People Power - Live Aid , Mandela and Human Rights Now!

My mother just messaged me to say she's watching the re-run of Live Aid on the BBC.

"I'm looking for you in the crowd."

"But Mum, I wasn't there!!"

I'm not sure why I wasn't at Live Aid, 40 years ago today. As a committed concert-goer back then, I certainly would have been up for it. I imagine the event must have sold out quickly before I could get hold of a ticket. 

On the day, I remember I was in my car with the radio on, and hearing the now famous announcement: "It's 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world it's time for Live Aid!"

I watched the day unfold on TV with friends, into the early hours of Sunday morning. I still have the audio tapes. On one of them, at the conclusion of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, you hear DJ Mike Smith saying "Well, if you won't give us at least a quid after hearing the most requested song of all time, well, there's no hope is there?"

My Live Aid cassettes

Live Aid showed what was possible when a whole community of artists work together to benefit those much less fortunate than themselves. It also engaged a generation of 20 and 30-somethings in a way that is perhaps hard to imagine now. 

The 1980s was a politically-charged time, with issues of civil and human rights, and the environment gaining prominence. The use of music to highlight these issues, although it was radical, it also seemed quite natural at the time. And after Live Aid, the torch was carried forward by some of these high profile rock stars in the fight for human rights, the fight against apartheid in South Africa and many other worthy causes.

So while much is rightly being made of the 40^th anniversary of Live Aid, the humanitarian and charity events that followed it are also an important part of the story. As such, the immediate legacy of Live Aid was the string of politically-charged concerts in the late 80s, beginning with another cracker of an event music-wise, the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium in June 1988. 

My ticket

The June 1988 concert that spurred the release from jail of Nelson Mandela, was a remarkable collection of global talent. More diverse than Live Aid and featuring many of the biggest artists of the day.

It was probably the most politically influential of any concert held in the UK. The BBC fended off resistance to the idea of giving a whole day's TV (again!), not for famine relief this time, but to support the release of a political prisoner. 

Mandela had at this point served 26 years in prison. After the 70th Birthday Tribute concert was shown around the world (except in South Africa, of course), growing domestic and international pressure forced President F. W. de Klerk to release Mandela in 1990 and negotiate an end to apartheid. In 1994 Mandela became president of South Africa. 

Here’s the list of artists who appeared at the June 1988 show:

Harry Belafonte, Sting, George Michael, Eurythmics, Al Green, Joe Cocker, Ashford & Simpson, Natalie Cole, Tracy Chapman, Midge Ure, Phil Collins, Joan Armatrading, Paul Young, Bryan Adams, The Bee Gees, Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour, Sly & Robbie, Aswad, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, UB40 and Chrissie Hynde, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Courtney Pine, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, Steve van Zandt, Jerry Dammers, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Dire Straits featuring Eric Clapton, Jessye Norman. With contributions from Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Gere, Jackson Browne, Michael Palin, Harry Enfield and a particularly emotional introduction to Dire Straits by Billy Connolly. 

Emotions ran high from the very start. Sting had been persuaded to appear, even though he had a gig that night somewhere in Europe. Credit to him for going on early and getting the concert off on the right note, with his tribute to the Mothers of the Disappeared, ‘They Dance Alone’.

George Michael also went on early in the show and bravely chose to cover Stevie Wonder’s Village Ghetto Land.

Unfortunately for Stevie, and for us, the hard drive for his keyboards went missing just as he was about to take the stage. His scheduled performance was scrapped and Tracy Chapman stepped forward with her guitar and played Fast Car. Apparently, her record sales went stratospheric after this. 

Simple Minds came on and pumped up the audience with Waterfront and Alive and Kicking. 

The day would not have been complete without Jerry Dammers and an augmented Special AKA performing Free Nelson Mandela, with Ndonda Khuze on vocals. As the carnival vibes were ramped up, the crowd chanted The Whole World Is Watching!!

In the Royal Box, Neil and Glenys Kinnock were rocking and rolling. It was a birthday party, why not?

Whitney Houston won the audience over with the sheer power of her voice. Her appearance on the bill was perhaps seen as tame in the midst of the other edgier artists, but after a few of her trademark vocal somersaults, we all looked at each like, wow, this girl can sing. It was a phenomenal performance, in less than ideal conditions for her, in the open air with the temperature dropping.

Then Stevie Wonder appeared suddenly. No keyboards, just standing at the mike calling out the key changes to the band. He didn't stay long. It fell a bit flat, to be honest. 

