Music concerts and documentaries

[OceanBlue]

Too many to mention here, but BBC Four and Sky Arts have been showing various music concerts and documentaries recently. Premiering on Sky Arts this coming Saturday night (30th November) is new feature-length documentary The Yardbirds, airing at 9 pm - 10.30 pm.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 30th November to Friday 6th December, 2024).

[OceanBlue]

Premiering on Sky Documentaries next Monday (9th December) is new feature-length music documentary Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, airing at 2 am - 4 am (repeated later at 9 pm - 11 pm).

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 7th to Friday 13th December, 2024).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two next Saturday night (14th December) is a night of Wham! and George Michael programming:

8.35 pm - 9.35 pm: Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped (new documentary)
9.35 pm - 10.35 pm: Wham! at the BBC (compilation of performances by Wham! on the BBC)
10.35 pm - 0.05 am: George Michael at the BBC (a collection of George Michael solo performances and Wham! classics).

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 14th to Friday 20th December, 2024).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Four a week on Friday (24th January) is a night of programming about musician Neil Diamond:

9.45 pm - 10.25 pm: Neil Diamond: In Concert
10.25 pm - 11.25 pm: Neil Diamond at the BBC (compilation of performances for the BBC)
11.25 pm - 0.25 am: Solitary Man: Neil Diamond (documentary)
0.25 am - 1.30 am: Neil Diamond: Electric Prom.

Source: TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 18th to Friday 24th January, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Premiering on Sky Documentaries next Sunday morning (2nd February) at 2 am - 3 am is the first part of a new three-part documentary called Boyzone: No Matter What. It will be repeated later at 9 pm - 10 pm on Sky Documentaries and Sky Showcase.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 1st to Friday 7th February, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Four next Sunday night (9th February):

9 pm - 9.45 pm: An Evening with Nat King Cole ("a 1963 made-for-television special"), repeated later at 0.40 am - 1.30 am
9.45 pm - 10.45 pm: Johnny Mathis: Tribute to Nat King Cole (repeated later at 1.30 am - 2.25 am)
10.45 pm - 11.40 pm: Natalie Cole in Concert
11.40 pm - 0.40 am: Wynton Marsalis Plays Blue Note: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 8th to Friday 14th February, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two next Saturday (1st March) is a night of programming about singer Elkie Brooks to mark their eightieth birthday:

8.30 pm - 9.35 pm: Elkie Brooks at the BBC (new compilation programme)
9.35 pm - 10.35 pm: Elkie Brooks: Sight and Sound in Concert (a performance from 1977, introduced by Annie Nightingale)
10.35 pm - 11.15 pm: Elkie Brooks: In Concert (Part 1), a 1987 concert
11.15 pm - 11.55 pm: Elkie Brooks: In Concert (Part 2), a 1987 concert.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 1st to Friday 7th March, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Premiering between Saturday 12th and Friday 18th April:

Saturday 12th April:

- new feature-length documentary Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive, premiering on Sky Arts at 10.30 pm - 0.45 am

Wednesday 16th April:

- new feature-length documentary Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story, premiering on Sky Arts at 2 am - 3.50 am (repeated later at 9 pm - 10.50 pm).

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 12th to Friday 18th April, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing this coming Saturday (12th April) on BBC Two is a night of programming about or related to Simon & Garfunkel:

8.25 pm - 9.15 pm: Simply Simon (a TV special from the mid-seventies)
9.15 pm - 10.30 pm: Simon & Garfunkel: The Harmony Game (the duo talk about album Bridge Over Troubled Water)
10.30 pm - 11.55 pm: Simon & Garfunkel: Concert in Central Park (the duo's 1981 reunion concert in New York City)
11.55 pm - 1.40 am: late-sixties comedy drama film The Graduate.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 12th to Friday 18th April, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing this coming Saturday (19th April) on BBC Two is a night of programming about Paul Simon:

8.35 pm - 9.35 pm: Omnibus: Paul Simon (an edition of the documentary series)
9.35 pm - 11.55 pm: Paul Simon: Live in Central Park (a New York City concert from the early-nineties)
11.55 pm - 1.45 am: Paul Simon: Under African Skies (a reunion concert in South Africa celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the singer-songwriter's album Graceland).

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 19th to Friday 25th April, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two this coming Saturday (10th May) is a night of music-themed programming about the late-eighties:

8.35 pm - 10.05 pm: 30 Hits of 1988 at the BBC (new compilation programme)
10.05 pm - 11.50 pm: new feature-length documentary Milli Vanilli
11.50 pm - 0.50 am: Top of the Pops 1988: Big Hits
0.50 am - 1.50 am: Top of the Pops: The Story of 1988 documentary.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 10th to Friday 16th May, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two this coming Saturday (31st May) is a night of programming about Bruce Springsteen:

8.30 pm - 9.30 pm: Bruce Springsteen at the BBC (new compilation programme)
9.30 pm - 10.35 pm: When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain (new documentary)
10.35 pm - 0.45 am: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon 1975 (their first European concert)
0.45 am - 1.45 am: Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History (repeat airing of a documentary)
1.45 am - 3.35 am: film Blinded by the Light.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 31st May to Friday 6th June, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

I assume that this has aired before on the BBC, but it's the first time I've seen it in the television listings and it hasn't been posted about in this thread before, so I thought it was worth posting about: airing on BBC Four next Sunday night is three-part music documentary They All Came Out to Montreux:

Sunday 8th June:

11.50 pm - 0.45 am: Part One

Monday 9th June:

0.45 am - 1.35 am: Part Two

1.35 am - 2.25 am: Part Three.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 7th to Friday 13th June, 2025).

