Cheap Live Aid (4 Disc Set) (DVD) (Vincent Scarza) Price

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Customer Reviews of Live Aid (4 Disc Set)

A Moment In Time...
Perhaps I'm being too generous by giving the LIVE AID dvd set 5-stars. As another reviewer pointed out, many performances are left off of this set. However, some of the biggest acts of the 80s are shown performing their monster hits with the exception of TINA TURNER, WHAM, and THE THOMPSON TWINS. Although these performers do appear with other singers/musicians, the footage of them performing their hits was either destroyed or lost. I'm sure there might be other examples of groups/singers who appear on the LIVE AID dvds and they're not performing their big hits, but, as far as I can tell, most of them are. <
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>The fact that there's even a dvd set available is a miracle in itself. <
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>A booklet that comes with the dvd set explains the idea behind LIVE AID and how BOB GELDOF (singer of THE BOOMTOWN RATS) saw a BBC News report on television in 1984 (the news footage is included at the start of dvd #1) about the famine going on in Africa/Ethiopia. He wanted to do something about it and formed BAND AID in the UK. This in turn formed U.S.A FOR AFRICA in the US, which ultimately led to the LIVE AID concert which happened on July 13, 1985. The concert was filmed by MTV, ABC and the BBC, and aired on its respective channel with an estimated 1.5 billion viewers around the world. <
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>According to the dvd's producer, Jill Sinclair, Geldof wanted the concert to be shown only once and not recorded. ABC took Geldof at his word and destroyed the footage so it could never be re-broadcast again. The BBC ignored him but lost some of the footage, while the videos that weren't lost, sat collecting dust. MTV found over 100 tapes of b-roll of the concert and so Sinclair, and the rest of the LIVE AID dvd team, combined MTV's footage of the LIVE AID concert, with the remaining BBC footage and that's how we get this remarkable 4-dvd set! So bravo to Jill Sinclair and the dvd team. <
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>The concert took place at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The dvds go back and forth from Wembley to JFK, but transitions smoothly, so there aren't any jarring cuts in between the musical acts. Considering that this concert was recorded using analog equipment and was meant for a one-time only showing, the footage itself has been restored as best as it could be and it looks pretty good (sharp, vibrant color, etc.). There are some instances where wavy-horizontal lines appear on close-up shots on some of the performances, and Sinclair explains in the booklet that this is a phenomenon called "microphany," which happens when the "camera lens is affected by great volume." The lines aren't that distracting since they aren't colored, and they don't distort the picture, but they're just noticeable. It only happens once in a while and according to the booklet, only on some UK performances. <
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>Along with the performances, the LIVE AID dvd set also includes extras: <
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>DVD #1 <
>**BBC TV NEWS REPORT <
>**BAND AID - DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS - music video <
>**U.S.A FOR AFRICA - WE ARE THE WORLD - "..." <
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>DVD #4-(includes performances recorded at different locations/times and either broadcast that day or never televised) <
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>**INXS - What You Need; Don't Change <
>**B.B. KING - Why I Sing The Blues; Don't Answer The Door; Rock Me Baby <
>**ASHFORD & SIMPSON with TEDDY PENDERGRASS - Reach Out And Touch(Somebody's Hand) <
>**RUN DMC - King Of Rock <
>**CLIFF RICHARD - A World Of Difference <
>**DAVID BOWIE & MICK JAGGER - Dancing In The Streets (this is actually the music video; according to wikipedia Bowie and Jagger were supposed to do a live duet on the song, with Bowie in London and Jagger in Philadelphia, but because of technical difficulties it couldn't be done) <
>**DOCUMENTARY - Food And Trucks And Rock 'n' Roll <
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>Instead of a scene selection menu, the dvds have "search by artist" that lets you go right to the start of that performer's set (which will then play the rest of the concert from that point on, rather than going back to the menu). You also have the option to just play the Wembley performances or the Philadelphia perfomances. <
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>If you're too young to remember this concert, you might miss the significance of it. But it's still worth watching. Like Woodstock was to a generation before it, LIVE AID showed the world that young people could come together, through music, and collectively believe in something that could change the world. If you do remember this moment in time, watching this concert will bring back many memories. <
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>Some of the stand out performances on these dvds, IMO: <
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>FREDDIE MERCURY/QUEEN - The rapport between the audience and Mercury is incredible. He launches into an impromptu "scat" singing certain vowels to the audience and they sing it back to him, verbatim <
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>ELTON JOHN & GEORGE MICHAEL - John playing the piano, while Michael belts out John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" <
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>PATTI LABELLE - The soul diva belting out her version of Lennon's "Imagine" and then going into "Forever Young." Towards the end of the latter song, she puts down the microphone, walking up to the front of the stage and continues singing...and you can still hear her voice, barely audible, but powerful enough to be heard over the cheering crowd and the back-up singers <
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>TINA TURNER & MICK JAGGER - duet on "State Of Shock" Turner matches Jagger move for move and lip for lip <
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>So even though this set is not complete, it still deserves 5-stars. <
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Blast from the past
Great buy!!Like walking back in time...This will bring back memories for lots of people..

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Live Hair
I was not lucky enough to see the concert when it happened, but am glad to be able to now. The music is great, but it's fun to see the hair styles - mullet city! My daughter and I think Queen steals the show!