# A time Phil Collins was so loved he HAD TO play London and Philadelphia the same day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695 "2004-11-14T11:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/1 "2004-11-14T11:44:54Z")
The **Live Aid** DVD comes out on Tuesday. My memory is fuzzy- it’s been over 19 years since I’ve viewed any of this footage. Is this going to be really cool, or is it just that I remember that it _was_ really cool in 1985 when I viewed the event through the eyes (and ears) of a ten year old? Will all of the performances be included on the DVD? If so, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Also, did the money that was raised ever make it to the people who needed it the most? If we did this today, what artist would be most likely to perform in London, then get on a plane, and perform in Philadelphia the same day? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/2 "2004-11-14T14:55:53Z")
My memory as a 21-year-old in '85 is that Queen was outstanding, Led Zeppelin was less than fair. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/3 "2004-11-14T15:21:57Z")
Phil was grandstanding. The collaborations and the (then) lesser names stole the show. Haven’t seen DVD, so I can’t answer any further. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/4 "2004-11-14T15:25:05Z")
Missed the last Q, sorry. No more SST. Makes it really impractical. Someone like Cher, Brittney, Sir Elton, or Celine might be egoistic enough to try if SST was still around. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/5 "2004-11-14T15:59:31Z")
If it doesn’t have the _entirety_ of U2’s set, this disc ain’t worth buying. (Not really, but U2 really stole the show at Wembley and were easily the best act at either location). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/6 "2004-11-14T16:02:26Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My memory as a 21-year-old in '85 is that Queen was outstanding, Led Zeppelin was less than fair. > > Sir Rhosis Led Zeppelin’s performance isn’t included. Neither is Rick Springfield’s. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/7 "2004-11-14T16:15:25Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Also, did the money that was raised ever make it to the people who needed it the most? The money from Live Aid was originally used to [buy trucks](http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=1718) > [@Midge Ure](#): > > (B)efore Band Aid, agencies found delivering emergency food supplies hugely expensive and ineffective because a trucking cartel was charging extortionate prices to transport the food. Band Aid/Live Aid raised money to buy trucks, so the trucking cartel was broken. According to [The Scotsman](http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=503&id=1257812002) > [@](#): > > Money was spent on basic technology rather than on higher-risk projects, and Penny Jenden, the former Band Aid chief executive, has since admitted that Africa is littered with the remains of tractors or drilling rigs that nobody knew how to mend. As to how much money was spent, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/8 "2004-11-14T16:19:01Z")
I was at the Philadelphia concert. I remember a rather pointed lack of interest in Phil Collins’s set when he arrived. When I got home and watched the videotapes that my friends had made (from the MTV coverage) and saw how big a deal was made of it, I laughed heartily. I’m buying the DVD because the videotapes (which were Beta!) are long gone, and I really want another chance to see the performance which essentially caused the collapse of (the 1985 version) of my favorite band. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/9 "2004-11-14T16:20:50Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > I was at the Philadelphia concert. I remember a rather pointed lack of interest in Phil Collins’s set when he arrived. When I got home and watched the videotapes that my friends had made (from the MTV coverage) and saw how big a deal was made of it, I laughed heartily. > > I’m buying the DVD because the videotapes (which were Beta!) are long gone, and I really want another chance to see the performance which essentially caused the collapse of (the 1985 version) of my favorite band. Got my curiosity up. Which band, and why did the performance “essentially cause” the collapse of them? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/10 "2004-11-14T18:06:27Z")
I watched the whole thing – hey, I was living in Iowa at the time, it’s not like there were other fun things to do. My main recollection is the Jagger-Bowie duet, which, as a person of a certain age, I found very … evocative. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/11 "2004-11-14T18:18:12Z")
Led Zeppelin have cut their performance out of the DVD as it was, frankly, pants. They are donating the royalties from the “No Quarter, Unledded” DVD instead (which is a good thing for Band Aid.) Also here in sunny blighty we are going to remake the Band Aid single “do they know it’s christmas” with modern popstrels instead. It comes out next week I think. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/12 "2004-11-14T18:42:22Z")
Why did no one tell me about this? Yeah, I watched the entire thing (including the Oz sets) at my sisters place because in 1985 she was the only one I knew who had cable. Woof. U2 completely stole the show. The look on Bono’s face when he drops the mic and starts (in his not-too-bright-while-performing way) trying to get to the audience is one of the defining moments in rock and roll. Anyone who wants to front a band should be forced to watch that so they know where they should go. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/13 "2004-11-14T18:47:24Z")
And here’s a link to the [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002Z9HT8/qid=1100458111/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-2557085-3814402?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846) listing. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/14 "2004-11-14T18:57:21Z")
A major event in my formative years. My wife got the DVDs on Friday. And has been playing it all (4 disks!) for the entire weekend. :mad: :rolleyes: 😉 I’m disappointed in the coverage of the US concert (don’t know if there’s going to be a US version with a different bias). No Tracy Chapman, for example. Phil Collins was a bit of a side-event, though it was cool to see Concord buzz the stadium in London before dropping him off. Some great performances, and the documentary on the situation - which should be mandatory watching - made us cry still. It allows you to realise the true consequences of macropolitical and economic decisions made in the west. Nobody should have to starve in this world. My respect for Geldof has gone through the roof. He was no bullshitter, and still isn’t. Buy it - even if you didn’t see it the first time. The money’s going to a seriously brilliant and able charity. _Who’s going to drive you home_ will destroy you, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/15 "2004-11-14T19:08:51Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > No Tracy Chapman, for example. [Hardly surprising](http://www.live-aid.info/pages/faquk.html#chapman) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/16 "2004-11-14T19:15:26Z")
Good grief. False memory syndrome or what? Yet, clearly lots of other people share my delusion, ro it wouldn’t be an FAQ. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/17 "2004-11-14T19:20:19Z")
She also played at the Amnesty International Human Rights Now concert that was held at JFK a few years later. That might be throwing people. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/18 "2004-11-14T19:22:51Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > [Hardly surprising](http://www.live-aid.info/pages/faquk.html#chapman) In this link it says Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder tried to organize a boycott of Live Aid? What was their reason? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/19 "2004-11-14T20:31:21Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Got my curiosity up. Which band, and why did the performance “essentially cause” the collapse of them? Duran Duran, and following that performance, the original incarnation of the band did not perform together again until 2002. The reasons for this aren’t entirely clear, but they’ve described getting together on that day and performing (underprepared and absolutely burnt out on one another) as the catalyst for the disintegration which followed over the next 8 months or so. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/20 "2004-11-14T21:04:17Z")
U2’s version of _Bad_ is mind-blowing. I won’t throw out the segue info, but it’s waaaay cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695.md?page=2)