US Festival/Live Aid. Why no Journey?

[madsplash]

After watching the US Festival Saturday and Live Aid on Sunday on VH1 Classic(love that channel), why wasn't Journey on these huge shows?

The US Festival was in 1983 and there wasn't a bigger band in the world at that time. Maybe they were on the Frontiers tour? Someone will probably know about that.

Live Aid was 1985 and that was probably during the "changeover" right before Raised on Radio began.

Surely Journey would have been asked to do these 2 huge, huge shows. They were at the peak of their success at these times. Does anyone remember details about why they didn't play? Would have been great.

[KDOUBLEU]

After watching the US Festival Saturday and Live Aid on Sunday on VH1 Classic(love that channel), why wasn't Journey on these huge shows?

The US Festival was in 1983 and there wasn't a bigger band in the world at that time. Maybe they were on the Frontiers tour? Someone will probably know about that.

Live Aid was 1985 and that was probably during the "changeover" right before Raised on Radio began.

Surely Journey would have been asked to do these 2 huge, huge shows. They were at the peak of their success at these times. Does anyone remember details about why they didn't play? Would have been great.

Ive thought the same thing over the years Mad. Maybe someone has the inside scoop on this. Nice to see you here.

[madsplash]

After watching the US Festival Saturday and Live Aid on Sunday on VH1 Classic(love that channel), why wasn't Journey on these huge shows?

The US Festival was in 1983 and there wasn't a bigger band in the world at that time. Maybe they were on the Frontiers tour? Someone will probably know about that.

Live Aid was 1985 and that was probably during the "changeover" right before Raised on Radio began.

Surely Journey would have been asked to do these 2 huge, huge shows. They were at the peak of their success at these times. Does anyone remember details about why they didn't play? Would have been great.

Ive thought the same thing over the years Mad. Maybe someone has the inside scoop on this. Nice to see you here.

Thanks. Yea, after watching guys like Bob Geldof warbling around, it would have been great to hear Journey go in and kick everyone's asses!

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

Why didn't Journey play these shows? Anybody know? Andrew, can you help?

[steveo777]

At the height of their career they probably just couldn't be bothered with it.

They were too cool

[Marzdog]

Talk about a great question for Herbie to answer. I say he knows this one...

[WalrusOct9]

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

I love Van Halen as much as anyone, but that's a really ignorant thing to say. The Clash where a phenomenal band, and great musicians/writers as well. Just because you don't play finger-tapping solos doesn't mean your band isn't comprised of great players.

[madsplash]

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

I love Van Halen as much as anyone, but that's a really ignorant thing to say. The Clash where a phenomenal band, and great musicians/writers as well. Just because you don't play finger-tapping solos doesn't mean your band isn't comprised of great players.

I disagree. The Clash were average players, at best. None of them could carry any of the members of Van Halen's cases.

The whole punk movement was a big joke.

[strangegrey]

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

I love Van Halen as much as anyone, but that's a really ignorant thing to say. The Clash where a phenomenal band, and great musicians/writers as well. Just because you don't play finger-tapping solos doesn't mean your band isn't comprised of great players.

I disagree. The Clash were average players, at best. None of them could carry any of the members of Van Halen's cases.

The whole punk movement was a big joke.

+1 nothing great about the punk movement....and on par with alternative/grunge. They were awful players and sub-standard writers. Technically, they were playing stuff that I was doing when I was 8.

I think Eddie was being kind. In reality, Eddie probably was a better guitarist on first day he picked up his brother's guitar, than someone like like Joe Strummer was at the pinnacle of his career.

[Lula]

the nice thing about music is that it is subjective. i like the clash, very much.

perhaps journey was not interested in playing those festivals. they played at the summer blowout in 1980. maybe they were content with the large crowds they could draw on their own. maybe they weren't invited. who knows?

[StoneCold]

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

I love Van Halen as much as anyone, but that's a really ignorant thing to say. The Clash where a phenomenal band, and great musicians/writers as well. Just because you don't play finger-tapping solos doesn't mean your band isn't comprised of great players.

I disagree. The Clash were average players, at best. None of them could carry any of the members of Van Halen's cases.

The whole punk movement was a big joke.

+1 nothing great about the punk movement....and on par with alternative/grunge. They were awful players and sub-standard writers. Technically, they were playing stuff that I was doing when I was 8.

I think Eddie was being kind. In reality, Eddie probably was a better guitarist on first day he picked up his brother's guitar, than someone like like Joe Strummer was at the pinnacle of his career.

If these disparaging comments were about KISS I'd agree but to say The Clash were average and sub-standard is off base. If you don't like punk as a genre I guess it lends some credence, but The Clash came up with some innovative stuff and are a blast to crank up. Try it, you might like it.