Night fell and Billy Connolly come on to introduce Dire Straits. He told us that when the band's album went to number one in South Africa, rather than take the royalties, they said send the money to Amnesty International.

"It must break the hearts of those shits, to sign the cheque every year and send it off. And as result, the boys are banned in South Africa, which is a compliment. Ladies and gentlemen, with a happy heart and a tear in either eye...Dire Straits". 

The band sounded immaculate and as Dire Straits played Brothers In Arms, I've rarely witnessed such a charged atmosphere at a show. Maybe this clip gives some sense of what it was like. Mark Knopfler was clearly affected by it. 

"Best birthday party we've ever been to," he told the audience.

Jessye Norman sang Amazing Grace at the finale. The perfect end to a special day. 

The second Nelson Mandela concert, in April 1990 also at Wembley, was notable less for the music (although it was another bumper list of artists) but most of all because Mandela was there in person.

That remains one of the most thrilling and inspiring moments of my life. After 27 years in prison, he walked out on the stage to a massive ovation. It seemed to last a long time - in fact it was only about 6 minutes - before he was able to speak. 

Nelson Mandela on stage at Wembley

The Anti-Apartheid movement had been galvanised by that first Wembley concert, to increase the pressure on the South African regime to release Mandela. And here we were, two years later, to welcome him back. It may seem crazy to believe a pop concert could really make that much difference. But here was the proof. 

The Human Rights Now! concerts in September 1988, held around the world and featuring Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and Tracy Chapman, were another example of how rock musicians put themselves forward as advocates for political change and awareness. This time, they didn't just turn up to Wembley and plug in, they took it out on the road and worked it. South America, Africa, Asia and points in between. Again, it was inspiring and engaged a new generation in the fight for freedom and equal rights.

My ticket

Here's Bruce Springsteen getting the crowd jumping in Argentina.

As the decade came to a close, the fall of the iron curtain across Eastern Europe and the release of Mandela were the culmination of this new sense that people did have the power to force change. Oppression and inequality hasn't gone away, but events such as this gave us the belief that change can happen when people come together to show their opposition and resistance. 

 

2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

If I had to pick the best concert I’ve ever been to, there are several candidates. I’ve written about seeing Pink Floyd play Dark Side Of The Moon in 1974, seeing the outrageous Tubes at Hammersmith in 1977, BobMarley at Madison Square Garden in 1978, or the sensuous and sublime Joni Mitchell in 1983. Steely Dan at Hammersmith in 2000 had probably the best sound.

But above all those, I think, in terms of sheer funky excitement was this genuine contender for best gig ever. It was 17th November 1979 at Loughborough University Students Union – The Specials, The Selecter and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Three bands at the top of their game.

What a gig. Each band put on a funky soul-stirring show that would have been terrific if it had been just the one band alone. As a three-fer it was outstanding. I couldn’t say who was better, they were all fantastic.

I even kept the street poster - massive, like the ones you used to see posted on street corners. Kept it for years until I emigrated and it was just too big to pack into my memorabilia case. Wish I still had it, as a memento of a wild night. The one pictured here is from the same time, different venue.

Dexy’s Midnight Runners had already released their debut single, Dance Stance (changed to its original title, Burn It Down, on the album Searching for the Young Soul Rebels) and had been looking for a major label deal. Jerry Dammers, leader of The Specials and founder of the 2-Tone record label, wanted to sign Dexy's and offered them a support slot playing alongside The Specials and The Selecter. They replaced Madness who had left the 2-Tone tour after their initial success. Dexy's eventually signed for EMI, but for this brief moment, they were attached to 2-Tone. 

Dexy's Midnight Runners, 1979

This was Dexy’s Midnight Runners in their full soul-boy mode, all of them wearing black thigh-length coats and wooly hats. They must have been boiling on stage.

Their second single, Geno had yet to be released. For now, they had to be content with third billing. Six months on from this gig, Geno would get them to Number One.

Like the other bands on that night, Dexy’s were at their best in a live club situation, with exuberant horns and a front man, Kevin Rowland, consumed by a passion for the soul music of his youth. 

Rowland told The Guardian “The lyrics are all true. I saw Geno Washington in '68 at the Railway Hotel in Harrow. I was 15 years old and out with all the older kids – short-haired, cool-looking mods-turning-into-skinhead types. I didn’t have any intention to be a singer at that point. I just thought you go to school, go to work and that’s it. But when Geno came on swinging a towel, something clicked in me."

This studio staged video for the song 'There, There My Dear' gives you some idea of how Dexy's came across at the time.

