# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/21 "2004-11-15T01:18:46Z")
That stupid Live Aid made me have to pee in front of my supervisior. I will never forgive that. Ok, here’s the deal. I was stationed in England with the USAF in '85. Several fellow Airmen from my squadron went to see Live Aid. It was rumored that while they were there, illegal substances were partaken of. Rather than urine test only the suspected offenders, it was decided that a “random” sampling would occur. That morning I was informed that my name came up and I would have to provide a sample at our Hq, right away! I was told this as I was coming out of the toilet, having just emptied the reserves. It took four hours and a sixpack of Mountan Dew to provide the sample. The result was the same color as Mt Dew is. The whole time I was trying, my direct supervisor had to watch over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t tampering with the sample. Fuck Live Aid. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/22 "2004-11-15T05:43:13Z")
This would be as good a post as any to point out that, IMHO, although the original Bob Geldof “Feed The World” is a great song that, to this day, still truely conveys genuine, heartfelt emotion, the, ahem, Michael Jackson “We Are the World” is a sickening, treachley, cornball, projectile-vomit-inducing abomination! Right from Lionel (Ick!) Richie’s opening line, to Dylan’s barely comprehensable phoned-in mumblings, to Ray Charles’ obligatory black-soul-man-gives-it-credibility, to Cyndy Lauper’s annoying “Well well WELL!” mike mugging, to Springstein’s Joe Cocker impression, it all amounted to one enormous, shrill, contrived crap-fest! And I’m a yank BTW… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/23 "2004-11-15T05:56:42Z")
Best post ever Hail Ants. Ever! ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/24 "2004-11-15T09:17:34Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > 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. I don’t know what SST is. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/25 "2004-11-15T09:18:42Z")
Super Sonic Transport. Phil Collins was able to appear at both the UK & US shows cause he hopped on the Concorde and beat the sun! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/26 "2004-11-15T09:19:35Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I don’t know what SST is. [I think it’s the Concorde SST.](http://www.concordesst.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/27 "2004-11-15T09:20:53Z")
Crap! Now if only I could POST faster than the speed of sound… ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/28 "2004-11-15T09:38:42Z")
How did we _lose_ technology over the past 20 years? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/29 "2004-11-15T09:41:27Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > How did we _lose_ technology over the past 20 years? 😕 They were taken out of service after a crash in France a few years ago, although the link I posted makes it sound like perhaps they’ve been brought back again. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/30 "2004-11-15T10:01:48Z")
SSTs are cleared, mechanically, to fly, and a couple may exist in private fleets. But commercial SST was provided by Air France and British Airways and both have not only discontinued SST service, they’ve liquidated the planes out of their fleets. A couple are hanging in air and space museums these days. Sad end to the creme de la creme of luxury commercial air flight. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/31 "2004-11-15T11:20:39Z")
Just to let you know that the British remake of “Feed the world” was finished last night in London - it get’s it’s first outing tomorrow morning. Joss Stone sounds mighty good on it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/32 "2004-11-15T11:45:16Z")
As a major Genesis fan, I’ll point out that Collins did a great job in drumming for Eric Clapton during his set. Hopefully, that will be included. I can live without hearing _Against all Odds_, though. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/33 "2004-11-15T15:07:02Z")
Cool, yet another thing I would have missed had it not been for the SDMB. I sent Mr. Del off to work with $$ to bring home the DVD, I can’t wait to see it! I realize it’s not a competition, but I’m curious to see if the performance that I remember as being THE BEST showing of the day is still as good as it is in my mind (cripes, this isn’t going to be one of those terrible things where I have this great memory of something and then when I see it again I realize how very not great it is in actuality, is it?). Excellent thread title, by the way! ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/34 "2004-11-15T15:16:05Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > This would be as good a post as any to point out that, IMHO, although the original Bob Geldof “Feed The World” is a great song that, to this day, still truely conveys genuine, heartfelt emotion, the, ahem, Michael Jackson “We Are the World” is a sickening, treachley, cornball, projectile-vomit-inducing abomination! > > Right from Lionel (Ick!) Richie’s opening line, to Dylan’s barely comprehensable phoned-in mumblings, to Ray Charles’ obligatory black-soul-man-gives-it-credibility, to Cyndy Lauper’s annoying “Well well WELL!” mike mugging, to Springstein’s Joe Cocker impression, it all amounted to one enormous, shrill, contrived crap-fest! > > And I’m a yank BTW… 😉 Besides, Kim Carnes only got to sing two words. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/35 "2004-11-15T16:10:32Z")
