This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It was 30 years ago today - 7-13-85 - when Live Aid was unleashed upon the world. Of course it was expected, Bob Geldof had announced the event to the public a few weeks before. But nobody could have predicted the (still) staggering effect that this monster had on the public.Live Aid started at 12:00 P.M. in London (7:00 A.M. in Philadelphia, and 6:00 A.M. where I lived at which was the Gulf Coast area of the U.S., which meant I woke up and this thing was already going on full blast). For the next 16 hours the entire world was given a concert like no other. Star after star played. Geldof tried to get as many reunions as he could and succeeded getting a number of them (The Who, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Black Sabbath, but unsuccessfully failed to get the Beatles). He also threw in the spectacle of Phil Collins playing in London and then flying the Concord over to Philly to play a couple of songs before joining Led Zeppelin for what would be the fun, but notoriously sloppy Led Zeppelin reunion. But some mistakes aside Live Aid was something not to be missed. Nobody in my neighborhood was watching anything else that day but Live Aid until the very end. The concert was simply that mesmerizing.The show in the thirty years since it has been telecast has lost none of its power to dazzle. Of course the Live Aid DVD it is not without flaws. Missing whole acts, songs cut from some of the performers, and the performance list for the Philly show is scrambled up for whatever reason (example: Judas Priest played BEFORE Madonna, the DVD setup has the reverse). It all kinda taints things a tad. But these are small potatoes. Live Aid is a wall to wall rock and roll amusement park for the eyes and ears that will leave you exhausted and exhilarated when it is through. When you do watch it you better make sure you have a whole day to do so because at 10 hours plus you will be there in your living room for quite a while. I should know... that is what happened to me today when I made my 30th anniversary viewing!

There is not one person in this country who can't remember the event that changed the world and charity forever. Live Aid, dreamt up by genius Sir Bob Geldof was the biggest fund raising charity event in 1985, mixing live entertainment and charity together was fantastic. Everyone you can think of was singing/performing there for ten hours! These people included: Bryan Adams, Adam Ant, Black Sabbath, Bono, David Bowie, Jeff Bridges, Tony Butler, U2, Dick Clark, Phil Collins, Billy Connolly, Elvis Costello, David Crosby, Simon Crowe, Paul Denham, Duran Duran, Bob Dylan, Sally Field, Tony Hadley, Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Casey Kasem, Martin Kemp, Madonna, Queen, Paul McCartney, Wham! (with George Michael), Jack Nicholson, The Pretenders, Griff Rhys Jones, Lionel Richie, Status Quo, Mel Smith, Sting, Tina Turner, Tracey Ullman and The Who. Viewers in the crowd included Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Tony Thompson. It was number 58 on The 100 Greatest TV Programmes. Very good!

... Give or take a few hours of course but I still have vivid memories of this ultimate concert . As soon as it was announced I wished I could have attended it but as you can imagine tickets for the Wembly gig were somewhat difficult to get your hands on . I did hear via a friend of mine Rab Kincaid that his sister Vicki got a ticket and would be going to London on the 13th of July , I did feel some self sorrow because the previous Summer my sister acting as courier wanted to know if I wanted to go out with Vicki but I turned her down . She was a very nice girl with a highly developed body for a teenager but from the neck upwards she looked disturbingly like Celtic footballer star Maurice Johnstone with a mullet hairstyle . i wasn't and never will be the sort of guy who'd ever go out with a girl for ulterior motives but it did flash through my mind in the early Summer of 1985 that if I'd been going out with Vicki I might have been able to get a Live Aid concert ticketStill not to worry it was going to be broadcast live on television and I was really looking forward to seeing my musical heroes U2 perform . I kept rubbing my hands wondering what their set list was going to be while I played their live LP Under A Blood Red Sky to death , I was really hoping they were going to perform I Will Follow . So on the day of the concert I was wishing the dross supporting acts like Status Quo , Howard Jones , Paul Young and Adam Ant ( Who played the title track of his new album ! ) would just go away and let Bono and the boys show the audience how it's done . At 5 O'clock the transmission alternatively switched from Wembley to JFK Staduim Philidelphia where we saw the Bryan Adams set . Jack Nicholson said we're going back to London to hear a band who aren'1t afraid to speak their mind and U2 came on to perform the appropriate Sunday Bloody Sunday . Unfortunately their second track was Bad a song I've never taken to and Bono spent so much time jumping into the audience to get a girl to dance with him that they had to scrap their third track Pride . In fact I thought their whole set was a major disappointment that I couldn't believe the positive feed back they got in the press later and there was no one more surprised than the band themselves ! Major disappointment aside I still stayed in to watch the rest of the concert most of which I watched on my sister's portable black and white TV and it wasn't until a few days later that I started digesting what a monumental event it was where Queen stole the show with their medley , where Bob Geldof swore live on air ( In those days bad language on television was still very rare ) , the dominance of British music that saw every act at Wembly hail from the British Isles and where a third of the acts at the American concert were also British , and the strange fact within a couple of years many of the acts at Wembly had disappeared from the charts altogether . But without doubt the abiding memory for me was the entire lack of cynicism . Artists went out of their way to give a concert while people went out of their way to put their hands in their pockets . Even if you want to be cynical then you can't deny that money was raised and it went to humanitarian Non Governmental Organisations ( NGOs ) that saved countless human lives . That was the difference between Live Aid in 1985 and Live 8 in 2005

Finally, we got the DVD! I bought it 2 days ago and watched it almost the whole Sunday. I was turning 19 that year and the event meant nothing but the brightest gem on the gleamy crown of the 80's optimism, happiness, joy, global spirit and most of all - search for ultimate humanity. There's no need to emphasize that LIVE AID (and everything else connected to it) is the singular event of the rock'n'roll history, greater then anything seen before or after. Not only for the plead of the spectacular names that joined the effort, but mainly for the cause and the relevance of it. It's probably the only time in our history when people joined hands globally to help people in need. Thank Sir Bob for the good you brought us and unforgettable moments of our lives.