On 25 November 1984, 36 British recording artists gathered at a studio in Notting Hill, London, to donate their time and talent to a song written by Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure (Ultravox) to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The single went straight to #1 in the UK and became the biggest-selling single of all time. Meanwhile, the single was certified gold in the US, where it inspired a similar fund-raising recording, We Are The World, by a consortium of entertainers calling themselves USA For Africa.
In March 1985, as Bob Geldof and Midge Ure accepted their Novello Award for Do They Know It’s Christmas?, the first shipment of food and medicine paid for by Band Aid arrived in Ethiopia.
In total, Band Aid had raised £8 million for the famine relief program. Inspired by the British effort, USA For Africa and Canada’s Northern Lights added more to the pile. But Geldof wanted more.
On 13 July, at one minute past noon, the biggest pop event ever staged over a one-day period kicked off with a set by Status Quo at Wembley Stadium in London. Wembley linked up successfully at 5:00 pm with the John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, and the two arenas became the most famous venues on the face of the planet.
61 of rock’s biggest acts performed in those two giant outdoor stadiums for sixteen hours in front of a live audience of 162,000 (90,000 in Philadelphia and 72,000 in London) and broadcast to an estimated 1.9 billion TV viewers in 150 countries across the world.
Only the most popular and populist acts were invited to appear so that more people would watch and pledge money. And so there was no place on the bill for cult bands such as New Order, The Smiths, or Julian Cope.
The Kinks offered to play but were deemed “not famous enough”, while Stevie Wonder refused to play, believing there weren’t enough African-American artists on the bill and saying, “I am not going to be the token black on the show”.
But there was room for Paul Young, Elton John and (after much coaxing) Queen. The Who, very grudgingly, re-formed, so too did Led Zeppelin, who split up five years earlier after the death of drummer John Bonham. Paul McCartney made his first public appearance in over six years.
David Bowie, a young Madonna, the Thompson Twins, and a palpably confused Bob Dylan (who wanted – inappropriately – to highlight the plight of American farmers more than he did that of Africa) all joined in.
With a little assistance from Concorde, Phil Collins played at both Wembley and Philadelphia, and Status Quo, who had recently split up, got back together and opened the event, kicking off with Rockin’ All Over The World.
It wasn’t until 5:00 pm UK time (midday in Philadelphia) that the first footage came through from JFK, featuring Canadian rocker Bryan Adams.
Throughout the day, interspersed with live footage from Wembley and JFK were clips from the various ‘little’ Live Aids that were happening (or had happened) around the world.
These were, it has to be said, a mixed bunch.
Sandwiched between Adam Ant and Ultravox at lunchtime was footage from the ‘Oz For Africa’ gig at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and a first chance for many UK viewers to glimpse INXS.
Later, there was a 10-minute excerpt from the Japanese Live Aid, as well as ‘Austria Für Afrika’ (with moustaches, mullets, and headbands filling the screens).
Yugoslavia’s contribution was Za Milion Godina (For A Million Years), Stavanger For Africa from Norway, and the German version of Band Aid singing Nackt Im Wind (‘Naked In The Wind’).
Most interesting of all, there was a contribution from the Soviet Union, then in the very early days of glasnost. But UK viewers only saw the second of the AOR band Autograph’s two numbers. Due to a tape error in Moscow, the satellite feed contained over two minutes of what appeared to be a documentary about the Russian cherry harvest . . .
Each act was given exactly 15 minutes to perform. Everyone left their ego at the dressing room door and threw themselves into the spirit of the event, while Geldof harangued viewers into getting off their butts and phoning in with promises of cash – inadvertently dropping the F-bomb on live TV.
In the US, the phone system briefly broke down when 700,000 calls hit the pledge line at once. By the day’s midpoint, more than $20 million had been pledged by phone.
To be under Wembley’s blue skies that day, you felt overwhelmed, empowered and humbled by waves of colliding emotions – rage and sadness for the pitiful victims of the Ethiopian famine alternating with enormous pride and excitement at the sight of rock’s biggest names seizing the initiative, doing what their governments singularly failed to do.
Memories flood back of the helicopters flying in and out with their famous passengers, the first lump-in-the-throat glimpse of the Live Aid logo standing tall on either side of the stage, the deafening cheers as Concorde roared overhead carrying Phil Collins to his second performance of the day in Philadelphia, and the heart-stopping finale with Geldof held aloft by Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend before the mass singalong of Do They Know It’s Christmas (Feed The World).
Live Aid set a lead that others quickly followed (including Comic Relief, Artists Against Apartheid, Sports Aid and Farm Aid). And the man who started the whole charity thing off was dubbed Sir Bob Geldof, Knight of the British Empire, in the Queen’s Birthday honours list in June 1986.
In 1992, having raised a total of $144,124,694, the original Band Aid Trust was closed down, and Geldof issued a statement which read, in part;
“It seems so long ago that we asked for your help. Seven years . . . you can count them now in trees and dams and fields and cows and camels and trucks and schools and health clinics, medicines, tents, blankets, clothes, toys, ships, planes, tools, wheat, sorghum, beans, research grants, workshops . . .
I once said that we would be more powerful in memory than in reality. Now we are that memory”.
The line-up
12:00 – Status Quo (Wembley) – The Quo kick off the Wembley show with the very apt Rockin’ All Over The World.
12:19 – The Style Council (Wembley) – The sun is shining, the crowd is roaring, but Paul Weller still isn’t smiling.
12:44 – Boomtown Rats (Wembley) – “This is the best day of my life,” yells Bob Geldof, who has to cope with a dodgy microphone.
13:00 – Adam Ant (Wembley) – “The world is watching. Let’s feed it,” is Adam’s heartfelt plea before he leaps around the stage.
13:16 – Ultravox (Wembley) – Band Aid co-writer Midge Ure gets his moment in the sun in some seriously large sunglasses.
13:47 – Spandau Ballet (Wembley) – Gary Kemp falls over, but singer Tony Hadley keeps his cool in the sweltering heat.
14:02 – Joan Baez (JFK) – The Philadelphia show is launched by the folk singer, renowned for her role as a civil rights activist.
14:07 – Elvis Costello (Wembley) – Costello leads a rousing singalong of The Beatles‘ classic All You Need Is Love.
14:10 – The Hooters (JFK) – No, we’d never heard of them either, but Live Aid gave them worldwide recognition.
14:22 – Nik Kershaw (Wembley) – The sun didn’t go down on Nik, but he must have got his hairstyle tips from A Flock of Seagulls.
14:32 – The Four Tops (JFK) – The legendary soul men had Philadelphia dancing with three of their many classics.
14:35 – Billy Ocean (JFK) – A perspiring Billy is obviously shocked at the sight of more than 90,000 people in a stadium.
14:52 – Black Sabbath (JFK) – The Prince of Darkness behaves himself and resists the temptation to feast on bats.
14:55 – Sade (Wembley) – The crooner of sophisticated ballads is knocked off her stride as she’s upstaged by a streaker.
15:12 – Run DMC (JKF) – The sole hip-hop act of the day. The masters do their stuff and get the American show into full swing.
15:18 – Sting & Phil Collins (Wembley) – Phil joins his pal before jetting off on Concorde to perform across the Atlantic.
15:27 – Rick Springfield (JFK) – Rick shows great modesty by declaring, “you can change the world with music”.
15:47 – REO Speedwagon (JFK) – Non-metal fans reach for the earplugs. Maybe some of the metal fans did too.
15:50 – Howard Jones (Wembley) – Another one having a bad hair day. Time perhaps to join the toilet queue.
16:07 – Bryan Ferry (Wembley) – Four hours into the show, and Ferry’s energetic set livens everyone up.
16:07 – Crosby, Stills & Nash (JFK) – . . . while across the pond, something a lot more mellow is on offer.
16:26 – Judas Priest (JFK) – Now for something completely different. Rob Halford and co getting very sweaty in leathers.
16:38 – Paul Young & Alison Moyet (Wembley) – Young does a solo number before being joined by the former Yazoo songstress.
17:02 – Bryan Adams (JFK) – Wembley links up to Philadelphia as the Canadian rocker struts his stuff during a 16-minute set.
17:20 – U2 (Wembley) – Bono gets jiggy with a girl from the crowd, causing U2 to have to drop a song from their allocated set.
17:40 – The Beach Boys (JFK) – The legends give everybody “Good Vibrations” and have everyone smiling.
18:00 – Dire Straits (Wembley) – Sting‘s back again, but it’s money for nothing and headbands for free.
00:21 – Thompson Twins (JFK) – Madonna gives the Twins some much-needed support as a backing singer.
00:39 – Eric Clapton (JFK) – one of the line-up’s elder statesmen shows the youngsters how it should be done.
01:04 – Phil Collins (JFK) – He’s made it. The continent-hopper kicks off his second stint of the day after arriving in the US on Concorde.
01:13 – Led Zeppelin (JFK) – Collins stays on stage to help out rock legends Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. But they are under-rehearsed and unfocused, Page is out of tune, and Plant’s voice is shot.
01:47 – Duran Duran (JFK) – Yes, these guys were once big in the USA. Le Bon could even get away with wearing a tennis headband.
02:15 – Patti LaBelle (JFK) – Hey sister, go sister! Patti opts for a low-key stage outfit and whips the crowd into a frenzy.
02:50 – Hall & Oates (JFK) – Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin from The Temptations join the blue-eyed soulsters for their set.
03:15 – Mick Jagger & Tina Turner (JFK) – The big-lipped duo almost manage to swallow the poor audience.
Many of the acts appearing in Philadelphia (Joan Baez, The Hooters, The Four Tops, Billy Ocean, Black Sabbath, Run DMC, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Judas Priest) were not seen live in the UK.
Memories flood back of the helicopters flying in and out with their famous passengers, the first lump-in-the-throat glimpse of the Live Aid logo standing tall on either side of the stage, the deafening cheers as Concorde roared overhead carrying Phil Collins to his second performance of the day in Philadelphia, and the heart-stopping finale with Geldof held aloft by Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend before the mass singalong of Do They Know It’s Christmas (Feed The World).