I knew **TeaElle** was talking about Duran Duran. Their set was awful. I was a fan at the time and even I knew it was over when Simon LeBon’s voice broke during “A View to a Kill”. It didn’t just kind of break, it broke baaaaaad and kept on breaking for a long, long time. U2’s set was the best of the day. They were supposed to do “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Bad” and “New Year’s Day”, but “Bad” went on so long that they never got to do the third song. I have an mp3 of the set, and it still holds up. I’d buy the DVD for that performance alone. IMHO, if it hadn’t been for that Live Aid performance, U2 wouldn’t have become the huge stars they did. Before that, they were a scrappy little European postpunk band who had just had the good fortune to hook up with Brian Eno. After that, they were U2. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/36 "2004-11-15T17:11:28Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Just to let you know that the British remake of “Feed the world” was finished last night in London - it get’s it’s first outing tomorrow morning. > > Joss Stone sounds mighty good on it. There was very good documentary on BBC3 last night about the making of the original _Feed The World_ to coincide with this new edition. Somebody mentioned that there was so much hair lacquer in the studio that it constituted a major fire hazard , and of course George Michael won the big hair contest ! ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/37 "2004-11-15T17:22:47Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My memory as a 21-year-old in '85 is that Queen was outstanding, Led Zeppelin was less than fair. > > Sir Rhosis I was at the Philly concert. It wasn’t the classic Zeppelin line-up either. It was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of course, backed up by Niles Rodgers and _Phil Collins_ . Collins fucking sucked on drums at that point. Most of the rock acts in Philly were outplayed and outclassed by the rock acts at Wembley. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/38 "2004-11-15T17:24:46Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > Besides, Kim Carnes only got to sing two words. and Bette Midler on the subject…“I got to stand next to Latoya! She was wearing a headband!” ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 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/274695/39 "2004-11-15T18:47:35Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > I was at the Philly concert. It wasn’t the classic Zeppelin line-up either. It was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of course, backed up by Niles Rodgers and _Phil Collins_ . Collins fucking sucked on drums at that point. Most of the rock acts in Philly were outplayed and outclassed by the rock acts at Wembley. The part I remember most about Phil Collins backing Page and Plant was wondering if he had ever listened to anything by Led Zep. No one was expecting Collins to replace Bonzo, but his playing was completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-phil-collins-was-so-loved-he-had-to-play-london-and-philadelphia-the-same-day/274695/40 "2004-11-15T20:15:40Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > It wasn’t the classic Zeppelin line-up either. It was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of course, backed up by Niles Rodgers and _Phil Collins_ . Collins fucking sucked on drums at that point. Most of the rock acts in Philly were outplayed and outclassed by the rock acts at Wembley. Well, John Paul Jones was there. And Bonham couldn’t attend (obviously) so the lineup was as classic as you could expect. As for Phil’s playing, he was supposed to have a tape available for the Concorde ride, but somebody forgot to give it to him. That’s why Nile Rodgers was hired at the last minute. Phil said later that Nile was in his own world and refused to even practice with him. DVD Movie Guide’s [review](http://www.dvdmg.com/liveaid.shtml) lists exactly what songs are on the DVDs; for comparison, [here’s a semi-complete list](http://www.live-aid.info/pages/liveaidtimesdetaileduk.html) of the songs actually played. As you can see, the only complete sets are those by U2, Queen, Dire Straits, Paul Young (why???), David Bowie, Adam Ant, Elvis Costello, Kenny Loggins, and Paul McCartney …and the last four only played one song each! Completely missing are the Hooters, the Four Tops, Billy Ocean, Rick Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Santana, Power Station and Led Zeppelin. I think I’m gonna rent it from Netflix before committing to a purchase. Some of the new wave-y acts probably have not aged well at all. 😉 [Previous 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=1) [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=3)