BBC The One Show’s Roman Kemp brands dad Martin an ‘idiot’ after Live Aid blunder

Roman Kemp has revealed that his dad, Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp, made a huge mistake during the band’s set at Live Aid in 1985 – and it’s something he’s never forgotten

Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet with his girlfriend Shirlie Holliman(Image: Getty Images)

July 1985 witnessed one of the most monumental rock concerts in history, as some of the era’s biggest stars graced stages in London and Philadelphia to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

Among the performers in the Live Aid line-up at Wembley Stadium was Spandau Ballet.

Now BBC’s The One Show presenter Roman Kemp, son of Spandau bassist Martin Kemp, has branded his father an “idiot” following a significant blunder during the star-studded event.

Spandau occupied sixth position on a bill featuring many of the decade’s premier bands.

They opted to perform two of their recent chart-toppers, Only When You Leave and True, alongside Virgin – a track from their forthcoming album Through the Barricades, reports the Mirror.

However, the final selection proved unpopular.

Martin, Harley Moon, Shirlie and Roman Kemp(Image: (Image: Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))

During his You About? podcast, one of his four regular shows, Roman revealed to friend Tom Grennan that his father’s errors had provided valuable wisdom: “The number one thing that my dad always has the most is, ‘Enjoy the moment.'”

“Because the thing is,” Roman continued, “if you’re too focused on something else, you could do what my dad did, which was play a new song at Live Aid.

“They played a new song that no one really knew,” he explained, before labelling the group “idiots” for their poor judgment.

The 30-year-old Tom, presently celebrating his fourth album reaching No. 1 in the UK, voiced his astonishment that Martin had even featured at Live Aid.

Earlier this year, Martin made a revelation to Roman about the band’s mortifying blunder: “Tony goes up to the mic – with two billion people watching – and goes, ‘Here’s a new one.'”

Martin and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet(Image: Redferns)

“And two billion people around the world go ‘Oh b******s.’ You know when you go to see a band and they play a new song off the latest album? You don’t want to know.

“It was the worst mistake of our lives,” Martin told Roman. “It was terrible, because Virgin was a track that we’d rehearsed. It was going to be on a new album coming out.”

Spandau were, alongside Adam Ant, among the only performers to showcase fresh material that day. They committed that blunder, Martin explained, “because our egos were bigger than everyone else’s.”

He revealed that elder sibling Gary selected the track, though in a separate interview, Gary placed responsibility on band manager Steve Dagger.

Despite his regret over his own group’s showing, Martin remembered that bright Saturday in July 1985 as one of the pinnacles of his musical journey.

“Standing alongside the rest of Spandau as we watched opening act Status Quo from the wings, I was probably the happiest I had ever known my band,” Martin revealed.

Tom Grennan performs during day 1 of BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend(Image: WireImage)

He added: “We were standing on the side of the stage watching them, and it was absolutely beautiful. It’s my favourite memory of being in the band.”

Another cherished memory from that day for Martin was a fleeting respite at home with his wife Shirlie, who had just returned from an extensive tour with her band, Wham!, before making their way back to Wembley for the grand finale of the show.

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