: "Why is that?"

NORMAL VOICE: And I said,
"Well, y'know, long hair, denims."

SONG ENDS

CHEERING

What do you think about what's going
on here today? Loving it! Brilliant!

One at a time. You. Brilliant.
Really, really good.

Why? Cos of all the...
Best concert ever!

Wonderful! It's lovely!

You can fuck off home now.
You're finished.

There's no need to swear, Bob!
"Bloody hippies!"

He said, "Would you fuck me?",
actually.

Yeah, it was great. I just wish
we could have been on there

a bit longer.
It all went too quickly.

One to Simon, saying something
like, "Your dad's great."

THEY LAUGH

I love all these instructions
on what has to be written!

"To Simon," right?
Anything you want. "To Phil..."

Is it grain or is it transport that
this money's going to be spent on?

Oh, everything.

Drilling wells, planting trees,
transport, medicine, shelter.

I'm off. I know,
you've got to go onstage.

And here now is the band that's led
by the man who was the spark,

Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats!
CHEERING

Thanks for coming.

The size of this, the enormity
of this, hadn't struck me.

MUSIC: I Don't Like Mondays

Like, everyone I've ever
said hello to in my life...

..or just nodded to

is conceivably watching this.

That's mad.
That doesn't happen to people.

# The silicon chip inside her head

# Gets switched to overload

# And nobody's gonna
go to school today

# She's gonna make them
stay at home... #

There's a build-up to that line.

"They can see no reasons,
cos there are no reasons."

# What reasons do you need?

# Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa,
tell me why... #

And, bang, suddenly the line
I'm going to sing now,

that's fucking mad!

# And soon we'll be learning

# And the lesson today
is how to die! #

CHEERING

There is literally no reason why
these human beings should die

or need to die. We live
in a world of surplus food.

Thank you very much.

I've just realised,
today is the best day of my life.

CHEERING

You might have heard Bob say,
"I just realised,

"this is the best day of my life,"
and I gotta think it just might be.

Of course. And musically, this is
the best day of all of our lives.

Coming up this morning, Sting,
Phil Collins, their whole set -

we won't be cutting away.
Stay with us.

And the figure, money
raised and pledged in Britain,

£228,000 so far.

People were starting to give money.
They were dribbling in.

It was a new, you know... I think
most people watching on television

didn't really know what to do,
as much as we kept telling them.

I'll be in the front.

# Every breath you take

# Every move you make

# Every vow you break
Every step you take

# I'll be watching you

# Every single day... #

I'd just broken up with the Police,
so I wasn't going to be with

the Police, but I said,
"I'll do it on my own."

And then Bob teamed me and
Phil Collins up together...

# Oh, can't you see... #

..cos he was on his own,
too. Johnny No-Mates!

BOTH: # You belong to me...

Because Bob had been so successful
with his first project,

hugely successful, I thought,
"OK. He thought that would work.

"Let's see if this works."

# Since you're gone,
I've been lost without a trace

# I dream at night,
I can only see your face... #

Crowd in a bit. How did
you two lads come to get

together, collaborate on this one?
Erm, I don't know. We don't know

how we did it. I don't know.
What are you doing here, anyway?

Erm, I don't know.

Actually, I was going to do it
and Sting was going to do it, and

we just decided it would make sense
to do it a bit together, y'know.

Right. Make it look
a bit more organised, really!

We had a rehearsal over
the telephone, and that was it.

Didn't want to be overrehearsed.
No. No, you shouldn't be, really.

BOTH: # I'll be watching you... #

And then, for some reason, he got
on Concorde and went to America.

I got on to British Airways and
said, "I've got the most fantastic

"idea for you to promote Concorde."

If you're watching TV,
there's actually a helicopter

landing very near the stage area,
and Phil Collins will be jumping

into that to fly off to America
and take part in that end of it

in a little while, as well.
Listen, whose idea was this whole

trip, this Philadelphia idea?
No idea! No, it was, erm...

We thought if it could be done,
wouldn't it be good to do it?

And then we went into the logistics,

and we found out
that it was possible.

Did you ever think
that it wouldn't come off?

That it wouldn't? No, I never did.
I mean, it is an outrageous

proposition, to get everybody
to work for nothing.

