Self Aid | |
---|---|
Genre | Pop music Rock music Traditional Irish music |
Dates | 17 May 1986 |
Location(s) | RDS Arena in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland |
Years active | 1986 |
Founders | Tony Bolland Niall Matthews |
Self Aid was an unemployment benefit concert held in Dublin, Ireland on 17 May 1986. [1] [2] The concert performances were primarily by Irish musicians, although Elvis Costello and Chris Rea, both Englishmen of Irish descent, were designated "honorary Irishmen" for the day; the event was promoted by Jim Aiken. [3] The concert included the last performance by The Boomtown Rats until they reformed in 2013. [4]
The purpose of the concert was to highlight the chronic unemployment problem in Ireland at the time, with nearly 250,000 people unemployed. The 14-hour concert was the largest that had ever been staged in Ireland. [3] All musicians that took part donated their time free of charge. [2] 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. [1] The song chosen for the finale was "Let's Make it Work", written by Christy Moore and Dublin songwriter Paul Doran. [2] Tributes were paid to Phil Lynott who had died just 4 months earlier, including a performance by a reformed Thin Lizzy with Gary Moore on lead vocals. [5]
The concept of the concert — job creation through pledges — attracted criticism both at the time and subsequently, with critics claiming that no jobs had actually arisen as a result other than vacancies that already existed. [1]
The line-up included:
Note: There have been multiple versions of this album, with varying tracks, in different formats and across different territories
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