Artists beautify our lives, change our lives. But few save lives. In the first sense of the term. Bob Geldof is one of those heroes. This 68-year-old Irishman, who enjoyed success between 1977 and 1986 with his punk glam group The Boomtown Rats, made himself famous by creating in 1984 the collective of British artists Band Aid then in 1985 the "Live Aid", a double concert in London and Philadelphia which raised $ 127 million to fight the famine in Ethiopia.
Not only did Bob Geldof launch the movement, followed in 1985 by USA for Africa and their song "We Are The World" and the French with "Singers without borders", but he managed to perpetuate his fight. He organized three other Band Aid and in 2005 Live 8, eight simultaneous shows including one in front of 100,000 people at the Palace of Versailles with Muse, The Cure, Diam's ... Just before confinement, he spoke to us at length in Paris about his destiny singular and its fights.
"Rock saved my life"
Surprise, the Boomtown Rats are back. After 34 years of silence, they return with a glam-punk album in line with their first albums, including the brilliant "A Tonic For The Troops" in 1978.
"This chaotic era required it," says their singer, Bob Geldof. I felt with my friends the urge to make noise, to get up and say fuck . I feel like I find myself in the same situation of planetary chaos as when we formed the group. The purses were in full crash, the Church upside down… ”
"I wrote Rat Trap , the first Irish song to be ranked number one in the UK, when I worked in a slaughterhouse," he says. More than a slaughterhouse for animals, a slaughterhouse for our dreams. Everyone who worked there was trapped. Our generation had nothing left, we had to create our future. I did not wait for a report on the famine in Ethiopia in 1984 to be interested in the others. My mother died when I was seven, my father VRP left Monday to Friday. There was no money or TV at home. At 13, I gathered 48,000 people against apartheid. When I was 15, I left home and lived with homeless people, those left behind. I have read a lot of Baldwin, Guthrie, Steinbeck… ”
"Why and how I created Band Aid"
Band Aid is first and foremost a collective of artists, behind the hit “Do They Know It's Christmas? »At the end of 1984. Then it was Live Aid, the biggest concert of all time. For the youngest, it is the concert that closes the film "Bohemian Rhapsody" with the unforgettable performance of Queen. Organized in London and Philadelphia, all the stars of the time were there.
“Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys, Black Sabbath have reformed there! I persuaded the Who, Paul McCartney to play… I had been in the business for ten years, McCartney, Harrison, Jagger, Bowie, Lennon and Yoko had come to my concerts, some had become friends. They all came for nothing. 95% of TVs on the planet watched Live Aid. It was crazy ! "
Thirty-five years later, everyone tells him about Live Aid. "It touches me, but there were four Band Aid in 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2014, and the Live 8 in 2005 (Editor's note: in the eight G8 countries) was much bigger and had a bigger impact. Girls and boys with guitars and pianos have succeeded in dictating to the world's eight greatest powers to help the poorest. With 50 billion dollars in aid per year, Africa has been allowed to grow. Band Aid always keeps me busy, every day (his phone rings) . What a coincidence, they are the ones who are calling me! "
"Rock'n'roll is no longer at the center of society"
But we wonder (Editor's note: it was before the confinement and the virtual festival of Lady Gaga) : why do artists no longer launch charity concerts? "First of all, what we do is not charity, it is politics," he replies. Live Aid is no longer possible because the world has changed. From Elvis Presley to the year 2000, rock'n'roll was at the center of society, but it's over. It is no longer through him that the message gets through. And music has less value, it has become free. "
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And to clarify: "I am not saying that the music is worse, just that it no longer has the same need," continues Bob Geldof. Billie Eilisha made a great album, Ed Sheeran is a great songwriter, but it's not enough for me. Me, I always want to say fuck off (Editor's note: go ch ...) to some. That's why I reformed the Boomtown Rats. We are in a period of confusion and chaos. And who will set this noise to music, who will sing the blues of today, if old folks like us don't? "
EDITOR'S NOTE: 3.5 / 5
"Citizens of Boomtown", The Boomtown Rats, BMG.