This week we travel back 20 years to 2005 with writer Paul Vallely to hear about Live 8, the G8 summit, Bob Geldof & Bono & more.
So it starts in 1997 with the landslide general election win for Tony Blair & New Labour. The government will ultimately be sympathetic to the issues of debt & aid which come to the fore eight years later with the huge gig in Hyde Park in London the week before the crucial G8 leaders summit in Gleneagles.
We hear about Bono's appearance at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton where he famously likened Tony Blair & Gordon Brown to Lennon & McCartney.
Also in 2004 is the new Band Air recording headed by Nigel Godrich featuring Paul McCartney, Chris Martin from Coldplay & Bono amongst others.
But Bob Geldof doesn't think another gig would have the same impact as the original Live Aid in 1985 at Wembley Stadium, but he changes his mind when Bono pitches to him 'it was 20 years ago today' with Paul McCartney opening the show with U2.
We hear about the difficulty in getting Hyde Park as the venue & convincing the Royal Parks people to allow an extra 200,000 people to watch on screen in addition to the 300,000 attendees. Bob also convinces original Band Aid cover artist Peter Blake to produce a new artwork for the 2005 edition.
But perhaps the toughest feat he pulls off is convincing Pink Floyd to appear for their first gig in years - we hear how he convinced them to reform & share the stage with more modern acts such as Coldplay with Richard Ashcroft, Elton John with Pete Doherty, Dido, Razorlight, , Ms Dynamite, Travis, Scissor Sisters, Mariah Carey, Joss Stone & Stereophonics with Bill Gates, Will Smith & Brad Pitt all appearing too.
We hear about the near misses including the Rolling Stones & a possible mini Beatles reunion & the old guard are also represented with Paul McCartney closing the show & George Michael returning after also appearing back in 1985.
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Music by Andy Maxwell
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