Live Aid Turns 40: Revisiting a Music Landmark
It’s been four decades since people around the planet stopped what they were doing and tuned in for Live Aid, the massive dual-venue concert held on July 13, 1985. When Bob Geldof and Midge Ure set out to rally the world’s biggest stars for famine relief, they managed to change not just the course of charity events, but the entire music landscape.
London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium became the stage for an unprecedented show—one that stretched across time zones and continents. Performers like Queen, U2, David Bowie, and Madonna all gave it their all. Each set became a piece of history, still talked about forty years later. But the event wasn’t just about headline acts. It was also about what it took to pull off a live broadcast on such a grand scale, and the risks that could have sent it all off the rails.
Behind the Music: Chaos, Concorde Flights, and New Faces
One story that grabs attention even now is Phil Collins taking the Concorde to perform both in London and Philadelphia. He played the drums with Led Zeppelin one hour, then crossed the Atlantic to join Eric Clapton and others live in the United States. That wild journey sums up the madness—and ambition—of the day.
Equally unforgettable were the surprise reunions. In Philadelphia, fans cheered as Black Sabbath took the stage with Ozzy Osbourne for the first time in years. Led Zeppelin’s members, missing their old drummer John Bonham, teamed up with Collins and Tony Thompson on drums—a live experiment that, while not perfect, remains legendary for just happening at all.
Not every act was rock royalty. The Hooters, a local Philadelphia band, found themselves opening the US show. Their keyboardist, Rob Hyman, admitted they owed the invite to a lucky break: while touring with Don Henley, they happened to be in the right place when the call came. Suddenly, they were in front of millions, kicking off an event that would echo across time.
The day wasn’t just a challenge for performers. Broadcast teams sweating in makeshift stations worked frantically to keep the world in sync. Radio icon Pierre Robert from Philly’s WMMR remembers the pressure of capturing every moment, especially when musical reunions threatened to spiral into chaos on live air.
Behind the scenes, celebrities like Chevy Chase and the sharp-tongued Bill Graham tried to keep the show moving, doing their best to rally the crowds and keep viewers glued to their TVs.
This week, WXPN radio is reliving those highs and lows, playing back Live Aid sets as they happened and sharing new interviews with people who were there, from musicians to broadcasters. These retrospectives are more than just nostalgia—they remind us how a chaotic day of rock and goodwill changed what people expected from benefit shows, making it a blueprint for all live mega-events to follow.
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