SELF AID

'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 concert was The Boomtown Rats last ever gig.
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. Tributes were paid to Phil Lynott who had died just 3 months earlier, including a performance by a reformed Thin Lizzy with Bob Geldof on lead vocals.

Contents

Concert lineup

Live For Ireland songs

External links

Concert lineup

The lineup included:

★ Auto Da Fe

★ Bagatelle

★ Big Self

★ Blue in Heaven

★ The Boomtown Rats

★ Brush Sheils

★ Paul Brady

★ Cactus World News

★ The Chieftains

★ Clannad

★ Chris de Burgh

★ Chris Rea

★ Christy Moore

★ De Danann

★ Freddie White

★ The Fountainhead

★ In Tua Nua

★ Les Enfants

★ Light A Big Fire

★ Moving Hearts

★ The Pogues

★ Rory Gallagher

★ Scullion

★ Stocktons Wing

★ Thin Lizzy

★ Those Nervous Animals

★ U2

★ Van Morrison

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.)

External links

★ "Self Aid: 20 Years on" article from CLUAS, the Irish indie music website

★ LightABigFire.com