When he first decided,
I thought that it would work,

because I think there's been...
Right when they did the record,

there was such a wonderful spirit
around it, and people did want to

do it for free and they did want to
donate the plastic for the record -

that was free. So I thought the
concert would happen as long as Bob

continued to be so determined.

All of the spirit has continued
to this very day.

We go backstage now
and over to Janice Long. Janice?

Thank you very much indeed, Richard.

And the amount at the moment,
£338,000, still rising,

and the address if you want to
send your donations, is...

It's Giro Bank,
PO Box 200, Liverpool.

Still to come here in London,
Bryan Ferry,

Paul Young and Alison Moyet,
playing together,

and then we link up with
Philadelphia in the United States -

at around five o'clock, that'll be -

and start alternating
between the two shows.

Wembley, will you please welcome
America to Live Aid day!

CHEERING

Hello, America.
Welcome to the world.

Have a great day.
Have as good a day as we're having.

And please, please, give us
as much money as we know you have,

like everybody else around
the world. Have a good day.

Well, it's been billed
as the concert to end world hunger.

It has about as much chance
of doing that as World War I had

of being the war to end all wars.

But it certainly has been
a multinational effort,

involving the United States,
Britain, Australia, Japan,

even the Soviet Union,

and certainly its pronounced
purpose cannot be faulted.

Direct from London, Bill tells me,

a group whose heart
is in Dublin, Ireland...

CHEERING

..whose spirit is with the world,

a group that's never had any
problems saying how they feel,

U2!

CHEERING

What I hope is this, as a public
thing, will affect public opinion,

which ultimately will affect the
politicians and the policymakers.

This is a song called Bad.

I can't look back at this moment
with two eyes,

because it was such a bad hair day.
Honestly, can you imagine,

one of your most famous moments
of your life and your activism,

you've got a mullet! I mean,
it's not... It's not good.

It's just not good! And so I can't
look at that fucking thing.

# Jubilation

# And elation

# And temptation

# Isolation!

# Desolation

# Isolation

# Let 'em go... #

We thought, like
so many other people,

this is a humanitarian crisis
and the problem is not an African

one or an Ethiopian one, it's
a European and an American one.

We just have to have a tiny, little
redistribution of resources

and we can sort out the problem.
This is not true.

# Fade away

# Oh!... #

But it was, as an act of charity,
a masterful one.

Every running order had on it
this big mantra in big,

bold letters at the bottom,

"Kill time and you murder success."

Bono did an extended song,

where he jumped down off the front
of the stage, went to see

a girl in the front of the crowd
that he thought needed rescuing.

As true as it was
that I'm looking out for

somebody slight
in the middle of the crowd,

I'm also very conscious that this
is a TV broadcast, not just a show.

CHEERING

And the other side of me,
the performer in me,

is of course looking for
some kind of...moment.

# And so fade away... #

Didn't end up playing the hit,
Pride (In The Name Of Love),

because the singer
fucked off into the crowd.

The band wanted to fire me
as a result.

# ..awake

# Wide awake

# Yeah, I'm not sleeping... #

I just knew we were part
of something. I didn't know

what it would turn out to be,
but something went on at Live Aid

that is...still with us.

SONG CONTINUES

Live Aid, the biggest
musical event ever,

is still going on
at Wembley Stadium in London.

It's being beamed to more than
100 countries around the world,

with about a billion and a half
people watching.

BOTH: Hello, world!

Hello, this is Vienna, Austria.

Hello from the JRT Studio
in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

..rock och pop i 16 timmar

direkt fran London
och Philadelphia.

There is not enough money
coming in, and all these people are

not playing for the good
of their health, they're playing

for the good of other people's
health, so get your money out NOW!

And phone up and give us the money.

Her Majesty! Queen!

I've got no idea why Bob had
this thing about not having them on.

But he didn't.
He didn't want them on.

Bob sort of came from
the post-punk explosion,

so he had pretensions
of being a bit punk.

He probably thought we were
slightly dinosaurs or something.

I don't know.

BOB: I just thought
it was overblown, operatic,

you know, "We use the studio
as an instrument."

Oh, fuck off!

Subsequently, of course,
we all have to admit

that we thought the songs
were great. So with age,

we're allowed to admit it.

In the beginning, it didn't seem
like a reasonable possibility.

