The Oldie

All the world's a stage

By Marc Myers

Grove Press £20

The key thing about Live Aid, the event in 1985 that provides the full stop on this history of the early days of the live presentation of pop music, was it was a day when the sun shone.

The members of the TV audience, most of whom had never experienced the uncertainties of music in the open air, were suddenly attracted by the idea of it. Any lingering notion that the rock concert represented

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