Chapter 310 [Saving Lives] Part 1 (4300 words + chapters~)
July 13, 1985!
12 noon British time!
The world-famous "Save Life" charity concert was the first to be performed at Wembley Stadium in England!
The crowd of 72,000 people roared loudly. Some of America’s biggest stars who were going to be the first to perform were at the Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. However, it was now 7 o’clock in the morning in Philadelphia, and the concert here would not be official until two hours later.
Opening.
However, this could not stop the enthusiastic fans from flocking to the venue, and the venue was already overcrowded.
In order to experience this concert live, Wu Jianye came to Kennedy Stadium early even though he appeared at the back.
"Tell me, when we see Bob Dylan, should we ask him for an autograph?" Huang Guanzhong said excitedly.
Wu Jianye laughed and said, "You'd better not be like this!"
When the earliest song was recorded, Huang Guanzhong was not there, so this was the first time Huang Guanzhong met Wu Jianye, so when he first met Wu Jianye, he was always a little bit reluctant to let go.
"Wu Sheng, does this lose your face?"
Wu Jianye shook his head and said: "It's not that it's embarrassing for me, but it's just that you probably won't get Bob Dylan's autographed photo. If you're just a simple fan, maybe it's nothing, he will give it to you.
Sign it, but you are now a contestant who is going to perform. If you go to Bob Dylan for an autograph and photo, he will think you are unprofessional!"
Some people may think that asking for an autograph from a co-singer at a concert is a very interesting thing, but it really doesn't work with Bob Dylan.
Huang Guanzhong sat down angrily.
Huang Jiaju glanced at him with a smile. Although Huang Guanzhong's temper was a bit grumpy, he played the guitar really well. If not for this, he would not have asked Huang Guanzhong to join Beyond.
"Wu Sheng, when will we appear?"
"Our appearance will be around five o'clock in the afternoon. Don't worry now. You can take a good look at the performances of other singers at the scene."
The large TV screens at Wembley Stadium and Kennedy Stadium broadcast each other's live performances. Each band has about 20 minutes of equipment debugging time before taking the stage, which can be used to broadcast the performance at the other end.
In domestic concerts or evening parties, the last guest to appear is usually the last one to appear. However, it is different in Europe and the United States. Their finale guests usually appear at six or seven o'clock in the evening, which is the time for European and American concerts.
and evening party in Asia time.
Now being able to arrange for Wu Jianye to appear at about five o'clock is already a very high salary, and the finale of the "Save Life" concert is Bob Dylan, and no one can take his place.
As for the Wembley Stadium, it was McCartney of The Beatles. After the Beatles disbanded, they never reunited. Originally, everyone thought that this concert could reunite the Beatles, but in the end
It's still just McCartney.
But even so, McCartney still has to be placed in the finale, which shows the status of The Beatles and McCartney in the global music scene...
On TV, the British royal family entered the venue, and those present were Princess Diana and Prince Charles, who walked into the stands one after another.
As the organizer of this concert, Geldof stood behind Princess Diana and Prince Charles. At this moment, Geldof reached the pinnacle of his life.
The 'Save Life' concert begins!
The first one to appear was the legendary British rock band "status" (Quo).
Francis Rossi, who wore a ponytail, had a great stage presence and showed off his rock singer style. He talked very little and only said three brief sentences.
he11o!
ho are you right?
you right?
Then this world-famous concert officially began.
The first song sung was the "Situation" hit "Let the World Rock" (bsp; a11 over The or1d).
This song has a cheerful melody, lively and energetic, which immediately ignited the atmosphere of the scene.
Oh, we stop here and start from now on
All hands on deck, rock and roll road
start from here
Let the world rock!
…
The band "Status Quo" is a legendary veteran band that has been established for 20 years. At that time, they were going through a breakup crisis. It was this "saving life" that brought them back together.
The second band to appear is the "Style Committee". Their most popular song is "Internationalist". The name of this song is very appropriate, and of course it appears on "Save a Life".
The third one is Geldof and his "Boomtown Mouse". This is the first time he has performed on such a large stage. Among all the stars participating in this 1ive aid performance, he is probably the least famous.
However, from this moment on, things are different.