Where Dexy's relied heavily on the soul bands of the 1960s for their style, the Specials and The Selecter combined reggae and ska with the energy of punk rock. 

Jerry Dammers said he saw punk as a piss-take of rock music: "it was great and it was really funny, but I couldn't believe people took it as a serious musical genre which they then had to copy. It seemed to be a bit more healthy to have an integrated kind of British music, rather than white people playing rock and black people playing their music. Ska was an integration of the two."

The Selecter, 1979

I was an early adopter of 2-Tone. I had already bought Gangsters by The Special AKA the week it was released, and when The Selecter released their first single, On My Radio, that became a firm favourite too. As a big fan of funk music, The Selecter’s brand of funky ska was actually my favourite sound at the time. 

'Three Minute Hero' captures that energy in this live clip. Their leader and chief songwriter, Neol Davies, put together a group of the funkiest players in Coventry, topped off with the charismatic Pauline Black as lead vocalist. 

They were terrific live, totally a match for their label-mates in musicality and sheer exuberance. And like The Specials, The Selecter were a deliberately mixed-race band. Pauline Black said 2-Tone was standing for multiculturalism before the word had even been invented. "It was an exciting time. We'd all come to it from different backgrounds, but we found a unity in the message we were saying."

The 2-Tone movement started out at the same time as Rock Against Racism. "For me, it was no good being anti-racist if you didn't involve black people, so what The Specials tried to do was create something that was more integrated," said Dammers.

Rock Against Racism was a reaction to the rise of the far-right National Front and the race riots that had become more frequent in the late 1970s, peaking in 1981, just as The Specials were getting to Number One on the charts with 'Ghost Town'. It was a time of violent confrontation on the streets, reflecting conflict not just between whites and blacks, but the police as well. A disproportionate number of black men died in custody in those years, and still do.

The Specials. Jerry Dammers (centre)

The country was falling apart, said Dammers. "You travelled from town to town and what was happening was terrible. In Liverpool, all the shops were shuttered up, everything was closing down. Margaret Thatcher was closing down all the industries, throwing millions of people on the dole.

"You could see the frustration and anger in the audience. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. It was unbelievable. It was clear that something was very, very wrong."

Dammers wasn't afraid to use his platform to confront people on the issues of the day. He tapped into their frustration and lack of hope with songs that addressed them directly. Songs like Too Much Too Young, Rat Race, Stupid Marriage and Racist Friend.

You need stamina for a gig where all three bands are playing not just foot-tapping sounds but get-up, jump-about-go-crazy music. This was a student union, so not a massive gig, maybe a thousand people, and that lent an electric intimacy to the event. After Dexy's and The Selecter had done their thing, I remember thinking how can The Specials top that? 

Once they hit the stage, their connection with the audience was such that there was never any question this was their show. They really were, yes Special. They could get a song about contraception to number one while uniting a black and white audience. It was completely unprecedented. The Specials live shows were so full-on and the crowd so rowdy, it really was like a punk gig at times, without the bad vibes. Each gig would finish with the audience invited onto the stage, and despite the chaos, the band carried on playing. 

It's a shame that personality clashes brought an end to The Specials after just two albums. They were the conscience of a generation for a short period of time and it should have been longer. 

In fact, all three bands went through some tough times after the initial excitement of those first gigs, with infighting and wholesale personnel changes. 

Once Dexy's Midnight Runners broke through with Geno, they copped a lot of flak from the media for Rowland's confrontational stance: "We took the music press on by putting statements out in adverts instead of giving interviews, which infuriated them. We took everybody on, really. I take responsibility. I was far too controlling and aggressive."

Dammers was arguably just as controlling within The Specials. He had a right to be, but after a while the others didn't share his view that everything has to be political. "At first it was a great laugh, we're all in this together, there's no stars here," said Dammers. The level of intensity in The Specials music and their live shows would have been difficult to maintain, though. 

Once the original band had dispersed, Dammers ploughed on. Another hit single, Free Nelson Mandela, led to Dammers founding the British wing of Artists Against Apartheid, raising awareness of the jailed South African leader of the African National Congress, and providing the inspiration for the 70th birthday tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988. Another of my all-time best gigs. 

BBC Documentary - 2 Tone The Sound of Coventry 

THE SPECIALS: Live in Concert (UK Television 1979)

The Specials - "Blank Expression" (Live 1979)

Guardian article - The year rock found the power to unite

Also on this blog:
Seeing Bob Marley - live in New York 1978

How my mid-1980s funk band was revived in 2019