Bob Geldof has opened the personal cost of the Live Aid concerts, admitting that it “had an impact” on his private life.
Boomtown Rats singer and musician Midge Ure was the mastermind of the 1985 London and Philadelphia fundraising concerts, which took place 35 years ago today.
The concerts raised over $ 127 million for victims of the African famine and were seen by almost two billion people worldwide, more than 40% of the world population.
They also enjoyed some of the most iconic live sets in music history, including the Queen spin at Wembley Stadium.
But in a new interview to mark the 35th anniversary, Geldof said the shows had a huge personal cost in his life.
“I hated it. It became impossible,” Geldof said of the praise surrounding his charity work.
“For a time I was baffled. I didn’t have much money at the time. It completely affected my private life. It probably ended up costing me my marriage (then he divorced Paula Yates in 1996), “he said. AP.
Geldof also admitted that the great success of the event meant that it was more difficult to return to his daily work as a musician.
“They did not allow me to return to my work. I’m a pop singer. That’s literally how I make my money. That’s my job. I get up in the morning, if I’m in the mood. I will try to write songs. I will go and try to rehearse, ”he said.
“And I could not. And nobody was interested. Saint Bob, as they called me, was no longer allowed to do this because it is so insignificant and meaningless. So I was lost. “
Reflecting on whether the event could take place again, he admitted: “It was the end of that political period of cooperation, consensus and commitment. Would that happen today? No. You just have to look at the clowns who run the planet to understand that it could never happen again “
Earlier this year, Geldof said he believed Live Aid could never happen today.
He also pioneered Live 8, which took place at eight different locations in 2005, but Geldof believes that another event on the Live Aid scale would be impossible today.
Speaking to CBCGeldof said: “We had a great lobby: 1.2 billion people, 95 percent of the televisions on Earth watched that concert.
“Things change, but that instrument of change is no longer plausible,” he added. “Rock and roll was the central backbone of our culture for 50 years. The web has divided the world into individualism and that is easy for authoritarians to use. ”
Last year, Queen guitarist Brian May stated his desire to host another Live Aid to tackle climate change.