Comment: Video clips from the Montreux Festival have been shown in some of the eighties editions of Top of the Pops that BBC Four have repeated.

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two this coming Saturday (7th June) is a night of programming about musician Billy Joel:

8.40 pm - 9.55 pm: Billy Joel at the BBC (a new compilation programme)
9.55 pm - 11.55 pm: Billy Joel: The 100th at Madison Square Garden (concert)
11.55 pm - 0.45 am: Billy Joel: Old Grey Whistle Test.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 7th to Friday 13th June, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Airing on BBC Two next Saturday (5th July) is a night of programming about musician Jeff Lynne and band Electric Light Orchestra:

8.05 pm - 9.05 pm: ELO at the BBC (new compilation programme)
9.05 pm - 10.05 pm: Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne and ELO (documentary)
10.05 pm - 11 pm: Jeff Lynne's ELO: Radio 2 in Concert
11 pm - 0.25 am: Jeff Lynne's ELO at Hyde Park (concert).

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 5th to Friday 11th July, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Premiering on BBC Two next Sunday night (6th July) at 9 pm - 11 pm are the first two parts of a new three-part documentary about Live Aid (to help celebrate the fortieth anniversary) called Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 5th to Friday 11th July, 2025).

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Premiering on BBC Two next Sunday night (6th July) at 9 pm - 11 pm are the first two parts of a new three-part documentary about Live Aid (to help celebrate the fortieth anniversary) called Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 5th to Friday 11th July, 2025).

Don't know the full details until I check the listings later and have the next issue of the TV listings magazine next week, but there isn't just the new three-part documentary on UK TV celebrating the 40th anniversary of Live Aid.

Airing on BBC Two next Saturday late-afternoon/early-evening is:

Live Aid at 40: The Concert - Part 1, airing at 6 pm - 9.25 pm
Live Aid at 40: The Concert - Part 2, airing at 9.25 pm - 1.05 am.

Going back to the documentary, it'll be interesting to see if they also cover the US's equivalent of the UK's Band Aid single (We Are the World by USA for Africa). In addition, I've read on the web that some artists who sang on We Are the World didn't perform at the Live Aid concerts for various reasons (Bruce Springsteen's because he had been on a tour prior to Live Aid).

I knew years ago that some of the performances didn't go as planned (Simon de Bon apparently yelped during singing a high note when singing A View to a Kill and Spandau Ballet and Adam Ant decided instead to sing recent songs rather than some of their greatest hits (Adam Ant wasn't doing as well in the UK music singles charts by that point in the eighties, and Spandau Ballet I don't think had a new single out in 1985).

I knew that Phil Collins performed at both the Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium concerts, but I didn't know until more recently that Led Zeppelin's set didn't go as planned and apparently Collins was blamed for it (I'm not a fan of Phil Collins but I like a lot of their music work (including with Genesis), loved the film Buster, and I thought it was great that he performed on both sides of the Atlantic at Live Aid).

Also didn't know that Bryan Ferry had to perform with two microphones during his set.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Premiering on BBC Two next Sunday night (6th July) at 9 pm - 11 pm are the first two parts of a new three-part documentary about the Live Aid concerts (I assume to help celebrate the fortieth anniversary) called Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World.

Source: Sky TV listings and TV & Satellite Week (Saturday 5th to Friday 11th July, 2025).

The concluding part of Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World premieres on BBC Two next Sunday night (13th July) at 9 pm - 10 pm.

Source: Sky TV listings

[lesco]

I saw LIVE AID when it broadcast and watched the whole thing. Funnily enough, the only vivid recollections of it that I have are from the UK side. I don't have any memory of any performer or event from the US side. Being a Queen fan I was happy to see them do what seemed like more songs than anyone else. Being a Beatles/Wings fan I was annoyed to wait until the very end of the UK set for Paul McCartney, who did only one song with a microphone that wasn't working.

Also remember that while it was broadcasting there was a rumour that Cat Stevens might show up out of self-imposed musical exile. Maybe that was wishful thinking by someone who thought "Where do the Children Play?" would be a good performance piece for the concert.

[OceanBlue]

Watched the first two parts over the last two nights. The USA for Africa charity single only got about ten minutes at the end of part 1, and of the surviving music artists only one was interviewed (Lionel Richie) and that was an archive interview. One of the parts I was most interested in hearing about was why some artists didn't take part in the concerts (Imagination were mentioned, but by that point in the eighties they weren't having any hits in the UK charts).

I have read from a Wish Lists thread on here and the Wikipedia page for the Live Aid concerts that a lot of the footage no longer exists (a reason given being music clearance issues). We got very brief glimpses of some of the performances. Footage of Patti LaBelle, Madonna and Phil Collins at the Philadelphia concert was shown.

Spotted from footage behind-the-scenes at the London concert four Top of the Pops presenters (Richard Skinner (did they do the voiceover when the London concert started? It sounded like them), Tommy Vance (introducing the acts), Mike Smith and Janice Long (Sir Lenny Henry was shown in one clip with Janice Long). Gary Davies was seen briefly at his radio show. The brief clips of Mike Smith were very interesting, considering his editions of TOTP are skipped by BBC Four.

I saw some of the London concert on television (very little of it I remember though) and none of the Philadelphia concert.