What the papers say

The head of yesterday's march.
Photograph: Neil McIntosh
With a global audience somewhere north of 3.5 billion of the world’s population (depending who you ask), this Sunday's splashes were never in doubt since the moment Bob Geldof first announced his revival of the Live Aid concept on June 1.

“The greatest comeback gig ever seen,” declared the Sunday Times, ignoring the other papers’ predelictions for shots of Bob, Madonna or the Hyde Park crowd for a shot of a young concert-goer with her arms aloft.

For AA Gill, the paper’s chief colour writer, the music itself seemed to reflect the difference between the naive certainties of 20 years ago and the more nuanced approach of this year’s eight conscience-raising concerts: “The atmosphere ebbed and surged – a reminder that a lot of modern pop music is introverted and uncertain, frankly a bit depressed. In 20 years the huge hand-clapping anthems have changed into being quieter, finger-wagging, with more questions than answers.”