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Amazingly I won a pair of tickets for the
Live 8 Concert at Hyde Park in London on July 2nd 2005, with the Live 8 Text
Lottery. We travelled up by train from Bristol on Friday 1s July, and returned on
Sunday 3rd July. We stayed at the Thistle Kensington Palace, which is
ideally located for the concert, overlooking Kensington Palace and Hyde Park.
It was a fantastic weekend, and the concert was just out of this world, a true
once in a lifetime experience, a supendous, bombastic and momentous
extravaganza. Scroll down to see more comments and photographs of the event and
the rest of the weekend.
Every single day,
30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.
On July 6th 2005, we finally
have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic.
8 world leaders, gathered in
Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a
workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make the
trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become
the generation that made poverty history.
But they'll only do
it if enough people tell them to.
That's why we're staging Live
8. 5 concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, 2 billion
viewers, and 1 message... To get those 8 men, in that 1
room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of
extreme poverty.
We don't want your
money - we want you!
And if you know the
History...
...It's enough to make
your heart go...
1985: Live Aid makes millions for Africa
The Live Aid concert for the starving in Africa has
raised triple the £10m expected.
And as the London event draws to a close at Wembley Stadium,
Britain had contributed £1,100,000 to the global total of £30m.
Described as the Woodstock of the eighties, the world's
biggest rock festival was organised by Boomtown Rats singer Bob
Geldof to raise money for famine relief in Africa.
Wembley was packed with a crowd of 72,000, but TV pictures,
co-ordinated at BBC Television Centre, have been beamed to over
1.5 bn people in 160 countries in the biggest broadcast ever
known.
The transatlantic concert began in London's midday sunshine
with a fanfare for Prince Charles and Princess Diana and Status
Quo performing Rocking All over the World.
Stars were helicoptered into the arena in a line-up that
included David Bowie, Wham and royal favourites Dire Straits.
Frequent appeals by Bob Geldof reminded viewers
of the motive for the occasion: "Don't go to the pub tonight.
Please stay in and give us your money. There are people dying
now."
He took the call from the ruling family in Dubai who made the
biggest single donation of £1m.
Across the UK eight appeal centres were set up with 200 phone
lines to handle - mainly credit card - donations of up to
£2,000.
In the US 22,000 pledges were received within five minutes of
the Beach Boys taking to the stage in the simultaneous concert
at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia. The 16-hour music marathon is
being completed there tonight with acts including Bob Dylan,
Duran Duran and Paul Simon.
Nine months after the droughts, disease and famine in north
eastern Africa were brought to the media's attention the UN has
warned that 160m people are still affected.
Governments have begun a global relief operation but there
are still problems of distribution in the worst hit areas -
mainly Sudan and Ethiopia.
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After seeing BBC news reports of the African famine Bob Geldof
and Midge Ure from Ultravox wrote the song Do They Know It's
Christmas to raise money for the crisis. Geldof went on a
crusade to attract other stars to the cause.
Performing under the name Band Aid they released the song on
7 December 1984. Expected to raise £70,000 it was the fastest
selling single ever and raised £8m.
Live Aid eventually raised £40m. Half of the money was spent
on food and half on long term development.
Bob Geldof was given an honorary knighthood in 1986.
In spite of these efforts 1.2m starved to death in Africa in
the 1984-85 famine.
Starvation continues to threaten the people of Ethiopia and
in 2000 12m were still at risk.
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Well here we go... here are my images
and thoughts of the Day that made History... and my feet swell! A 15 hour
standfest with more highlights than an 80's rock star. They said it was to be
the long walk to justice... it was also a long walk home too... but well worth
the treck... a superStar Trek!
When Saturday comes... it will be Live 8! Over 200,000 people
in Hyde Park - Here are the sights & sounds!
The Live 8 Poster
My Pair of Live 8
Tickets
The long walk to
justice...
Field of dreams...
The build up to the
big event... this is Live 8!
Robert at Hyde Park
Paul McCartney and
U2 open with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
U2... It's a
beautiful day
  
U2... Vertigo
U2 are One
Coldplay... In My
Place
Elton John -
Officially the worst performance of the day...
...I will say
no-more!
Two legends of their
time... Big Bob Geldof and Bill Gates
...A wealth of
opportunity!
Dido... White Flag
Dido... Thank You
 
Stereophonics... The
bartender and the thief
It's certainly
not... Dakota
Stereophonics...
Local Boy in a Photograph...
...were the winners
of the loudest ovation on the clapometer
A local boy in my
photograph... Kelly Jones
 