To be honest, it seemed
a harebrained scheme.

We're all very keen to do it,
you know.

There's some of the biggest
and best-known groups

around the world taking part.
Why not us?

It really is a gathering
of the rock world elite,

and already rehearsing in here
are some of rock and roll's royalty.

ROGER: We had three rehearsal days.

Talking of Bob, he described it
as a global jukebox.

We just packed a few bangers
into our set.

MUSIC: Radio Ga Ga

# ..we watch the stars

# On videos for hours and hours

# We hardly need to use our ears

# I heard it on my radio

# You gave them all
those old-time stars

# Through wars of worlds
invaded by Mars

# You made 'em laugh,
you made 'em cry

# You made us feel like we could fly

# So don't become
some background noise

# A backdrop for the girls and boys

# Who just don't know
or just don't care

# And just complain
when you're not there

# You had your time,
you had the power

# You've yet to have
your finest hour

# Radio... #

Everybody!

Every act on that bill knew that
it was going to be an amazing

stage for them to be on
and they were going to be seen by

a lot of people. Of course,
everybody went into that show...

It's a double-edged sword -
everybody was behind it,

we thought it was a great thing
to be doing, a great cause,

but of course we realised it was
a potential incredible showcase.

CHEERING

"Just in case you forget who we are,
here's what we've done."

And they did this fantastic
18-minute nonstop set,

and Freddie was just on top form.

# All we hear is radio ga ga,
radio goo goo

# Radio ga ga

# All we hear is
radio ga ga, radio goo goo

# Radio ga ga

# All we hear is
radio ga ga, radio... #

It was like a lot of kids
doing something that they enjoyed

and they had the feeling that it was
going to do some good in the world.

# ..loves...

# ..you. #

CHEERING

I'd asked what was happening
with money, and very little,

and I was trying to work out why,

because everyone had been primed -
it's about cash, it's about cash.

You know, you've got to
get on the phone and take the money

out of your pocket. Don't go
to the pub tonight, please stay in

and give us the money.
There are people dying NOW!

So give me the money.

And here's the numbers. Probably
got to get the address first.

I think I said this - "Stay at home,
give us the money," you know?

And he said, "That's right, and
here's the address." And I went...

No, let's... Fuck the address, let's
get the numbers, cos that's how

we're going to get it.
I think we're going to

have to have the address first.

The fucking address!

You know, what is this,
1832, sort of thing? Y'know?

So that's why I said, you know,
"Fuck the address." You know?

"Stay home and give me
the money NOW!"

And I think that got, then,
immediately translated -

Geldof said, "Give us
your fucking money." You know?

And no matter what you say on
this programme, that will be what

I've said, no matter what I say!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back
to London, to Wembley and Live Aid.

Will you meet and greet David Bowie!

CHEERING

MUSIC: "Heroes"

I'd like to dedicate this song
to my son, to all our children

and to the children of the world.

CHEERING

# I

# I could be king

# And you

# You could be my queen... #

I had to meet David and Harvey
around 11 at night,

and the discussion was to be,
"What do you want me to do?

"David, what do you want me to do?"

And I said, "Look, before we go
any further, I've just...

"I've been given this.

"We want to watch."

So the three of us sat there

and watched this appalling horror.

David did not hesitate, and he just
said, "I'll give up one number.

"You have to put that on."

# We can be heroes... #

"So I'm dropping a song." I said,
"Please don't drop the song."

And he goes, "I'm introducing
this or I'm not doing the show."

# We can be heroes

# Just for one day. #

CHEERING

Thank you!

I'd like to introduce a video
made by CBC Television.

The subject speaks for itself.
Thank you, goodnight.

Please send your money in.

CHEERING

MUSIC: Drive by The Cars

And then they look up
at the screens,

cos David has asked them to look.

And their faces freeze.

# Who's gonna tell you when...

# ..it's too late?

# Who's gonna tell you things...

# ..aren't so great?... #

Suddenly, it switched from being

very jolly, "Hey-hey-hey,
we're doing this," to, like,

"Oh, my God.
This is why we're doing this."

# ..nothing's wrong

# But now
Who's gonna drive you home... #

# Oh

# Who's gonna drive you home...

# ..tonight? #

It's pictures like that
that started this whole thing off.

