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25 years ago today...


Bigsby

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I was in a pal's back garden in Wood Green, London. We were trying to avoid most of it. What I recall most about the day was watching silverfish darting about his garden path. We were in 'recovery mode', having been to see a Blasters/Jason & the Scorchers gig at the Electric Ballroom the night before, and got legless.

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I remember quite a lot of it as the TV was on all day at work and I remember thinking this was a good idea by Bob Geldof - it was a last chance for him to try to relaunch the Boomtown Rats who had already faded from popularity.

I remember Phil Collins managed to play at both the UK and US shows thanks to getting a much publicised free lift to the a Concorde in a helicopter piloted by Noel Edmonds - better him than me - imagine getting in an aircraft piloted by Noel Edmonds.

Sting sang vocals with Bigsby's heroes - he sounded awful to me.

BB King and Bo Diddley were the best of the Americans. The Beach Boys did well and Madonna spent a lot of time yabbling where's Sean (Penn) when she should have been singing and playing her tambourine (badly).

Scotland's Midge Ure put a lot of work into getting artists for the show and never got much credit for it as he was overshadowed in the subsequent publicity by Mr Geldolf.

Princess Diana was there and so was Charles - with his special royal earplugs.

Harvey Goldsmith was the promoter who pulled most of it together - this was long before Mr Goldsmith lost a fortune trying to doing something similar when there an eclipse that could only be seen in Cornwall. The Eclipse Show eclipsed Harvey's ambitions for a while but he came back strong but the Boomtown Rats did not.

Funniest bit was Mick Jagger changing his pants on stage during a number with Tina Turner. That number had a memorable ending with a younger Tina ending up in a leotard after Jagger encouraged a wardobe malfunction - a gimmick that would be repeated twenty years by Justin Timberlake and Miss Jackson.

And just to cheer up Bigsby Sultans of Swing is currently being played as I listen to KLRZFM - The Rajin' Cajun' from Louisiana.

KLRZ-FM

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I vividly remember that the TV broadcast sound quality was shite, for at least the first hour..... seems to have improved later though.....

Must have been a great feeling & honour for Andy Bown, to have been the first musician to play on the day, and kick-off the whole thing !

(doesn't seem that long ago to ME.... lol)

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And just to cheer up Bigsby Sultans of Swing is currently being played as I listen to KLRZFM - The Rajin' Cajun' from Louisiana.

KLRZ-FM

Listened to that station a fair bit when I bought an internet radio a while back.

Amazes me how much I still hear Sultans, heard it in a show shop the other day. He's had a lot of other great tracks but that one just has something.

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