The new wave punk of Sonic Band, the new romantic style of Spandau Ballet, the pop electronic music of Nick Kershaw, the warm spiritual songs of Nigerian female singer Sade...
Big-name stars and bands with different styles took the stage one after another. This is a rare spectacle in the history of world music.
Not to mention the big-name co-performers. The tenth performers were Sting and Phil Collins. One of them carried a guitar and the other played the piano, sometimes singing solo, sometimes singing together.
Even though Sting had just held his solo concert here the day before, he still didn't sing enough.
So, soon he appeared again and sang harmony - his partner was a famous band:
dire straits——dire straits.
Soon, his high-pitched and clear singing voice was flying over Wembley Stadium.
I ap; my mTV……
That's right, Dire Straits' masterpiece, "Money for Nothing".
These people were the cutting edge of world rock music in the 1980s. Their enlightening effect on the post-nation is immeasurable, especially in China.
Take the two singers of "Something for Nothing" as examples, each of them influenced a part of Chinese rock music.
When he first debuted, Cui Jian was often said to have a style similar to Sting. He himself also said:
My "Nothing" and "False Monk" were influenced by Sting, and "Rock and Roll on the New Long March" was influenced by the Police Band.
The Dire Straits profoundly affected Su Yang.
When he was young, Su Yang got a ripped tape. He loved it so much that he listened to it over and over again countless times.
There was no name written on the tape and he didn't understand English, so he was so confused that he didn't know what it was called. Many years later, he learned that it was called the Dire Straits.
In the 1980s, China had just opened its eyes, but the world was in its prime.
But things are different now. China has Wu Jianye. Even though Wu Jianye himself doesn’t want to admit it, the whole world now regards him as the representative of Chinese rock music.
If I have to use the word "in their prime" to describe a certain band today, it must be them - Queen.
The prelude to "Bohemian Rhapsody" sounded, and the audience burst into cheers. The New York Times reported on that day called it: the Queen's most exciting performance.
Before, Geldof called to invite Freddy, the lead singer of Queen, but he could not get in touch with Freddy himself. His manager quietly told him:
Freddy is very respectable, you can announce it to the public now, and he will be too embarrassed not to participate when the time comes.
Therefore, the plot in the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody" about the gay agent withholding information and never telling Freddie is not true. He also didn't know he had AIDS. That was two years later.
Freddie was in excellent condition at this time, and he even made elaborate arrangements specifically for this performance. There were six verses in this song, and he only sang the second verse that had the most live atmosphere. Then he cleverly picked up the second verse, "Radio
gaga》……
Queen's appearance ignited another wave of excitement at the scene.
The entire Wembley Stadium continued to fall into a carnival festival, and all the fans were going crazy. Not to mention them, Huang Jiaju and others at the Kennedy Stadium were also full of passion at this time, singing along with Freddie on the spot.
Today, the temperature at Wembley Stadium was as high as 32 degrees. Seventy thousand men and women crowded together, screaming and beating. Wembley was filled with loud noises and a heat wave. Countless people took off their clothes, men were topless, and women were left with only their bras.
The staff had to ask the nearby fire brigade to come for support and use high-pressure water cannons to spray water into the sea of people at the scene to cool down.
Watching this scene on TV, Huang Jiaju and others couldn't help but sigh.
"When will our concert have such an effect? How great will it be?"
"There will be this opportunity, believe in yourself!" Wu Jianye encouraged them.
Xiangjiang is too small, too small to accommodate bands like Beyond and many top stars. Only by truly opening up the Chinese market and relying on China's huge market can they truly be on par with the world's top stars.
This is a long and difficult process, but Wu Jianye is working hard on it.
Another joy of the concert at Wembley Stadium was that the bathrooms at Wembley simply couldn't handle so many people and quickly became clogged and broken. Women once forcibly occupied the men's bathrooms and queued for four or five hours.
Only once can you go to the toilet. Many people can only use beer bottles or plastic bottles to solve the problem.
Two hours after the London show started, the Philadelphia show started on time.
This is yet another of the strangest performances in the world - halfway around the world, audiences on both sides can watch it at the same time.
