50 Years Ago + A Day: Live Aid Concerts 7/13/85
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Some Facts Via Wiki....
The concert began at noon British Summer Time at Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom. It continued at John F. Kennedy Stadium (JFK, later demolished in 1992) in the United States, starting at 8:51 EDT. The UK's Wembley performances ended at 22:00 BST. The JFK performances and the whole concert in the US ended at 23:05 EDT. Thus, the concert continued for just over 16 hours, but since many artists' performances were conducted simultaneously in Wembley and JFK, the total concert length was just over 24 hours.
Actor Jack Nicholson hosted the televised portion of the Philadelphia concert.
The JFK portion included reunions of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the original Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne, the Beach Boys with Brian Wilson, and surviving members of Led Zeppelin.
Teddy Pendergrass made his first public appearance since his near-fatal car accident in 1982, which paralyzed him. Pendergrass, alongside Ashford & Simpson, performed "Reach Out and Touch"
Bob Dylan's performance generated controversy. Prior to performing "When the Ship Comes In," he said: "I hope that some of the money that's raised for the people in Africa, maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe one or two million, maybe, and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks." Although Dylan's comments were criticized, his remark inspired fellow musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp to organize the Farm Aid charity, which held its first concert in September 1985.
Geldof was not happy about the Hooters being added as the opening band in Philadelphia. He felt pressured into it by Bill Graham.
Led Zeppelin reunion: The performance was criticized for Plant's hoarse vocals, Jimmy Page's intoxication and out-of-tune Gibson Les Paul guitar (his Gibson EDS-1275 guitar was in tune), a lack of rehearsal, and poorly functioning monitors. Plant described the performance as "a fucking atrocity for us ... It made us look like loonies." Page later criticized Collins' performance, saying: "Robert told me Phil Collins wanted to play with us. I told him that was all right if he knows the numbers. But at the end of the day, he didn't know anything. We played 'Whole Lotta Love', and he was just there bashing away cluelessly and grinning. I thought that was really a joke." Led Zeppelin has blocked broadcasts of the performance and withheld permission for it to be included on the DVD release
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40 Years Ago For Those Who
40 Years Ago For Those Who Know Math....
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Led Zeppelin's complete set,
Led Zeppelin's complete set, mtv broadcast:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TudbbVdz8os&pp=ygUVTGVkIHplcHBlbGluIGxpdmU...
Not their greatest. Jimmy Page looks wasted and one of his guitars is out of tune. They barely show John Paul Jones. Why is Phil Collins there? He looks like he doesn't know the songs. Tony Thompson was solid and knew the material, so Collins is unnecessary. Robert Plant sounded pretty good. Not the complete trainwreck I remembered. It was still Led Zeppelin.
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It was a long and emotionally
It was a long and emotionally exciting day on TV. I don't remember much of the music, the excitement came from so many people being involved, and the idea that people around the world were going tied together.
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Interview with Bob Geldof
Interview with Bob Geldof (gift link):
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/arts/music/live-aid-bob-geldof-annive...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Lance minimum goad Newberry
>>>It was still Led Zeppelin<
>>>It was still Led Zeppelin<<<
If John Bonham wasn't playing, it wasn't Led Zeppelin.
>>>Why is Phil Collins there<<<
At that time he was probably the biggest act in the world, so along with a commensurate ego he got to do pretty much whatever he wanted, including playing at both the UK and US shows on the same day and sitting in with the reunion of the Zeppelin guys.
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>>It was a long and
>>It was a long and emotionally exciting day on TV
I was in an immersive summer language program at Middlebury College that summer pretty much cut off from the world. The program was coming to an end and I went out to eat lunch at a local restaurants. Live Aid was on the TV and I was completely confused about what the hell concert this was as one major act after another came on stage.
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I was there @ JFK....just
I was there @ JFK....just amazing for this country bumpkin...lol !
I attended many JFK shows, got really lost finding my car...around n around n around... :)
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Another thing that pissed
Another thing that pissed Page off was just before Zeppelin hit the stage Phil Collins' label displayed a promo for his latest album (No Jacket Required) on the tv broadcasts and possibly the screens in the stadium. Along with his unrehearsed playing, Page accused Collins of using Live Aid and the Zeppelin reunion for his own attention-getting means.
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The CNN special the other
The CNN special the other night was OK. It's a series running on Sunday nights. Hour-long shows. The first covered mainly the "Do They Know It's Christmastime" recording. Will lead into Live Aid.
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Was it limited to bands on
35 pages of parsing of Led Zeppelin's Live Aid set:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-went-wrong-with-led-zeppelin...
Was it limited to bands on Atlantic records and their subsidiaries?
Some big '80s acts were m.i.a. Prince (Warner Bros.), Springsteen (Columbia), Madonna and Talking Heads (Sire), and R.E,M. (still on the independent I.R,S, at that time), and The Replacements (on Twin/Tone) were absent. The Grateful Dead hadn't had their Touch Of Grey success yet, but charitable events like this were in their wheelhouse, but they're absent, just like their Arista label-mates the Kinks.
It was still an impressive line-up, but there are some glaring omissions.
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The Pretenders were on Sire,
The Pretenders were on Sire, so It wasn't just Atlantic label groups after all, just some big names who didn't participate.
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^^The Pretenders did a short
^^The Pretenders did a short unscheduled warm up set Friday night at a small club (700 Capacity) called the Chestnut Cabaret about 15 minutes from JFK. A friend was there for Happy Hour and saw them by chance.^^
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Setlist is twice as long as
Setlist is more than twice as long as the Live Aid set. From Setlist FM... 7/12/95
Time the Avenger Message of Love Stop Your Sobbing Back on the Chain Gang Middle of the Road My City Was Gone Talk of the Town Mystery Achievement Brass in Pocket Up the Neck Precious
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^^^some big '80s acts were m
^^^some big '80s acts were m.i.a. