Live Aid Set List

The reason why they played Crazy i think was cos it was huge in America i guess, and Bites The Dust would have been ridiculous.  I think i read somewhere that they wanted to be the 1st band on when the americans switched onto the event.  They were savy as they played the biggest hits and stuff from their last album.  The Works sales certainly benefited from Live Aid.

I think the Live Aid setlist was spot on.  I don't think ABTOD should have been added as it would have been little insensitive as for what Live Aid was all about.  I also this Is This The World We Created was also an inspired move.  I don't think Love Of My Life would have worked.

brENsKi wrote: i think it's a lot simpler than most people realise....there was no real "magic formula".

for most rock gigs...the last half hour...ie the last two/three songs + the encores...are the climax of the show

all queen did was took four of the final six songs of their setlist from the last european tour they did prior (84) to liveaid and added their two staple encores...no mystery...just simple

when you look at the closing numbers of the setlist...getting the last halfhr down to the liveaid "18 minutes" was easy...all you do is leave out the songs that don't fit the event...AOBTD and IWTBF and jailhouse rock - which wasn't a queen song anyway. 30 mins becomes 18

brENsKi is quite right I think

I used to play live with my band and the last half hour (known as the run-in) was almost always the same at every gog
As a band, you know it works and you can, to a certain extent, predict the audience reaction

What won for Queen wasn't only the sound levels and the performance, they were also the most professional band of the day; hardly anything was left to chance and they knew from experience that these songs in sequence work with a large audience

Quite how well it worked for them, I dont think even they could have prediceted

Another point which is seldom mentioned is that Freddie's voice was on top form for; compare his range at Live aid to Rock in Rio a few months earlier...it all could have turned out quite differently

In another thread about Live Aid Philadelphia I posted a link to a book chapter specifically about Queen at Live Aid which suggests that Queen's impact wasn't initially as large as people now make out.   

Regarding the setlist, I would've preferred Under pressure to Hammer to Fall. UP was a big UK hit whereas Hammer to Fall was a moderate hit in the UK (and almost unknown in the USA), is a bit dull in a live situation and not sung particularly well live by Fred. I guess though Brian needed to have two of his songs in there somewhere.

Lastly, as to why Queen went down so well, The Works was a huge hit in the UK before Live Aid and many people at the concert were Queen fans. It's not brain surgery.

if they were going to include AOBTD, they may as well have stuck All Dead, All Dead and Don't Try Suicide in there as well.

A great set list! 

Freddie's vibrato is gorgeous and he hits high notes very well. So enjoyable to listen!

I think Holly2003 hit the nail on the head by mentioning Brian getting his two songs in. Although I agree witht the song selection generally (pretty good balance of rock\anthem and good places to pause to sort out sound\instrument issues) maybe the only change would maybe have been IWTBF for Hammer to fall (I'm sure Brian argued the case well for HTF based on higher energy\rockier and IWTBF harder to pull off onstage than poor John wanting a song).

Based on the reception it's hard to argue with what they did. (mind you Queen could have taken any songs and rocked the place).

I highly doubt this was because Brian wanted two of his songs in the setlist.  Live Aid was not a day about egos.  Well, except maybe Bono's..

Sir GH wrote: I highly doubt this was because Brian wanted two of his songs in the setlist.  Live Aid was not a day about egos.  Well, except maybe Bono's..
You're so right about Bono!:-)

Every artist, journalist or music fanatic I've ever seen or heard commenting about Live Aid ALWAYS mentioned  Queen as the best act of the day.
These are the only exceptions:
1) The band U2 and its individual members
2) Journalists who are so big U2 fans that they mention U2 in every article/review they write (even if it's about Eminem, a Belgian Folk artist or Bob Marley (you guys understand what I mean))
3) U2 fans

Sir GH wrote: I highly doubt this was because Brian wanted two of his songs in the setlist.  Live Aid was not a day about egos.  Well, except maybe Bono's..
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I don't.  I was going to make that very point myself.  It's not a knock on Brian really, it's a reflection of the way they worked generally that was a large part of their longevity and artistic success.  Recall their interview before Live Aid where the four of them fully acknowledged just how much the day would hinge in part on egos and a competitive drive. This was an unprecedented global event. Of course they each wanted songs represented.

on my way up wrote:

Every artist, journalist or music fanatic I've ever seen or heard commenting about Live Aid ALWAYS mentioned  Queen as the best act of the day.
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Which are the perfect ingredients for it all to go a bit mythic.  They were a great, great band with a catalogue of riches and years of performing live under their belts. Competetive perfectionists who knew the value of exhaustive rehearsal, and who like other aging bands there maybe felt they had something to prove.  A little help from smart and experienced sound guys went a long way, and in the end they were very, very good that day.  So it takes nothing away from them to acknowledge that the way information gets presented and shared and repeated down the line creates memes that take on a life and truth of their own that can outsize the original elements.