Read an extensive review on Bob "Bice" Eichler's Web Page
It's quite impossible to write an objective review on this release as we've been
waiting it for such a long time that we can hardly beleive this is for real.
One can always regret some of his favorite artist hasn't been included in the set
but with already more than 10 hours of music, compared to the 12 hours for the original concert,
the set will fullfill a vast majority of mid-30's music fans.
The picture quality is really good, and in any case better than what you even actually watched
on TV 20 years ago ! The sound is also of excellent quality, in complete stereo and to be played LOUD !
(just that I'm personnally not too keen on the 5.1 mix ...).
As explained in the booklet, either for technical reasons, because of lost sources, or artists refusals (The Who & Santana)
what is included here seems to be all that could possibly be included ... And be sure that if you're "pissed off"
that Led Zep isn't in the set, I believe that Bob Gelfof and Ms Sinclair (DVD producer), and all the people
involved in this release are almost as much "pissed off" than you can be.
Then, the inclusion of the complete Run DMC set is for me a complete miracle (this means that we can now
fill the definitve and complete list of all the songs played during the day) and more than a bonus (because
the set is located in the "bonus" part of disk #4).
Bonuses are no more than some little bits that came in too late or that couldn't find their
logical place in the set (appart from the "Food and Truck and R'n'Roll" documentary).
My only regret is that without the intervals (wether from the BBC, MTV or ABC) the "feeling" of the day is
lost. This was not only for the music, and all the interviewers and VIPs were there to remind us that it was
a day to change our vision of the world.
Having removed all these chatter that may have been naive and now outdated makes this set the ghost
of the Live Aid concerts ... But still the goal was to make money out of this and to cut the bootleg
market.
We can now only hope the set will be spared from the internet download piracy to get more money
for the people in deep need that this project aims to help.