Elvis Costello’s cover of a legendary song by The Beatles has been praised by fans watching his performance at Live Aid.
Costello has covered the Liverpool legends several times throughout his career, but the performance at Live Aid may be the peak of the Pump It Up hitmakers covers. The Attractions frontman would perform All You Need Is Love at the benefit concert, with a clip of the performance now available on YouTube. Costello’s work has been hailed by fans, with the bold cover of The Beatles’ work receiving unanimous praise. One person even dubbed it “the greatest” cover of The Beatles’ work by any artist, with the Live Aid show receiving plenty of praise from fans. Others believe the performance took some “brass” to do, especially with Paul McCartney on the line-up for the show.
One person wrote: “This performance of Elvis Costello gets to the point.” Another added: “Nobody had a bigger PAIR that day!!! That took STONES, A BRASS PAIR. You see that 100K-sized Crowd. To sing that, all by yourself, one song on that day. OMG!”
A third added: “I forgot what an amazing moment this was. And Costello has one of my favourite Beatles performances ever!” Others say this cover by Costello was their introduction to The Beatles’ body of work, with the band having disbanded fifteen years before Live Aid came to be.
One person wrote: “So spot on to use this song. Only a moron would not understand that it encapsulates the most important ingredient for a better world.” Another added: “When history books are Elvis will be recognised as the greatest singer-songwriter performer of all time.” A third wrote: “This is one of my favourites from Live Aid.”
Other fans wondered how Live Aid would have looked had John Lennon not died five years before, with many suggesting The Beatles would have gotten back together for the show. While speculative, some fans of The Beatles do claim the band could have gotten back together had Lennon not been shot in December 1980. The Fab Four had been offered several lucrative offers to get back together on stage, and at one point, very nearly did, but a reunion of all four members never came to be.
The closest listeners got was The Beatles: Anthology and the three songs to come from the recording sessions of the anniversary package. Comments left on a video of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr reuniting at Friar Park in 1994 had people speculate on whether the band could have gotten back together for a Live Aid performance. McCartney would play a solo slot at the charity event, his first public performance since Lennon’s death.
One person wrote: “I honestly believe that had John not been murdered, The Beatles would have reunited and played at Live Aid.” Another had hopes for such a reunion too, adding: “Could you even imagine that?! Holy shit, that would have been the moment of the millennium!”
A third fan cited the Imagine documentary released shortly after Lennon’s death and wrote: “John says he never ruled out any future collaboration long before Live Aid was even an idea. Whether the band would have actually played Live Aid is impossible to tell, though they were given a handful of offers to get back together.
You can watch Elvis Costello cover The Beatles’ All You Need is Love below.