Train In Vain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYK7bEo1Z4M

The Magnificent Seven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL16q36QXw0

Rock The Casbah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY

[madsplash]

the nice thing about music is that it is subjective. i like the clash, very much.

perhaps journey was not interested in playing those festivals. they played at the summer blowout in 1980. maybe they were content with the large crowds they could draw on their own. maybe they weren't invited. who knows?

Well, whether or not you like it is subjective. Who are better musicians ISN'T subjective. It's fact.
The Clash were all inferior players to the guys in Van Halen. Maybe that doesn't matter to someone, but it's not disputable.

Punk and grunge suck, musicianship-wise.

[madsplash]

I loved what Eddie Van Halen said about The Clash at the US Festival, "They play the kind of stuff that I used to play in my garage when I was 10 years old"!

I love Van Halen as much as anyone, but that's a really ignorant thing to say. The Clash where a phenomenal band, and great musicians/writers as well. Just because you don't play finger-tapping solos doesn't mean your band isn't comprised of great players.

I disagree. The Clash were average players, at best. None of them could carry any of the members of Van Halen's cases.

The whole punk movement was a big joke.

+1 nothing great about the punk movement....and on par with alternative/grunge. They were awful players and sub-standard writers. Technically, they were playing stuff that I was doing when I was 8.

I think Eddie was being kind. In reality, Eddie probably was a better guitarist on first day he picked up his brother's guitar, than someone like like Joe Strummer was at the pinnacle of his career.

If these disparaging comments were about KISS I'd agree but to say The Clash were average and sub-standard is off base. If you don't like punk as a genre I guess it lends some credence, but The Clash came up with some innovative stuff and are a blast to crank up. Try it, you might like it.

Train In Vain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYK7bEo1Z4M

The Magnificent Seven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL16q36QXw0

Rock The Casbah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY

It's right ON base. I've heard all of those songs and hate all of them. Boring crap played by below average musicians.

[jrny84]

I have always wondered why Journey never played Live Aid. Here the biggest acts of the time came together on stage to play at Live Aid, but no Journey! I mean Journey seems to be like the kind of band that would definetly participate in causes like Live Aid.

As far as the US festivals my guess is Journey didnt need to share the stage with other bands to draw 100,000 fans, they could draw 80-90,000 fans by themselves...they did it at JFK stadium.

[StoneCold]

You don't like The Clash but you're in love with the Perry warble. At least we know where you're coming from.

Seriously though, VH has some great hits, EVH is a genius no doubt but some of their non hits are boring too. AVH is no where near a Peart or Smith so I don't see trying to tout him as some great musician.

More like EVH said, I'm starting a band, you can be drums. LOL

As to why J didn't play the festival, my guess is 1. They thought they were too big for it. or 2. They were already commited to whatever (touring or vacation) or 3. They just didn't want to.

[Duncan]

The line up makes interesting reading. I bet we all have fond memories of the Udo Lindenberg set.



12.02 : Status Quo
12.19 : Style Council
12.44 : Boomtown Rats
13.00 : Adam Ant
13.06 : INXS (video from Melbourne)
13.16 : Ultravox
13.34 : Loudness (video from Japan)
13.47 : Spandau Ballet
13.51 : Bernard Watson
14.02 : Joan Baez
14.07 : Elvis Costello
14.10 : The Hooters
14.15 : Opus (video from Austria)
14.22 : Nik Kershaw
14.32 : The Four Tops
14.38 : B.B. King (video from The Hague)
14.45 : Billy Ocean
14.52 : Black Sabbath
14.55 : Sade
15.12 : Run DMC
15.18 : Sting
15.27 : Rick Springfield
15.35 : Phil Collins
15.45 : REO Speedwagon
15.50 : Howard Jones
15.58 : Autograph (video from Moscow)
16.03 : Bryan Ferry
16.15 : Crosby, Still & Nash
16.24 : Udo Lindenberg (video from Cologne)
16.26 : Judas Priest
16.38 : Paul Young - Alison Moyet
17.00 Linkup
between Wembley in the UK and JFK in the US
17.02 : Bryan Adams
17.20 : U2
17.40 : The Beach Boys
18.00 : Dire Straits & Sting
18.26 : George Thorogood & the Destroyers / Bo Diddley / Albert Collins
18.44 : Queen
19.03 : David Bowie / Mick Jagger ( video)
19.07 : Simple Minds
19.22 : David Bowie
19.41 : The Pretenders
20.00 : The Who
20.20 : Santana / Pat Metheny
20.50 : Elton John
20.57 : Ashford & Simpson / Teddy Pendergrass
21.05 : Elton John / Kiki Dee / Wham!
21.30 : Madonna
21.48 : Freddie Mercury / Brian May
21.51 : Paul McCartney
21.54 : McCartney / Bowie / Pete Townshend / Alison Moyet / Bob Geldof
21.56 UK Finale from Wembley
22.14 : Tom Petty
22.30 : Kenny Loggins
22.49 : The Cars
23.07 : Neil Young
23.43 : The Power Station
00.21 : The Thompson Twins
00.39 : Eric Clapton
01.04 : Phil Collins
01.13 : Robert Plant /Jimmy Page / John Paul Jones
01.47 : Duran Duran
02.15 : Patti LaBelle
02.50 : Hall & Oates / Eddie Kendricks / David Ruffin
03.15 : Mick Jagger
03.28 : Mick Jagger / Tina Turner
03.39 : Bob Dylan / Keith Richards / Ron Wood
03.55 US Finale

