This week BBC4 have been marking the anniversary of Live Aid with a couple of programmes that show how the concert was put together. It may have been one of the largest concerts ever put on but it was pulled together by Bob Geldof, Harvey Goldsmith and Midge Ure with bluff, smokescreen and an inability to accept the word ‘no’. If you can access the BBC’s iPlayer it’s worth taking a look at the Live Aid programmes broadcast this week – be warned, you usually only get one week to access them.

The concert was claimed to have raised between £40 and £50 million for famine relief. Consider this was back in the 80′s and you’ll start to realise what an amazing feat it was.

This was largely down to two events. One was Bob Geldof charging into the BBC commentary box because he was sure the TV wasn’t making enough appeals. He just sat down, looked at the camera and said, ‘send me your money’. He’s been misquoted a bit as he was reported to have dropped an expletive into the appeal, but looking back at the television footage it’s clear that he didn’t. He swore at the BBC commentator who wouldn’t give the phone number out before reading the appeal address.

Then there was David Bowie – even a huge star back then – he cut his set short to be able to show the following film.

You’ve got to feel sorry for the Who, who were the next band on stage.

The acts that appeared realised pretty early on that performing could make a real difference to their careers. While everyone was pretty good, two bands stand out for special mention. U2, who were a new(ish) band and Queen, who had been huge but had kind of started a downward slide. Both bands managed to command the huge crowd in their own unique ways.

By the time I found out he was playing here the tickets were almost gone. That’s why the photograph makes it look as though we were a long way from the stage… we were. But, we had to go. The Brad Paisley song, She’s Everything, was our first dance when we got married and the tickets came up around the date of our first anniversary.

The concert was superb. You don’t get many rock acts that will play for two hours straight. There’s no doubt about Paisley’s talent either, his ability to play guitar while also being mauled by the audience was quite remarkable.

Of course, I’d love to embed a whole host of YouTube videos here for you to see what I mean about the music, but thanks to some deal with his record company they don’t appear to be available in the UK. Which is silly if they have designs on him breaking the UK and getting to play to more than two packed nights in London. So you’ll have to follow the link to one track here – Welcome to the Future.

Did you have a good Christmas?

We’ve had a wonderful time and survived the potential disaster of mixing parental units. We were wondering what we were going to do for our first Christmas as a married couple, not wanting to upset any of the parents. As it was, things went really well as my mum and dad came across to join Tany’s folks on Christmas day. With extended family we had 12 people sat around the dinner table. I think it was my favourite Christmas yet. There’s something about having people around to celebrate with.

I’m aware that it’s not the same for all families. I have one colleague who says that putting some of his family together is creating the excuse for World War 3, but I like the fact that even when it can be tough getting together, this season provides the excuse and there can be some surprising results.

The following song makes me smile because it reminds me that not all families are as straightforward as mine, but even with a wild mix of characters, joy can be found in each other’s company.

It’s a bit like the Susan Boyle impact on Britain’s Got Talent. I’ve only just looked but her first performance on the show now has now been viewed over 71 million times on YouTube.

As a good friend would say, “It’s funny ‘coz it’s true”

HT: Mark