Does anyone know why New Order were not part of the Live Aid line-up? They were not invited? They refused? I've always wanted to know it. Spandau Ballet, The Style Council, all were there. I just read Miranda Sawyer's interview with Geldof in The Guardian and it got me thinking again.
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New Order and Live Aid 1985
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Rob Gretton's restraining order against Bono is my guess. Had to be fresh for playing at the Hacienda on the 16th and prep for WOMAD and US tour?
Pyrtwist wrote: Rob Gretton's restraining order against Bono is my guess. Had to be fresh for playing at the Hacienda on the 16th and prep for WOMAD and US tour?
You crack me up, Chris.
The Hac gig was very much a last minute arrangement, cant see them being in contention as Geldorf wanted big drawer acts and the Order at that time were still very much Cult..Well in my house they were.
Without you theyll never Show
As the purpose was to raise money and awareness, it's understandable that mainstream, as opposed to "indie" artists were invited/involved.
I understand about the big acts, but New Order already had Blue Monday, took part in BBC Rock Around the Clock in 1984, and they did charity gigs around that time. Take, for example, The Style Council -- they hardly were a typical pop band (despite having #1 album in 1985), or Ultravox.
I read years ago in a Hooky interview (I think) where he stated that they simply weren't asked.
Geldof wanted the biggest names he could get on the bill and obviously New Order weren't big enough.
Who knows even if they'd been asked... Andy's reply is pretty much on the money.
No great mystery.
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God, where do you start answering with that question.There's just no way New Order would have considered playing Live Aid, surely? It just wasn't their scene.How anyone could ever imagine New Order playing at Live Aid is beyond me.Yeah Tony Wilson in some interview said of Live Aid "Yeah Bono was great but Ian (Curtis) would have been better" but in my opinion Joy Division would never had played Live Aid had they still been around.Great cause and all that yeah but when it came to the bands that signed up for Live Aid it was all about promoting and furthering their own stupid fucking careers.Don't fall for all Geldof's and Midge Ure's crap.
New Order live around that time would really not have gone down well amongst that U2, Dire Straights lazy,comatose, unquestioning audience.They wouldn't have got Curtis and Joy Division let alone a chaotically unprofessional (to the lazy U2, Dire Straights, Queen music fan) live act like New Order at that time were.Live Aid's audience demanded whether they knew it or not (probably not) an ultra professional performance and they got what they wanted in the form of Bono and Freddie Mercury.It frustrated me for years after how people tried to tell me how i shouldn't slag off and should respect Freddie Mercury's performance at Live Aid.I must pay reverence to the legend and god that is Freddie Mercury.Whatever.Fuck off.
Though the New Order live experience these days is something strangely i can imagine would have gone down well at Live Aid.It's all a lot more professional and "optimistic" these days.New Order live in 2014 would have entirely worked at Live Aid in 1985.
Well yeah, it's hard to imagine 1985's erratic, shoddy and go-fuck-yourself New Order on the Live Aid stage, but the reality is probably far more prosaic: they just weren't asked! Maybe they could've dome blue Monday eleven times. The Wilson quote is intriguing but ultimately useless as I think he was just referring to the overall success of U2 and the sad demise of JD - I wouldn't take it as a serious possibility of New Order doing the gig. Incidentally every time charity gigs come up people moan about stars just doing it for their career. I retort, in the words of Dante, who gives a fuck? If the aid's getting there, who cares what that's doing for Bob Geldof's career? Priorities, please.
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I can't imagine New Order on Live Aid those days. But... would it be possible a like-Floyd reunion over a stage on an eventual or hypothetical Live 8 part II? With Hooky saying (the same as Waters did) "hey, Barney, this cause is bigger than our egos"?
Nevermind... I'm kidding. ![[:p]](/emoticons/tongue.gif){kind=small}
New Order were in no way big enough in 1985 to be contenders for Live Aid and Factory weren't even members of the BPI. New Order only started to get serious recognition around 1987 with Substance.
Live Aid was the creative nadir of the 80's, overblown Corporate rock. It may of been a good cause, but the music... I remember at school at the time that if you didn't like Dire Straits, Eric Clapton or Phil Collins you were somehow weird.
All the stars in Band Aid were on the downhill slide, so I'm glad New Order were never asked. Can't imagine Gretton going for it either!
I imagine, if they had done it, they would've played a mid-afternoon set, opened with "As It Is When It Was" which no one had ever heard before, then done a medley of EGG-586-Temptation, which no doubt would've sounded awful, topped off by Barney ending it with "Fuck the lot of yer, you look like bloody pineapples".