----------------
Now playing: Loverboy - Chance Of A Lifetime

[Arianddu]

the nice thing about music is that it is subjective. i like the clash, very much.

perhaps journey was not interested in playing those festivals. they played at the summer blowout in 1980. maybe they were content with the large crowds they could draw on their own. maybe they weren't invited. who knows?

Well, whether or not you like it is subjective. Who are better musicians ISN'T subjective. It's fact.
The Clash were all inferior players to the guys in Van Halen. Maybe that doesn't matter to someone, but it's not disputable.

Punk and grunge suck, musicianship-wise.

Oh man, here we go again!

Ranking technical musical skills IS subjective - there is no richter scale for music.
Technical skill DOES NOT make for great music - a machine has great technical skill and no soul or creativity.
To lump the musical skills of an entire genre (or in your case, two) together is rank idiocy. Guess what? Melodic Rock has had some pretty mediocre players make some great music, some great musicians make some pretty mediocre music, and has produced some rank stinkers on both scales. Punk did the same, so did grunge.

PLEASE get your head out of your arse when it comes to your opinion on musical skill. You don't know as much as you claim to, and your opinion is HIGHLY subjective, no matter how much you claim it to be otherwise. Voice your opinion by all means, but please stop claiming it is 'technical musical' fact.

[Arkansas]

the nice thing about music is that it is subjective. i like the clash, very much.

perhaps journey was not interested in playing those festivals. they played at the summer blowout in 1980. maybe they were content with the large crowds they could draw on their own. maybe they weren't invited. who knows?

Well, whether or not you like it is subjective. Who are better musicians ISN'T subjective. It's fact.
The Clash were all inferior players to the guys in Van Halen. Maybe that doesn't matter to someone, but it's not disputable.

Punk and grunge suck, musicianship-wise.

But that's what made punk so great. They knew they weren't great muscians. Anti-establishment isn't simply a political thing. Punk's revolt was against all the musical cliches too. It was an attitude that said 'we don't want to be corporate rock, perfect this, great that'.

Punk as compared to whatever you want did suck. But you can't treat punk that way because it's not about comparison. It was about anger release and bucking the norms. And mostly just whatever the hell they wanted at the time. The F-you attitude made it great.

Grunge, on the other hand, still sucks.



later~

[X factor]

the nice thing about music is that it is subjective. i like the clash, very much.

perhaps journey was not interested in playing those festivals. they played at the summer blowout in 1980. maybe they were content with the large crowds they could draw on their own. maybe they weren't invited. who knows?

Well, whether or not you like it is subjective. Who are better musicians ISN'T subjective. It's fact.
The Clash were all inferior players to the guys in Van Halen. Maybe that doesn't matter to someone, but it's not disputable.

Punk and grunge suck, musicianship-wise.

Oh man, here we go again!

Ranking technical musical skills IS subjective - there is no richter scale for music.
Technical skill DOES NOT make for great music - a machine has great technical skill and no soul or creativity.
To lump the musical skills of an entire genre (or in your case, two) together is rank idiocy. Guess what? Melodic Rock has had some pretty mediocre players make some great music, some great musicians make some pretty mediocre music, and has produced some rank stinkers on both scales. Punk did the same, so did grunge.

PLEASE get your head out of your arse when it comes to your opinion on musical skill. You don't know as much as you claim to, and your opinion is HIGHLY subjective, no matter how much you claim it to be otherwise. Voice your opinion by all means, but please stop claiming it is 'technical musical' fact.

Well said!
And to say that there were no good musicians in the grunge movement? Uhm..Mike McCreedy? Jerry Cantrell? Jeff Ahment? Chris Cornell?

[Duncan]

Yes, but the line up makes interesting reading. Who can forget that legendary set by Opus?

