Live Aid: Against All Odds

Live Aid: Against All Odds is a TV documentary that was first broadcast on BBC Four on the 13th July 2010. The two part documentary received critical success when it was first broadcast on television. As a part of my EPQ project I am going to watch both episodes in order to improve my knowledge of the event and why it happened. I believe that it will help me to understand the details which allowed the event to continue as well as the factors which may have almost stopped it from happening. BBC documentaries have also been reliable as it is a Public Service Broadcaster and therefore they will be monitored by OFCOM in making sure that their resources are reliable.  

The first part to the documentary is called Against All Odds and this episode outlines the reason why it was started and the events that led up to it. Many people were sceptical of the event as they thought it would be catastrophic and would not turn out the way in which Bob Geldof envisioned it. The first vision of this event came from Band Aid's 'Do they know its Christmas' which came about as a result of the famine in Ethiopia. This was after a broadcast was shown on TV which Geldof saw and was greatly disturbed by the scenes which were shown, children starving and choices of who would be helped or not. The broadcast shocked the entire of the UK who began to donate £100,000 a day after it was first shown. Geldof proposed to raise money for charity in the only way he knew, by making a song with help from Midge Ure. The only thing he had left to achieve this was to find singers who would sing this song, but many were reluctant over its success. They hoped to raise £72,000 for charity when first making this song but it went on to make over £8 million as it swept the charts. However, resentment was building after its making, especially from other charities who saw it as a threat and wanted to know that it was getting properly distributed. One of the main factors when this began was that Geldof did not want to be portrayed around the dying children as he didn't want to be seen as a faker. He went on a whistle stop tour of Ethiopia but refused to pick up any of the children due to how upsetting it was for him to see the situation. This whole situation with charity and visiting these countries was unlike anything Geldof would have ever imagined himself doing and he felt that he was unbelievably out of his comfort zone, something that many of his fans also felt. When he returned from his visit, he was looking to make a massive change and started by bringing up his views to Margret Thatcher. Suddenly he was a big deal due to this confrontation because he managed to make her look like the smallest person in the room. 

The influence of the song spread to the US, where Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie created US Aid For Africa's 'We Are The World.' The song raised four tiumes as much as Band Aid did. This idea of the money making potential of a huge gathering of top class talent would stay with Geldof. He was a man on a mission and the conscience of the nation. He was no longer a rock star, he became a charity organiser. However, there was some controversy around this due to when Geldof and Ure won an award for their efforts and supposedly Geldof took all of the limelight from Ure. He took the credit from Midge Ure. Old suspicions also began to resurface around whether or not he was doing it to increase his band's fame. However, it turned out that their tours were making more money for charity than they were making on their record sales. They were no longer following their rock ways and instead began counting out their charity makings. It was the end of the road for his band and the thoughts of Ethiopia had not left his mind. Therefore, the first idea for a huge benefit concert came to him. This worried a lot of people. Geldof asked Harvey Goldsmith, a big personality producer, who he thought would be able to get the job done. But he refused at first as he thought it was ridiculous, Geldof didn't let it go though. Therefore, with great reluctance, Goldsmith agreed to help. So the only thing left to do was get the musicians to perform. This was tough though as everyone thought it was ridiculous and impossible. The musicians had to pay for their own set and only had 20 minutes to perform with no wage at the end of it. This is why many refused it at first. Geldof was also wanting to go where no other had gone, an all day live transmission all across the world and in an age where technology was limited. This led to Geldof flying to see Michael Mitchell who had achieved the live coverage of the LA Olympics in 1984. He was also sceptical, he refused to help if the transmission was only between USA and England, he would accept if the event was broadcast and performed all over the world. Wembly would start at noon with America joining in 5 hours later, the shows would be beamed all  over the world via satellite with pother countries joining in. Up to his point Geldof and Goldsmith had few stars on board, no venue in America or even a place who would broadcast the event. All they had was the bluff of Geldof. Therefore, it was looking to be impossible.