Out of Office
hours... Comic genius... Ricky Gervais!
REM... Everybody
Hurts
REM put... a Man on
the Moon
Keane & Ms Dynamite
Travis... asking the
question... Why does it always rain on me
Bob Geldof and Annie
Lennox... Tell me why I don't like Mondays... Why?
Annie Lennox and
UB40 having some... Red Red WIne
Razorlight with
Madonna... Like A Prayer
Madonna... a Ray of
Light
Robert & Korina with
the Killers
Joss Stone and The
Scissor Sisters... Taking their Mama out
Velvet Revolver...
Doin it for the Kids
Sunset at the Hyde
Park Carnival
Sting... Every
Breath You Take
Stingin...
Sting sending a...
Message in a Bottle
Sting... with a
Velvet Rose
The Interval
Shortest dress of
the day... Maria Carey
Maria Carey... a
true Vision of Love
David Beckham
introducing the true showman of the day... Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams...
Let me Entertain You
Robbie Williams...
Angels
Peter Kay... showing
us the way to Amarillo
Peter Kay
introducing The Who... Behind the Blue Eyes
As Del Boy said...
you can't whack the Who!
The legendary Pink
Floyd
Pink Floyd... Make
Poverty History... Money!
Sir Paul & George
Michael... are at the end of the Long and Winding Road
The Midnight
Cowboy's (cast list) perform the closing number at midnight... Hey Jude
And the band played
on...
Watta finale... hey
jude
I hope that you
enjoyed it... as much as we did!
A lasting memory
after the end of the concert when everybody had left in what seemed to be an
instance, was the incredible waste land that was left. Hyde Park, literally
looked like a landfill sight. I would estimate that there had to be at least 100
tonnes of rubbish on the floor (a rough estimate obviously, I didn't weigh it).
Trying to get out of the park without falling over all of the waste, was like
being a bomb disposal expert crawling through a mine field.
That was the day
that was...
Well here is the rest of the weekend...
the Friday and Sunday in London, the day before and the morning after, perhaps I
could write a song... but I think I heard enough of those on the day between... Apologies for any sore fingers from all the
scrolling!
Kensington Palace
Robert & Korina at
Kensington Palace
Kensington
Hyde Park... the day
before
The Albert Memorial
The Albert's
Robert & Korina at
the Royal Albert Hall
Robert & Korina
St James's Park
St James's Bridge
Lakeside
Rule Britannia
The Mall
The Mall takes its
name from the game 'palle-maille', a cross between croquet and golf, that was
played here in the early-17th century
The long walk down
the Mall...
Robert & Korina at
Buck House
Buckingham Palace
has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837.
It evolved from a town house that was owned from the beginning of the eighteenth
century by the Dukes of Buckingham. Today it is The Queen's official residence.
Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen,
areas of Buckingham Palace are opened to visitors on a regular basis.
The State Rooms of the Palace are open to visitors during the Annual Summer
Opening in August and September. They are lavishly furnished with some of the
greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens,
Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey;
exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and
French furniture in the world
This white marble
monument standing in pride of place right outside Buckingham Palace is commonly
called “The Wedding Cake”. It was built in 1911 to honour Queen Victoria who
died 10 years earlier. As well as the 13 feet high statue of Victoria there are
figures representing Charity, Courage, Truth and Justice. The gold figure at the
top of the monument represents Victory. At the same time as the memorial was
built the designer/architect, Sir Aston Webb, also rebuilt the front of the
palace and widened The Mall.
Old London Town
It's just like
Piccadilly Circus around here...
Robert at Trafalgar
Square
In the middle of the
quartet of famous Trafalgar lions, Admiral Nelson stands atop the 44 metres high
(approximately 144 ft.) classical column, keeping watch over the city, which at
times, seems that the pigeons outnumber the people. From the ground looking up,
you probably won't realize that the statue actually measures an impressive 18
ft. (approximately 5.5 metres) high. The Nelson monument was in honor of his
victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The four scenes at the base were
actually cast from French cannons captured at the naval battles they illustrate.
It was completed in 1867. To the north of the monument is is the National
Gallery, and to the south is Whitehall. Also, worth mentioning, the famous
Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson gave his life for his country, dying from his
wounds in battle. He was born in 1758, joined the Royal Navy at the age of 12,
and was admired by all of his comrades. In his speech to the crew before this
famous battle, on October 21, 1805, he said, " England expects every man to do
his duty." He is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
Back to the Hotel
The Royal Courts of
Justice, the home of law & order in the UK
Robert & Korina
thankfully outside... The Royal Courts of Justice
Robert & Korina
outside the famous "The George" pub which is right opposite the Royal Courts of
Justice. Many of the Queens subjects and the countries celebrities have
celebrated winning their big court cases in this bar
History of The
George - It remains unclear whether The George, founded in 1723 as a coffee
house, was named after the reigning monarch, George III, or its original
proprietor, a man by the name of George Simpkins. However, the portrait on the
pub’s sign is not of Simpkins but rather of George III who ruled between 1760
and 1811. The pub stands proudly on the Strand, in the company of other great
buildings, such as Royal Courts of Justice and the Adelphi Theatre. At the turn
of the last century, the Strand was known for its jolly public houses,
restaurants or ‘chop houses’, music-halls and smoking rooms. The George is
particularly imposing with its stained glass and wooden carvings such as the
monks on each side of the front window, and other, more eccentric carvings,
including the green frog and seemingly naked men chasing pigs. The George did
not escape the Blitz unscathed. At 9.20pm on 11th November 1941, the building
was damaged during an aid raid. The local air raid warden Frederick Mottram, who
was one of the licensees of The George, survived the blast, but gave up the
license. Former regulars of The George include Horace Walpole, Oliver Goldsmith
and Samuel Johnson, who for a while used The George as a postal address. Another
frequent customer was the conman Henry Perfect who was fond of impersonating
vicars and, it is said, often rented rooms upstairs. There is also, allegedly, a
ghost of a cavalier who haunts the cellar.
Covent Garden
The Roundhouse
All photographs were taken in London - England from the
1st to 3rd July 2005.
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