Phil Collins once pulled off an intercontinental Live Aid stunt. It wasn't without drama
The singer and drummer participated in the benefit concerts organized by musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to draw attention to a famine in Ethiopia and raise money for relief efforts.
Collins didn't perform on just one stage, but two – on two different continents.
The Genesis front man initially took to the stage in London at Wembley Stadium, where he performed Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) and In the Air Tonight. He also played played drums for Branford Marsalis and Sting.
That would have been enough for most artists, but not Collins.
Instead, he hopped on a helicopter to Heathrow Airport in London, boarded The Concorde to New York City, then took another helicopter to Philadelphia, where he joined superstar Eric Clapton for his set and performed three songs with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
(The Concorde was a supersonic airliner that allowed passengers to cross the Atlantic in under three and a half hours. It made its first test flight in 1969 and was officially retired in 2003.)
Backstage after the London performance, Collins gave an interview in which he said he thought the first performance had 'gone very well, considering' and expressed his pride in participating.
'I'm very proud to be asked to do it because everybody's involved and it's just great to be a part of something like this,' he said. 'It's just too obvious to say it's for a good cause.'
Trouble across the pond
There was, however, some drama in regards to the second show, and how the multiple performances came about.
Collins explained that both Plant and Sting had separately asked him to participate in Live Aid, with a UK-based promoter suggesting he take The Concorde in order to play both shows.
But Collins explained to Classic Rock in 2021 that second show with Led Zeppelin was less than smooth, in part because he neglected to rehearse with the band beforehand, and also due to the bandmates' strained relationships.
'By the time I got there, me and Robert and Jimmy playing together had become The Second Coming Of Led Zeppelin – (bassist and keyboardist) John Paul Jones was there too. Jimmy says: 'We need to rehearse.' And I said: 'Can't we just go on stage and have a play?'' Collins recalled. 'So I didn't rehearse when I got there, but I listened to Stairway To Heaven on Concorde.'
He said the end result was messy, partially due to the fact that co-drummer Tony Thompson 'had rehearsed for a week, and I'm about to steal his thunder – the famous drummer's arrived! – and he kind of did what he wanted to do. Robert wasn't match-fit. And if I could have walked off, I would have done, cause I wasn't needed and I felt like a spare part.'
'Anyway, we came off, and we got interviewed by MTV. And Robert is a diamond, but when those guys get together a black cloud appears,' Collins continued. 'Then Page says: 'One drummer was halfway across the Atlantic and didn't know the stuff.' And I got pissed off. Maybe I didn't know it as well as he'd like me to have done, but… I became the flagship, and it looked like I was showing off.'
It ended up becoming a Led Zepplin reunion that Collins wrote about not wanting to be a part of in his 2016 autobiography, Not Dead Yet.
'I didn't come here to play with Led Zeppelin, I came here to play with a friend of mine who has morphed back into being the singer of Led Zeppelin – a very different animal to the one that invited me,' Collins wrote. 'Now I'm caught up in the ceaselessly toxic, dysfunctional web of Led Zeppelin interpersonal relationships.'
A surprise encounter
While his second performance perhaps did not go quite as Collins had hoped, Live Aid raised more than US$100 million for famine relief. His transatlantic flight also included a very famous fellow passenger.
'When I got on Concorde, Cher was on it,' Collins recalled in the CNN original series Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On the World.
Cher asked Collins what he was up to.
'There's a live gig in London today and in Philadelphia,' Collins said he told Cher. 'She said, 'Oh, could you get me on it?''
Hours later, Cher joined a star-studded group of artists on stage to close out Live Aid with a performance of We Are the World.
Mission accomplished.
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
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This is a good way to get rid of cards you don't need so you can draw new ones at the end of your turn. Game End The game ends as soon as one villain achieves their objective. That player is the winner. Tamatoa has already defeated Maui and moved his Hook to the Lair. Now this turn, Tamatoa can use both the Tree Monster and Fish Monster to vanquih Moana. Then next turn move the Heart of Te Fiti to the Lair to win. Photo by Michael Knight. Why You Should Play Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides The Disney Villainous series is one of my favorite games. I also enjoy Star Wars Villainous and Marvel Villainous , separate Villainous lines which are not compatible with each other or Disney Villainous . First off, the Disney Villainous games look incredible and have a classy table presence. The art on each card is original, but based on the movies from which the respective villains came. For example, the art on Davy Jones' cards are illustrations and not photo images from the movies. I like how each villain has different objectives and as a result plays a bit differently. The villains in Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides are no exception. I order to win, Tamatoa needs to have both Maui's hook and the Heart of Te Fiti at its lair. Maui's hook is a villain card which Tamatoa can play. However, once an opponent plays the Maui fate card, Maui takes the hook and must then be defeated for Tamatoa to get the hook back. The Heart of Te Fiti is a fate item card. Tamatoa has cards which allow him to look for items in the fate deck. Otherwise, Tamatoa must wait for opponents to play the Heart of Te Fiti. Tamatoa also has several villain cards that give him power. This helps when you want to play the You Look Like Seafood card since it can defeat a hero by playing power equal to the hero's strength. Tamatoa's fate cards only have three heroes: Moana, Maui, and Hei Hei, the chicken. However, opponents can use fate cards to take away power from Tamatoa as well as move items and heroes around to get them away from allies which might defeat them. Davy Jones can be a bit tougher to play as. He needs to collect all five treasure tokens. However, in order to do this, you must first place a treasure token on a hero in play, then use a card such as The Black Spot to reveal the treasure. Then by defeating that hero, you collect the treasure. Doing this five times can be tough because several of Davy Jones' fate cards can take away a treasure from a hero and give it to another while un-revealing it. Also each treasure when revealed has some negative affect on Davy Jones. The Kraken is a powerful ally and you want to get it as soon as you can for vanquishing heroes. You can purchase it for 5 power if it comes into your hand, or you can play Summon the Kraken and discard an ally to search for the card and place it in Davy Jones' location. 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While Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides comes with only two villains, they are compatible with all of the other Disney Villainous games and expansions. These two bring the total number of villains in the series up to 24! By adding more villains, you can also bring the number of players up to six for a single game. I have found that while a two-player duel is fun, adding one or more players can make things more interesting. Sometimes in a two-player game, when a player gets close to winning, it can be tough for one opponent to stop them. However, with multiple opponents, there is a great chance to prevent them from completing their objectives. I really enjoyed playing as both Davy Jones and Tamatoa. They are great additions to the line-up of villains. Each plays differently and has great interactions among their cards. If you have never played Disney Villainous , then Treacherous Tides is a great place to start. It is considered an expand-alone game since you can play it with two players by itself or use it to expand the series. If you already have some of the series of games, then I highly recommend adding Disney Villainous: Treacherous Tides to your collection. Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews. To subscribe to GeekDad's tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader. Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