VOICE BREAKING: And there's
not really much you can say

after seeing those. Er, it makes
music seem rather minor.

But your contributions to
this event can help relieve

that kind of thing in future.

That's when the phone lines
quite literally collapsed.

I can announce that we have already
raised in Wembley £950,000.

There's not long to go here.

They're just getting ready for
Paul McCartney in Wembley Stadium.

But I'm dearly hoping that
we're actually going to be able to

go to Philadelphia and see Madonna.

But somebody yelling in my ear
actually tells me

that they're not quite ready.

Madonna, of course,
is joined by Nile Rodgers

and the Thompson Twins, as well.

Madonna was Madonna.
She was killing it back then.

A woman who pulled herself up
by her bra straps...

..and who has been known
to let them down occasionally.

CHEERING

She's great, she's hot,
she's a lot like a virgin.

She's Madonna!

CHEERING

# Get into the groove

# Boy, you've got to prove
your love to me

# Yeah, get up on your feet

# Yeah, step to the beat

# Boy, what will it be?... #

Some guy screamed from the
audience,

"Take it off, baby!"

Because she had just done
that nude thing, I guess,

for Penthouse or something.

And some dude said,
"Take it off, baby."

And Madonna hit him with...

No, I ain't taking shit off today!

You might hold it against me
ten years from now!

She can, you know, conquer
the world. She couldn't care less.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

When this was happening he said,

"You've got to come on and sing,"
you know.

And I said, "I can't, Bob,
I haven't got a band together."

He said... AS GELDOF: .."Well,
you just sit at the piano

"and do your own number."

How was that for a Geldof
impersonation?

So that was it, you know. I just
had to come, as simple as that.

What made you choose the song
that you chose? He chose it.

He's running the whole bloody show!

LOW VOLUME: # When I find myself
in times of trouble

# Mother Mary comes to me

# Speaking words of wisdom

# Let it be... #

One of the few negative memories
of Live Aid for me

is the fact that Paul McCartney's
microphone failed.

# Speaking words of wisdom

# Let it be

# Let it be

# Let it be

# Let it be... #

Which I have forever been
embarrassed about

and never been invited
to work with Paul since.

OK, now you.

# Let it be.... #
Come on.

AUDIENCE: # Let it be.

# Let it be

# Let it be

# There will be an answer

# Let it be... #

One more time.

# And when the night is cloudy... #

There were a bunch of people
standing round

and either Pete or David said to me,
"Come on, let's help him."

# Let it be... #

Everybody!

# Let it be

# Let it be

# Let it be

# Let it be

# There will be an answer

# Let it be... #

I've been watching it all day
on the television, you know.

Just the feeling that
has been generated is...

It's a first, you know.

It's never been done.
It's a huge event, you know.

It could be the start
of something big.

It wasn't planned.

McCartney was the end.
That was the plan.

I think you know the next song.

CHEERING

It might be a bit of a cock-up.

But if you're going to cock it up,

you may as well do it with
two billion people watching yous!

CHEERING

So let's cock it up together!

It's hard to convey to you
the sort of collegiate atmosphere,

the fun of it, and the sense
of what everyone was doing.

I know that sounds really crap,
like a Hollywood movie,

but it's absolutely true.

# And the Christmas bells
that ring there

# Are the clanging chimes of doom

# Well, tonight thank God
it's them instead of you... #

Everyone!

# And there won't be snow in Africa
this Christmastime

# The greatest gift they'll
get this year is life... #

It was such a magical moment.

I was one of the special people who
were allowed to experience that day.

# Feed the world

# Let them know
it's Christmastime again. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That's it!

Thank you, everybody!
That's the end of our show!

You've been a fantastic audience!

Thank you and goodnight!

On stage in Philadelphia,
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,

and don't forget vision
continues on BBC 1.

The Deputy Commissioner from
Ethiopia in charge of relief,

Berhane...

..Deressa. Berhane Deressa.

All the way from Ethiopia.
Give him a nice hand.

Come on.
You can do better than that.

I was invited...

..to speak.

I got on the stage
and I said thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And thank you.

And I left the stage.

I didn't say anything because these
people are there to enjoy the music.

Young people.

Including myself.

I enjoyed the music
in spite of the tragedy.