Donation calls came in like a flood from all over the world. The operators were so busy that they couldn't tell where to go.
There was no Internet crowdfunding in those days. Geldof initially commissioned the BBC to set up 20 telephones to answer telephone donations, and later commissioned a team of 200 people from a telephone exchange company.
People only need to call the phone, report their credit card number and donation amount, and indicate how much they are willing to donate to Africa to complete the donation.
Before Wu Jianye was reborn, I once saw a comment on the Internet: Everyone who watched the live video of this performance felt that they were born decades too late.
Now Wu Jianye has not only seen this performance, but will even join it as a participant.
As early as the preparation stage for the performance, Geldof was so anxious that he couldn't sleep for several nights.
So many big names are generally unruly and outrageous people.
As long as one or two of them get drunk and give up, the trouble will be big, and the order of performances will have to be rearranged. Because he himself is an unreliable prick.
What's more, there was no contract signed for this performance. Most of the big names just said "yes".
Wu Jianye had known about Geldof's concerns for a long time, but Wu Jianye could only say to Geldof: Haha, that's it.
Because something happened on the scene.
It was born when the Irish band U2, Geldof's hometown, came on stage.
"Damn it, Bono is off!" Huang Jiaqiang couldn't help shouting as he watched the Wembley Stadium broadcast on the screen.
It turned out that after Bono finished singing a song, he suddenly jumped off the high platform, crossed the security line, and pulled a girl in the audience to the stage, and they danced slowly together.
Watching Bono dancing with the girl, Wu Jianye couldn't help but sigh, Bono is indeed a world-class troublemaking lead singer.
He can only do this kind of thing on this occasion, but don't worry, there will also be other fun in the United States.
The expressions of the other members of U2 on the screen were a little confused. Even though they had long been accustomed to Bono's various trouble-making behaviors, they still couldn't be on the same wavelength as Bono, so they looked a little dull on the screen.
.
I guess Geldof was scolding his mother at this time, scolding his fellow villagers for not giving him face and being unreasonable.
In fact, twenty years later, when the official commemorative VCD of this concert came out, this section was cut off...
Afterwards, the girl defended Bono, saying that there were too many people and they almost trampled her to death, but it was Bono who saved her.
But Bono didn't give any face to him, he still looked as arrogant as ever and told the truth:
As a performer, I am not satisfied with the distance between the performer and the audience. I always try to cross that distance.
It was a big show for our band, with 1 billion people watching, and we weren't singing the song we're famous for. Everyone was annoyed with me, really annoyed.
That move ruined my day and I thought I was going to ruin the band's future.
Of course, u2 is not the only one who has been laid off.
Led Zeppelin has been disbanded for 5 years after their drummer died accidentally due to drinking, and they reunited temporarily because of this 1ive aid. They don’t even have a drummer, and now they have Phil Collins as a guest drummer.
Because it had been too long since they had reunited, this great band turned into the scene of a major car accident.
Phil Collins hit the wrong beat, the lead singer sang out of tune, and his voice cracked. Twenty years later, they voluntarily requested that their performance be cut.
At this time, the concert at Philadelphia's Kennedy Stadium had also begun.
The popularity in the United States is no less intense than in England.
Although Michael Jackson did not appear, there is Madonna, the most popular female singer of the 20th century who has been certified by Guinness World Records. At the age of 27, she is at the age of infinite youth.
No matter what her private life is like, at this time, when she stands on the stage, she is a well-deserved Queen.
There is also Eric Clapton, the only rock legend who has won 19 Grammy Awards in his life and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times.
Mick Jagger, the lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Their logo, the big red tongue, is the most famous rock logo in the world.
Later, Zheng Jun, a rock veteran from China, gave his son the English name Jagger, just to pay tribute to this legendary rock veteran who lived a bohemian life and gave birth to his eighth child at the age of 73.
As a rock veteran, Jagger wouldn't be who he is if he doesn't cause trouble at concerts.
When singing duet with rock godmother Tina Turner, she suddenly tore off her skirt and forced her to sing the whole song wearing only black stockings and underwear.
Huang Jiaju and others were sitting in the background and saw all this.
"Jiaju, why don't you wear a skirt in concerts from now on..."