Queen at Live Aid 1985

I have been watching this obsessively for some reason the past few days. Absolutely incredible. Wish I could have been there. Wish Freddie Mercury was still with us. Enjoy

Scully and I saw them at M.S.G.  Great show.

I always come back to Queen as the greatest concert I ever attended. News of the World Tour with Thin Lizzy. After Live Aid they did another show at Wembley the following year that was recorded. Check it out! Or go back to their beginnings and listen to Live at the Rainbow in London. Bottom line they always delivered: performance, musicianship, vocals, harmonies, dynamics and spectacle. 

Watch Rami Malek take on Queen's iconic Live Aid performance as Freddie Mercury in new biopic

I was there.

To me, the most prominent memory was U2's "Bad," which was the moment they went from a cool band on MTV to the biggest thing in the world.

Saw Queen over a dozen times from The Day at the Races tour, when Thin Lizzy opened for them at MSG. Always a great performance. Always. 

sbenois said:

I was there.

Wow!

(p.s. glad to see you HERE, as well.)

Jealous!

sbenois said:

I was there.

conandrob240 said:

Jealous!

sbenois said:

I was there.

jealous +1 

Freddie Mercury is my all-time favorite male vocalist.  What a range and what a beautiful voice!

me too! At around the 7 minute mark he does some playing with the audience doing like vocal exercises. His pitch is so perfect and his voice so beautiful even in that, it makes you want to cry.

My favorite Queen song is The Show Must Go on which really showcases how extraordinary his voice was.

yea, fitting it was his last song. I also love "who wants to live forever". I think that one is my fave

Wow, that video was fantastic. I got into Queen pretty late in the game, maybe a decade ago. Sadly, I realize now, I never saw them live. Love them now, though. Thanks for posting.

Wow, I got chills watching that.  A performance for the ages.

conandrob240 said:

I have been watching this obsessively for some reason the past few days. Absolutely incredible. Wish I could have been there. Wish Freddie Mercury was still with us. Enjoy

First saw them in 1978 at Nassau Coliseum. My best friend's dad drove us there and back. (I have always felt like a failure of a parent because no way would I ever drive my kids to LI for a concert.) I remember wearing that black concert t-shirt to school the next day and feeling very cool.  Freddie was amazing, that I remember, even though it was Brian May that I had a crush on.

Bryan May is a rocket scientist.  Seriously, a rocket scientist.

and when he was a teenager, he and his dad built his first electric guitar.  Completely from scratch.  Unbelievable.

Making his tone instantly recognizable. He also used a coin rather than a pick. Check out his solo on any live version of Brighton Rock where he plays harmonically off an old echoplex (analog delay). He's an orchestra of one...

ml1 said:

and when he was a teenager, he and his dad built his first electric guitar.  Completely from scratch.  Unbelievable.

and anyone can own a Brian May Guitar :

Brian May Guitars

I have 2 of the six pence Brian May used in concert Got them at a show I paid $20 for a ticket at the last minute at MSG. Sat/stood front row the whole show. Those were the days.....

There are three pieces around that will always make me sit down to watch and listen:

This one with Queen

The Last Waltz

And:

https://www.pinterest.com/judybrown169/elvis-68-comeback-special/?lp=true

Best Regards,

Ron Carter

https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/live-aid?page=next&limit=0#discussion-replies-56591

sbenois said:

https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/live-aid?page=next&limit=0#discussion-replies-56591

I guess I really dug U2 that day.  Posted the same video that I linked to above:

ml1 said:

To me, the most prominent memory was U2's "Bad," which was the moment they went from a cool band on MTV to the biggest thing in the world.

I still have all of Live Aid on VCR tapes I recorded that day.  One day I have to get them transferred (whatever’s left of them).  Queen blew me away then as now... Radio Gaga was simply incredible and, well, Freddie was just incomparable.  

I was at Live Aid and Queen was hands down the best act we saw that day--and they weren't even in Philly. Simply amazing.

I saw them at Live Aid in London as well. They were incredible--I'll never forget it. Didn't expect them to be the highlight of the day, but they blew everyone else away.

This is pretty cool:

It seemed pretty silly to me that they recreated the LIVE AID show in the movie when you can go to YouTube and see it any time you want. And I do! My daughter and I watched it a few weeks ago while waiting for This Is Us to start.

yeah - they could have pretty much just shown the real footage.  

I was just surprised at the level of detail of the recreation.