[Art Vandelay]

The US finale also included a version of We Are the World. I believe Pattie LaBelle sang Perry's part. Would've been great to see him there for that.

Also, if I recall correctly, Huey Lewis and the News were invited but opted out because they weren't getting paid for the gig. Maybe this was the same situation? Who knows.

[Rockindeano]

I have always wondered why Journey never played Live Aid. Here the biggest acts of the time came together on stage to play at Live Aid, but no Journey! I mean Journey seems to be like the kind of band that would definetly participate in causes like Live Aid.

Really? They never came across to me at least of wanting to join up for a Cause, be it whatever.

As far as the US festivals my guess is Journey didnt need to share the stage with other bands to draw 100,000 fans, they could draw 80-90,000 fans by themselves...they did it at JFK stadium.

The single most ridiculous post I have read this month. You don't think U2 was playing stadiums too? Or Queen? or Paul Fucking McCartney? They all play as big if not bigger venues and they were all there.

[Rockindeano]

Also, if I recall correctly, Huey Lewis and the News were invited but opted out because they weren't getting paid for the gig. Maybe this was the same situation? Who knows.

According to the TV special, there were no American acts present in Wembley? They asked Bruce and he said no. He said at the time he didn't think it would be big enough to be worthy. He now says he regrets it terribly and has apologized to Bob Geldof repeatedly. The TV show went on to say he would have been the only American on the show. I too wondered why Journey wasn't asked, or if they were, why they said no.

[Duncan]

Also, if I recall correctly, Huey Lewis and the News were invited but opted out because they weren't getting paid for the gig. Maybe this was the same situation? Who knows.

According to the TV special, there were no American acts present in Wembley? They asked Bruce and he said no. He said at the time he didn't think it would be big enough to be worthy. He now says he regrets it terribly and has apologized to Bob Geldof repeatedly. The TV show went on to say he would have been the only American on the show. I too wondered why Journey wasn't asked, or if they were, why they said no.

That's right. There was no one good enough to follow the mighty Howard Jones.

----------------

[Arianddu]

There was no one good enough follow the mighty Howard Jones.

Yet another thing added to my 'never do again' list - never again apply clove oil to a sore tooth while reading Duncan's posts on MR, because I now have clove oil snorted out my nostrils from laughing.

But let's be serious, it's not Howard Jones no one can follow, but the elusive and mysterious Jed Hoile. I mean, who could follow this piece of interpretive dance magic? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LUkeqqrjZs

[Art Vandelay]

As far as the US festivals my guess is Journey didnt need to share the stage with other bands to draw 100,000 fans, they could draw 80-90,000 fans by themselves...they did it at JFK stadium.

The single most ridiculous post I have read this month. You don't think U2 was playing stadiums too? Or Queen? or Paul Fucking McCartney? They all play as big if not bigger venues and they were all there.[/quote]

Agreed. Besides, last I heard, their '83 JFK show wasn't done for a charitable cause. So this comparison makes absolutely no sense.

[JohnH]

Fact is there were no Aor bands at the 83 event, (and none of the following in 82 either). Foreigner, Starship, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Journey, etc...were nowhere to be found.

[steveo777]

Fact is there were no Aor bands at the 83 event, (and none of the following in 82 either). Foreigner, Starship, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Journey, etc...were nowhere to be found.

This may be the best answer yet.

[SF-Dano]

Fact is there were no Aor bands at the 83 event, (and none of the following in 82 either). Foreigner, Starship, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Journey, etc...were nowhere to be found.

Not sure if you are talking US festival here, but if so, there were quite a few AOR bands. Just to name a few VH, Scorpions, Triumph, Pretenders, INXS, U2, Quarterflash, Missing Persons, Berlin.....

[verslibre]

Fact is there were no Aor bands at the 83 event, (and none of the following in 82 either). Foreigner, Starship, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Journey, etc...were nowhere to be found.

Not sure if you are talking US festival here, but if so, there were quite a few AOR bands. Just to name a few VH, Scorpions, Triumph, Pretenders, INXS, U2, Quarterflash, Missing Persons, Berlin.....

Scorpions, Van Halen, Triumph, Missing Persons and Berlin are AOR?

[SF-Dano]

Fact is there were no Aor bands at the 83 event, (and none of the following in 82 either). Foreigner, Starship, Heart, Loverboy, Styx, Journey, etc...were nowhere to be found.

Not sure if you are talking US festival here, but if so, there were quite a few AOR bands. Just to name a few VH, Scorpions, Triumph, Pretenders, INXS, U2, Quarterflash, Missing Persons, Berlin.....

Scorpions, Van Halen, Triumph, Missing Persons and Berlin are AOR?

What would you classify these groups as? And if these are not AOR bands, then neither is Journey.