Self Aid

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Self Aid was a benefit concert held in Dublin, Ireland on May 17, 1986. The concert performances were primarily by Irish musicians, although Elvis Costello and Chris Rea were designated 'honorary Irishmen' for the day.

The purpose of the concert was to highlight the chronic unemployment problem in Ireland at the time, with nearly 250,000 unemployed. The 14 hour concert was the largest that had ever been staged in Ireland. All musicians that took part donated their time free of charge. All profits from the concert and subsequent album, Live for Ireland, went to the Self Aid Trust. The telethon raised millions of pounds for a job creation trust fund as well as over 1000 job pledges. For the finale a song called "Lets make it work" written by Christy Moore and a Dublin songwriter named Paul Doran was sung and lots of tributes on the day were paid to Phil Lynott who had died just 3 months earlier.

Contents

[edit] Concert lineup

The lineup included:

[edit] Live For Ireland songs

  • Maggies Farm – U2
  • Seven Into The Sea – In Tua Nua
  • Many Rivers To Cross – Elvis Costello
  • Dirty Old Town – The Pogues
  • Don't Pay The Ferryman – Chris de Burgh
  • Harry's Game – Clannad
  • The Bridge – Cactus World News
  • Looking After No. 1 – The Boomtown Rats
  • Here Comes The Knight – Van Morrison
  • Don't Believe A Word – Thin Lizzy
  • Steel River – Chris Rea
  • Make It Work – Christy Moore and Paul Doran
  • The Lark – Moving Hearts
  • The Island – Paul Brady
  • Feel It Now – The Fountainhead
  • Exiles – Auto Da Fe
  • Tell Me - Blue in Heaven

(Note: They released multiple versions of this album, with varied tracks in different formats.)

[edit] Trivia

  • The concert was The Boomtown Rats' last ever gig.
  • Thin Lizzy reformed for the gig with Bob Geldof on lead vocals due to the death of Phil Lynott.

[edit] External links

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