In terms of the music and concerts on show, Live Aid was better than Live 8, in quality and performances on the day. This is mainly due to the fact that the quality of acts around in 1985 were arguably better than the bands around now.
The line ups in Live Aid were more impressive than Live 8, but this time we had more concerts and more artists, therefore greater variety and a greater number of people were able to watch it this time.
In terms of U2's performance, everyone has to realise that it was 20 years ago and not many people knew about U2 as they do now, which is obvious. Live Aid for U2, was about making a great impression and in some respects, promoting themselves and their music, so I agree about the comments regarding the band being pissed off with Bono, as this could have ruined their chance to make an impression.
After making a landmark and standout performance at Live Aid, I think it was up to the new acts such as The Killers or Razorlight to come to the fore, but none came close to U2's effort in 1985. Queen was the best act in the original concerts and arguably, Madonna, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, The Who and U2 were the "Queen" acts of Live 8, as they were the standout acts this time, getting most audience interaction and reaction from the press etc.
U2's aim this time was to live up to their name and deliver a powerful message to the world, which they did through their performance and Bono's speech. The duet with Paul McCartney will be one of the most memorable moments of the day and their own set, while predictable , was perfect in my mind.
Beautiful Day was was a perfect way to start the concert and get instant reaction from the crowd. Vertigo continued that up-tempo feel to the start of the concert, with great passion and energy and to keep everyone really excited. One was a great contrast, they needed a slow song after two faster tunes. It gave Bono time for his speech and was a good chance for peope to reflect on the cause and envoke the emotion of the day. Unchained Melody was a good way to include the audience in a sing along at the end as well as continuing that emotion and Blackbird was a nice nod to Paul McCartney.
In conclusion, the setlist has all the right ingredients. It had a recent classic everyone was familiar with, a recent single that most bands would be expected to play, as there was always going to be an element of self-promotion, just like the idea behind playing Pride and Bad in 1985 and then they needed an all-time classic that had universal appeal and with great emotion.
We could argue that they could have kept up the energy by replacing Vertigo with Pride and replaced One with Streets, as there all time classic, but i think they did really well in the time they had and fulfilled the agenda this time around.
Also, did anyone else notice that, throughout the BBC's coverage, they mentioned U2 and Paul McCartney's performance more than any other act and in the press, there are more pictures/coverage and great reviews about U2 and Paul McCartney than most acts, apart from Madonna and possibly Robbie Williams. Enough said.