It's been a long day, hasn't it?
Yeah, it has.

The most impressive thing
is everybody's spirit,

like, pulling together.

Because a lot of people
could have lost a lot of face.

I don't think anybody bothered
too much about that.

I mean, there were no sound checks

or anything like that,
to my knowledge.

Unless we were one of the bands
that didn't sound check!

So I think that everybody
did it with the spirit

and that was the best
thing about the day. Great.

Well, we are going to go back
to JFK now for a little more.

I think it's Phil Collins,
actually, we are about to see.

Mark Ellen talking to Sade there
and we can go live to Philadelphia.

On to stage at, what,
1:00 in the morning British time.

That makes it heaven knows
what time in the States,

about 8:00 in the evening.

Phil Collins live
from Philadelphia on Live Aid.

It was the connection
between the London show and us.

Good evening, America!

Good evening, London!
Good evening, the world!

Retrospectively, it glued
the two events together

more than it just being the
same name, you know, Live Aid.

I was in England this afternoon.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Funny old world, isn't it?

Well, this is the other song
that I know on the piano.

He sat down at the piano and all
of us in the production crew cried.

We literally all cried because...

..it was impossible.

It's kind of part
of something bigger.

# I've been waiting for this
moment all my life

# Oh, Lord... #

Oh, boy.

# Well, I can feel it
in the air tonight

# Oh, Lord

# Oh, Lord

# Well, I've been waiting
for this moment all my life

# Oh, Lord

# Oh, Lord. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Where do you think
Band Aid can go from here?

Well, I don't think
this should be done again.

I think this is a one-off. Erm...

It shouldn't be repeated.

Something else
I'm sure will rear its head,

someone will have
a good idea somewhere.

"Why don't we do this?
Why don't we do that?"

Maybe playing in the first space
shuttle or something like that.

Something unadventurous like that!

Janice, are you downstairs?
Have you got someone with you?

Well, it's 2:15 on a Sunday
morning, we are still here.

And with me is Lenny Henry.

Before you say anything,

can I just say Nick Jenkin has
pledged to auction his Bentley.

And if you don't,
we'll send the boys around!

And the total at the moment stands
at £2,126,000.

£2,126,000.

127. Why?

Because I did two shows
in Southend tonight.

Hello to everybody in Southend.

And we raised £1,342 just through
donations from the audience, so...

That's just incredible.
Well done, Southend.

Janice talked to me.

And I remember her being just
very kind and very generous.

I think I might have sounded
a bit, "Aaah!" A bit hyper.

We were all swept up
with it on the day.

The feeling of having helped
is not to be underestimated.

You can talk about it

and intellectualise about the
imagery of it as much as you like,

but at the time it was,
we need to do something now.

We can now go live to JFK
in Philadelphia

because onstage is one
of the most exciting

black lady performers in America.

This is Patti LaBelle.

# May God bless

# And always keep you

# May your wishes all come true... #

My manager said,
"Would you like to do Live Aid?"

When they said it
was in Philly I said,

"Wow, don't even ask me
silly questions."

You know, who wouldn't
want to do that?

# May you build

# A ladder to the stars

# And climb every road

# And may you stay

# Stay

# Forever young... #

I did Forever Young
and kicked my shoes off.

# Oh

# Forever young

# Forever young... #

And I walked in the audience

and there was a bunch
of water and wires.

Everybody thought I was going
to get shocked, electrocuted.

# Ooh-ooh

# Why don't you stay... #

That's the great thing
when you just sing,

and people don't look at you.

They don't look at you if you're
a woman or a man or black or white.

You're just there
giving your talent.

It's just beautiful.

Patti LaBelle.

Patti LaBelle giving everything
she has got to Live Aid

and that's what's been
going on all day, of course -

performers and viewers, as well.
The money has been pouring in.

We are way over the £2 million
mark in Britain alone.

But here's the man who knows
all about the money.

Harvey Goldsmith, who is
the promoter of Live Aid.

We are given an understanding
from our auditors,

who are walking around
with a phone by his side,

and he gives us an estimate by the
end of tonight of about 40 million,

which is pretty staggering.

The concert may be over here
at JFK Stadium, but we are not.

What was that?

$40 million.

We just got the word from
the stage that they raised...

We are going to go to the stage now.

There's something very special
we want to do right now.

I remember pulling up backstage.

Every massive artist was there,
the audience was there,

the campaign was there.

It was just...massive.

# There comes a time... #

But now we need to make
the statement

that it's not about us in England,

it's not about you in America,

it's about us as a planet.

# There are people dying

# Oh, when it's time
to lend a hand to life

# The greatest gift of all... #

The rehearsal of the finale is...

..a blur.

Did we rehearse? I don't remember.

I was singing my face off, honey.

It was just one of those moments.

# We are the children... #

We are the ones who will make a
brighter day, so let's start giving.

And it was so wonderful
and it was....

Everybody was out there.
So many, so many people.

# We've got to

# We've got to

# Just you and me... #

The finale was so overwhelming.

You turn around behind you
and there's this sea of artistry.

You turn around in front of you
and there is a sea of humanity.

# And make a better day

# Just you and me. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The greatest show on earth,
the Live Aid rock festival,

has turned out to be the greatest
fundraising event in history.

The twin performances
in London and Philadelphia

reached an emotional climax
early today

and already the target fund
for Africa's famine victims

has been exceeded four times over.

And there is more acclaim pouring
in tonight for the man

who is responsible for pulling off
what many said could not be done.

Members of both British
and Norwegian parliaments

tonight say they will nominate
Irish rock promoter Bob Geldof

for the Nobel Peace Prize.

But as one professional said,

the biggest mistake
that could now be made

would be to think that those
who are so skilled in raising money

are just as good at spending it.

The trustees of the Live Aid fund

have decided to spend 60%
on long-term development aid,

20% for sudden emergencies

and another 20% on urgent
transportation problems.

What about the Ethiopian
government itself?

Do you think they should perhaps
get their house in order,

their priorities in order, before
the suffering can really stop?

Well, they will have to,
but we can stop the suffering.

I mean, I don't want to impose
intellectual colonialism -

"now you must do this".

Whatever the system is that
they operate under,

we can't tell them
that that's wrong.

That is not our business.

As far as I understand,
our brief is to keep people alive.

And if they impose onerous
conditions on us

we'd say, "Fair enough, we'll
keep them alive somewhere else."

Bob Geldof left Britain
today on another tour

of African countries
stricken by famine.

He'll be looking at how
the millions of pounds

raised by the Live Aid concert

have been spent, and at what
still needs to be done.

The relief effort has now been
extended to another four countries.

Unlike in Ethiopia,

most of these other countries
were not in a state of war,

so the actual famine figures
were not as grotesque.

First stop on this
African tour, Mali.

Landlocked, devastated
by 16 years of drought,

where 1.5 million people
are on the knife edge of starvation.

Hello. How are you?

They are from Unicef. Hi, how
are you? Thanks for coming out.

We needed to be told...

..by people on the ground
what their priorities were.

The official welcome
by ministers and aid workers

was effusive for the pop singer

whose reputation as the man with
the means to feed Africa's hungry

has aroused genuine hopes here

of an improvement
in Mali's desperate plight.

I knew I had to meet many
of the leaders of these countries

because now I was
an "international figure".

The Bob Geldof tour of sub-Saharan
states continues at full speed,

with the singer meeting heads
of state, aid officials

and famine victims.

He is now in the Sudan.

The only thing I can think to do,

rather than divvy up -
"you get this,

"you get that amount of money" -

was "can we all just meet
in one place, please?"

We were working a lot
with local NGOs.

That was a huge area of work we did.

So being able to apply directly
to Band Aid was a huge opportunity.

There are definite improvements.

Many more agencies on the ground
giving relief aid.

There is much more thought
being given

about long-term solutions
to these problems.

My opinion of Bob Geldof
changed at the first meeting

because before I met him,
what I'd heard about him

was he had a very loud mouth
and a propensity to swear.

And secondly that
he was fairly critical

of established relief agencies -
one of which I represented.

But once one met him,

I found he had a good propensity
to listen and to learn

and he was interested
in what people were saying.

I was well aware that I needed
to learn from the experienced people

who had been through hell,
who lived in hell,

who knew that the people they
were helping would probably die.

Will the government buy that

and distribute it or will
it be up to the agencies?

The government
has very little money.

