I just watched the whole thing the other day and blimey it nearly blew my head off. u2, Queen, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, The Who, Status Quo, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, The Boomtown Rats, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney have to be my favourite performances. Wow it is the most amazing thing ever... everyone should go out and buy it, even if they don't like anyone who was in it because it all raises money for the Band Aid Charitable Trust anyway. People have complained about the complete concert not being there, that's only because most of it was locked away in the BBC's stores for years and years, some of the tapes were destroyed. In America, they were told to destroy the tapes and they did so, MTV luckily had some of the us concert, but not all of it! Also there were things like 'Rat Trap' by the Boomtown Rats was discarded because Bob Geldof ripped the microphone off the lead! I thought it was really well done... when's the next one?

I watched this on TV and, like many others, was moved by many of the performances, especially U2. Now, looking back, most of the performances are not that great. As others have noted, Queen and U2 steal the show. Bono and Freddie Mercury define the term, "stage presence." Other notable performances are INXS and the Cars, among others. I have Woodstock on DVD and the music's better, many performances are better (or worse in a more entertaining way than Live Aid) and the overall feel of the occasion is more alive. But the DVD is definitely worth the money. It's a time capsule of music stuck between the hippies and the grunge bands that would put many of these bands out of work. If you were there or saw it on TV, it will take you back to a place "we've been cast out of" as Chrissie Hynde put it. It was the greatest musical event of the 80s but, when I bought the DVD, I asked an attendant where it was located. The woman typed "Live age" into the computer. I corrected her and asked her if she had heard of Live Aid. Of course she hadn't, she was about 20.

I happened to be in England at the time of this concert and was able to buy a ticket. I got there early and took a place on the field. The crowd was different than at an American concert -- mellower and nicer overall. Once U2 came onstage, though, things changed. The crowd started to move toward the stage in massive wave-like surges. It was a little anxiety-provoking, but nobody got hurt that I could see. The line-up was nothing short of spectacular and I was particularly happy to see The Who, David Bowie, Sting, Queen and Paul McCartney. This was in Paul's anxious phase, after John was killed; Paul only did one song and seemed to be hiding behind the piano. The surprise stand-out act of the day for me was Queen. Freddy Mercury really knew how to work the crowd and he had 50,000 people (or whatever) in the palm of his hand.

July 13th, 1985. This was the most amazing concert I've ever seen. So many acts you had to take no-doze to catch them all. Too many to list but these guys were there, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Sting, The Cars, Madonna, Simple Minds, Beach Boys, Ozzy, Run DMC, REO Speedwagon, The Power Station, Rick Springfield, Queen, INXS, Elton John, Hall and Oats, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, David Bowie, and how could you forget the band who had the #1 hit song at the time they played at Live Aid...Duran Duran. I'm still waiting for someone to release Live Aid on video or cd.