What Was Live Aid?
Do you remember Live Aid? Were you there? What inspired this benefit concert?
Let's dip in and answer those questions, other questions, find out the back story, who played, the charity. Basically a whole bunch of stuff about Live Aid.
Before Live Aid
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure initially collaborated on a charity single aimed at raising money for the Ethiopian Famine crisis. The song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was written by Bob and Midge as a response to a series of television reports of the famine in Ethiopia by Michael Buerk. The single was released on the 3rd December 1984 performed by Band Aid, a group consisting of some of the biggest music artists in Britain and Ireland.
The super group USA for Africa followed on 8th March 1985 with ‘We Are the World’ a charity single made up of some of the biggest American artists written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
The Global Jukebox
Following the success of the single, a concert was planned for 13th July 1985. Live Aid was staged with the help of Harvey Goldsmith in the UK and Bill Graham in the USA. The concert was held at Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.
Live Aid started in the UK at 12pm (BST) and finished at 22:00 (BST) at Wembley Stadium in London. the Philadelphia leg was held at John F Kennedy Stadium and began at 13:51pm (BST) finishing at 04:05 (BST). The two concerts were simultaneous and in combination ran for over 16 hours.
The concerts were broadcast worldwide and an estimated audience of around 1.9 billion people watched. There were 72,000 people watching live at Wembley Stadium and over 89,000 at John F. Kennedy Stadium. It is estimated that about £150 million was raised in total.
Who performed at Live Aid in Wembley Stadium?
Artists that performed at Wembley included Queen, Elton John, U2, Phil Collins, David Bowie, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, Paul Young, The Who, Cliff Richard, Status Quo and Dire Straits.
Some Notable performances from Wembley included:
-U2’s 14 version of ‘Bad’ which had Bono jumping off the stage to join the audience
-Phil Collins performed a set in the UK then flew via Concorde and helicopter to Philadelphia where he performed with Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin.
-Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’ with Sting
-Elvis Costello asking for help to sing an old northern English folk song which was ‘All You Need Is Love’
-The Who performing 'Won't Get Fooled Again'
-Elton John’s 32 minute set including a duet with George Michael ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’.
-Paul McCartney singing 'Let it Be' with Alison Moyet, David Bowie, Pete Townshend and Bob Geldof
-Finale of the concert a group performance of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'
Who performed at Live Aid in John F. Kennedy Stadium?
In Philadelphia artists like Madonna, Bob Dylan, Judas Priest, Run DMC, Pretenders, Simple Minds, The Beach Boys, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Thompson Twins, Bryan Adams and Tina Turner.
Some notable performances included:
-Bob Dylan
breaking a guitar string while playing with the Rolling Stones
-Black Sabbath performing 'Paranoid' with Ozzy Osbourne
-Simple Minds playing 'Don't You (Forget About Me)'
-Mick Jagger and Tina Turner’s duet of ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’
-The Thompson Twins Thompson playing 'Revolution' with Steve Stevens, Nile Rodgers and Madonna
-Kenny Loggins performance of 'Footlose'
-Duran Duran’s set of four songs including a memorable version of ‘A View to a Kill’
-The energetic performance of 'Get Ready (Cos Here I Come) by Hall & Oates, Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin
-Phil Collins 17 minute set with Eric Clapton and a solo piano version of his hit ‘In The Air Tonight’.
-The finale of 'We Are The World'
Were you at Live Aid?
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