It was a massive concert event taking place on two continents to help with famine relief on a third. Live Aid, which raised $127 million to help people in Africa and served as a follow to the famine relief effort song We Are the World from Christmas 1984, took place 35 years ago today (7/13/85) in London and Philadelphia. Bob Geldof, the main organizer, said it probably cost him his marriage. Queen did so many amazing performances, and last year their biopic Bohemian Rhapsody closed with them at Live-Aid. Phil Collins performed in London, boarded a Concorde, and then performed the same two songs in Philadelphia - which some criticized as frivolous for a show about helping people.
Overall, over 75 acts performed. They included Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Santana, Run DMC, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, U2, the Who, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Eric Clapton. Philadelphia natives Daryl Hall & John Oates performed their songs and backup Mick Jagger for his. London's Wembley Stadium drew a crowd of 70,000; at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, over 100,000 were in attendance. Over 1.2 BILLION people watched on TV worldwide.
I remember Live-Aid not just for the amazing lineup and the music, but for me living as a teenager in Texas we literally got our cable TV installed that day, and the first time I switched on MTV I watched this: U2 performing "Bad," which got me into the band and helped cement my future career as a fair-to-middlin' disc jockey. Check out some other sweet performances below from Live-Aid, 35 years ago to this day: