Page 304 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

Freddie Mercury performing at Live Aid in 1985 CREDIT: Phil Dent/Redferns

It’s linked to the fact that the whole notion of rock and roll has changed out of all proportion in the
38 years between these two events: today everyone is safe and presentable. Bob Geldof looked like
he might beat you up down a dark alley; Murs seems like the sort of chap who beams when you
approach him at the information point in Sainsbury’s.

I am sure these things are always a horror to administer, and I imagine that executive producer
Mark Sidaway was tearing his hair out (although, as he’s a former X Factor boss, I suspect he was
part of the problem, too). But you do wonder whether the BBC should step away from this sort of
thing altogether.

So what is the alternative to last Sunday’s shambles? A multi-organisation event would be a
disaster: look at what happened to the Government’s wretched Unboxed festival, costing
£150 million, and investigated by the National Audit Office following a Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport report that suggested the 2022 event had wasted public money.