This is a brash, candid biography written by the man who
dreamt up Live Aid.
It tells the story of rock
singer
Bob Geldof who had worldwide success with his band the
Boomtown Rats but became more famous over time as an
extraordinary campaigner against famine in Africa.
It is obvious from the outset in his tell-it-as-
it-
is writing style that he wanted to project an honest
and
open view of himself to the world. The narrative swings
from moments of poignancy - particularly on the early
death
of his mother while he was still a young boy - to bouts
of
downright hilarity in his rebellious school years in
Dublin
and in his chaotic adventures that led eventually to
the
formation of the Boomtown Rats and fame, and his
relationship with his wife, Paula Yates.
Some
of
his exploits along the way might appal some but his
uncompromising attitude wins out in the end as he moves
from aimless rebel to inspiring rock star with a huge
wake
up message for the world. After a visit to Ethiopia and
Sudan in 1984, where he saw the devastation caused by
famine, he suddenly discovered that he had the
capability
and leadership to mobilise
people towards doing
something
about the injustice of what was happening in that part
of
the world.
He details how he quickly got
together
some of the biggest names in music to form Band Aid to
produce the record “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”,
all
proceeds of which went to famine relief. It became the
biggest selling single of all time. Then comes how,
with
clarity of purpose and seemingly superhuman energy he
brought far more people to together for the main event:
Live Aid. Staged on July 13th 1985 simultaneously in
London
and Philadelphia, this was the biggest
concert event
ever
witnessed and raised huge sums for millions of famine
victims. In the prologue to the book he states that
when he
was on stage at Live Aid: “I knew that nothing in my
life
had been worth anything until now ... It was enough;
this
clear moment of absolute certainty”.
The
autobiography ends with Live Aid but it feels like just
a
first volume of a life fully-lived with the promise of
more
colourful chapters in the decades to come. A boy at the
end
of the concert asks "Is that it?". “No” would seem to
be
the answer: Twenty years on in 2005 Geldof pushed the
boundaries further with the Live8 concerts and the
drive to
‘Make Poverty History’.