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CNN
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Paul McCartney's 1985 Live Aid performance, his first live show in five years, was nearly derailed by a tech glitch
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch CNN Original Series 'Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On the World,' celebrating the definitive story of how two rockstars inspired the largest global music events in history. The four-part series continues Sunday, July 27 at 9pm ET/PT. Paul McCartney hadn't taken the stage in over five years when he sat down at his piano to sing 'Let It Be' for Live Aid on July 13, 1985, in a performance that was almost totally derailed by a single tech glitch. There the music legend was – performing live for the first time since his post-Beatles band Wings had broken up, and his lifelong friend and Beatles bandmate John Lennon had been assassinated – to sing 'Let It Be,' one of the last songs the Fab Four ever released… and minutes into the performance, McCartney's microphone died. 'One guy. A mic and a piano (and) a mic for the voice. Really simple. What happened?' Live Aid organizer and musician Bob Geldof recalled thinking at the time in CNN's 'Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On the World.' Geldof added that he thought, 'Oh no, it's going to be a disaster.' All of the estimated 1.8 billion viewers tuning into the mega benefit concert couldn't even hear McCartney, let alone the massive crowd that stood before him at London's Wembley Stadium. Then something magical happened: the crowd started to sing along and help pick up the song for McCartney. But it wasn't just the crowd who saw that McCartney needed help, either. 'There were a bunch of people standing around and either Pete (Townshend, of The Who) or David (Bowie) said to me, 'Come on, let's help him.' Literally if you can think of a moment where 'I am not worthy' is beyond true, it's that moment,' Geldof recalled. Townshend, Bowie, Geldof and singer Alison Moyet huddled behind McCartney on stage to help him sing the song's final verses when the microphones started to work again, allowing the impromptu quintet – along with the singing Wembley crowd – to complete the song. Afterward, Townshend and McCartney hoisted Geldof on their shoulders before the Wembley Stadium headliners, including George Michael, Bono, members of The Who, Bowie, McCartney, Queen and many more, all joined together on stage to sing Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' to close out the show. The Live Aid benefit was organized by musicians Geldof and Midge Ure to draw attention to a famine in Ethiopia. It spanned multiple locations, drew nearly two billion viewers around the world and raised more than $125 million for relief efforts. While Geldof had already secured a lineup of the most famous and revered rock 'n roll musicians for Live Aid, he said in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock earlier this month that he felt he needed a Beatle to participate and wrote McCartney a letter at the time outlining his case, asking him to play one song at the end of the show. 'I knew he must get a hundred requests to do things, but I really felt like the program would not be complete without him there. I was not writing to Paul McCartney, the man, I said, but to PAUL MCCARTNEY, the phenomenon,' Geldof explained. 'If he played, millions would watch who would not otherwise watch. That would mean money would come in that would not otherwise come in.' McCartney and his band Wings hadn't performed since 1979's Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, and shortly thereafter disbanded in 1981. McCartney hadn't taken the stage after that but did continue to release new music over the next few years. So when Geldof approached him about Live Aid, McCartney recalled telling him, 'I can't Bob, I haven't got a band together now.' Geldof, according to McCartney, didn't find that to be a problem at all, telling him, 'Well, you just sit at the piano and play your own number.' Ultimately, McCartney agreed. 'I just had to come. Simple as that,' McCartney said, adding that Geldof was also the person who chose the song that McCartney would sing. 'He's running the whole bloody show!' Geldof told Ultimate Classic Rock that 'there is a hierarchy in rock 'n' roll,' with the Beatles being at the top. 'So he goes on, one song, to give us the benediction, to give us the Beatles imprimatur, and of course it's 'Let It Be,' which I had asked him to do.' Live Aid wound up not just being McCartney's return for a one-off performance. He's been touring regularly ever since – even up until today, as McCartney, now 83, is set to continue his Get Back tour in the US this fall. Turns out, the legendary musician isn't quite ready to just let it be.
CTV News
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Over 600 trombonists converge at Western for the International Trombone Festival
The 2025 International Trombone Festival is being hosted by Western University and began its four day run on Wednesday. This marks the first time the event has ever been held in Canada. More than 600 trombonists from throughout the world and from a variety of different musical backgrounds travelled to London for the festival. 071625 Over 100 of the performers took to Alumni Hall stage on Wednesday evening to commemorate the first day of the event. The festival is open to the public with a purchase of a pass, with events including performances, lectures and masterclasses. It will also make its way downtown for a street party on Friday night.
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
New-look Cambridge Folk Festival plans backed
Plans to transform one of the country's oldest folk festivals into a two-day event with additional city-wide programming have been approved by a council's cabinet. City councillors agreed to scale back the four-day Cambridge Folk Festival in an attempt to make it sustainable and financially said it made a loss of £320,000 in 2024 and the event was cancelled this year, on what would have been its 60th Nestor, Labour cabinet member for culture, economy and skills, said the new-look event would "continue to create a festival atmosphere". "This is about more than just a music event, it is about protecting a proud piece of Cambridge's cultural heritage and reshaping it for a more resilient and more inclusive future," she Folk Festival began in 1965 and in the past has seen performances from international stars such as Van Morrison, Billy Bragg and Sinead O' festival will return to Cherry Hinton Hall for "a scaled back two-day greenfield event" in 2026, but there will also be a "city-wide, multi-venue" festival under the local authority's plan, the Local Democracy Reporting Service council said this meant there would be "a more inclusive festival with programming spread over an extended period of a week or more".In the meantime, it has organised free and ticketed Folk in the City events this summer. The local authority said: "The refresh is designed to protect what makes the festival special while ensuring it is more inclusive, financially resilient and culturally relevant."Multi-venue formats have proved to be very successful for Celtic Connections in Glasgow, the Brighton Festival and Edinburgh's Fringe festival."The Labour-run council approved a contingency budget of £215,000 to fund any income loss in the first year as the new format establishes are also plans for an additional investment of £60,000 for marketing, infrastructure and local audience and artist development. A review of the festival by officers showed the authority would have needed to have found £500,000 to support the festival's current form, at a time of multimillion-pound savings being made Democrat councillor Tim Bick raised concerns about the costs incurred so far, including the 2024 loss, running this year's Folk in the City events and paying for consultants' reports. "The total cost is now running £971,000 - that is nearly a million, making this episode quite a monumental financial cost in total," he said. Council leader Cameron Holloway, Labour, said Bick had "conflated" a number of costs and potential accepted there were "significant costs" associated with the event, which was a concern, but the authority was looking to mitigate that where possible. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
