Were you there?? I was- to say “other acts just seemed like they were going through the motions” is pathetic....
There were obvious reasons why Led Zeppelin did not sound good but there is no denying the excitement, anticipation and emotion when they came out onto the stage...
The Four Tops, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, The Pretenders, Tom Petty and Neal Young were all incredible- just to name a few...
As per Queen- yes- they were good (they should’ve been- they had been touring together the prior two years) yet this “it was Queen and everyone else” storyline is BS...
I totally agree there were some great performances. I actually wasn’t that impressed by Queen (but I’m not a fan of theirs). I was 16 at the time and we watched as much of it as we could (and of course recorded it on VCR to watch again and again). I “discovered” Albert Collins and BB King thanks to Live Aid. I was recently watching the DVD and I’ve gotta say, there were a lot of performances I liked. Madonna was great, as was Tina Turner, and I really enjoyed REO Speedwagon. But for us it was all about the music, not the politics.