So the government, as you know,
has real, real financial problems.

Amongst others. So it will be
largely up to the agencies.

I think the good thing about
Band Aid, it never went operational,

which might have been
tempting for it.

In other words, it didn't bring in
its own teams of people.

They had its logo on trucks,
if I remember,

but these trucks were then given
to people like Oxfam

or Save The Children
for other agencies to deploy,

which was the best way of doing it.

It was never meant to be
a big organisation

in the same field as the Oxfams.

That was always very clear.

It was never going to turn
into something else.

Bob Geldof, organiser of Live Aid,
makes a return visit to Ethiopia.

It was from refugee camps
in these remote areas

that a year ago horrific television
pictures of starvation and death

shocked the world
and mobilised international aid.

Thanks to a concerted relief effort,

there is no longer starvation
in the camps.

But some Western officials
have questioned

the morality of the
Ethiopian government

spending millions on arms
instead of on relief aid.

A group of French doctors
charged yesterday

that the Ethiopian government

has killed an estimated
100,000 of its own people

by its programme
of forced resettlement.

The group, Doctors Without Borders,

said the US and other Western
countries should stop food aid

unless Ethiopia modifies
the resettlement programme.

The way they had been brought
to these settlements was terrible.

Thousands of people
had died on the way.

People were fleeing these new...

..settlements.

What I saw were two
Antonov transporters.

A long line of people.

The first problem was none of these
people were consulted about it.

They were coerced.

Then none of the people where
they were supposed to settle

were consulted either.

Some critics charge resettlement
is really coercion,

designed to weaken separatist
movements in the north.

A charge Ethiopia denies.

This villagisation
and settlement programme

was about taking...

..the peasants from crowded,
degraded, overused land

to more spacious areas

where they are less
affected by drought.

It was more like labour camps
than new villages

with people starting a new life.

MSF was established
around that time.

It was young French radicals who
thought they would change the world.

Everything was wrong for them.

They were destructive.

We can't be France in one year!

They wanted to make it France.
It doesn't work that way.

MSF had a kind of
liberationist sort of approach

and they were more
kind of confrontational.

And they couldn't understand

why agencies like Oxfam
and Save The Children

seemed to be tolerant of this
resettlement programme.

When we know what we know,
when we see what we have seen,

we cannot keep quiet.

We have to say to the public opinion
what is really going on in Ethiopia

because we have asked the public
opinion to support our endeavours

to bring relief, to provide relief
to the Ethiopian people.

We have to tell them
what is going on now.

Geldof says such critics
should accept

that the situation
transcends politics.

They don't have
to trust the government.

They should trust the RRC,

which are the people who are here
to co-ordinate the famine effort,

as all the aid agencies
in the country.

Not only the big boys
like UN, Unicef and Red Cross,

but the Oxfams,
the Save The Childrens.

They implicitly trust them.

They are the ones, they are the
experts, the ones who work here.

If they say trust them
then we must do the same.

The NGOs didn't have
a problem with it.

I mean, 40 of them, including Oxfam,

signed a letter
even later in the day

saying that they approved
of the policy.

It was the implementation of it
that was so brutal.

We had a job to do

and there was something we called
the humanitarian imperative,

where we have to work
in lots of difficult environments

and do the best job we can.

I was really angry and mad
with Band Aid and Bob Geldof.

Involving his name in this critique,

I think the forced relocation
would have stopped immediately.

The French organisation
Medecins Sans Frontieres

is tonight preparing
to leave Ethiopia,

after being ordered out
of the country by the government.

You're either in politics

or you're there to help the people
you say you'll help.

That's it.

Many disasters took place
in this world,

and particularly in Africa,
but even with...

..the sufferings of a greater
magnitude in other parts of Africa,

even with that,

nothing similar to Live Aid
happened in the world.

That effort which Bob started

saved so many lives.

There is no doubt about that.

CHEERING

MUSIC: Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band

It began a journey for all of us,

from what you might call charity
to what you might call justice.

Don't let them tell us
that this doesn't work.

He and Bono came in, and....
Bono, at least somewhat presentable.

"Geldorf" looked like he'd crawled
out from underneath the ground.

# We're Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band

# We hope you will enjoy the show

# We're Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band

# Sit back
and let the evening go... #