Bob Geldof, the F-bomb-dropping driving force behind both the 1984 Band Aid single and the follow-up live event at Wembley, is entertainingly potty-mouthed while looking – at age 73 – as shaggily unkempt as in his 80s heyday.
Geldof at a resettlement camp in January 1985 (Photo: Brook Lapping/Ken Lennox/BBC)
The first of three episodes focuses on the charity single and its American companion piece, “We Are the World”, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Geldof talks about how, just before Band Aid, his career fronting the Boomtown Rats had been winding down as the post-punk band were surpassed by a new generation of pop stars. He had been persuaded to go to Africa by journalists who needed an angle to keep the famine in the news, even though he knew it had the potential to turn into a circus.
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His discomfort was evident as he was required to walk around a famine aid centre, trailed by desperate children. Later, in a meeting with Ethiopia’s Marxist dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Geldof was unable to make nice and unleashes the C-word when the despot tries to shake down Band Aid for £1m.
Birhan Woldu, who survived the famine as a baby (Photo: Brook Lapping/BBC)
The fascinating series also attempts to rectify Live Aid’s lack of diversity in 1985. Even at the time, the event was criticised for not featuring enough black artists on the bill – a subject that is brought up in the second episode, when Geldof says that, had there been a Stormzy equivalent in 1985, he would have gone down on his hands and knees begging him to perform. He also points out that Michael Jackson and Prince were asked to participate but passed.
Live Aid is a great pop story, but it was also a response to a terrible human tragedy. The BBC’s excellent film never loses sight of that fact.
‘Live Aid at 40: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took on the World’ is streaming on BBC iPlayer
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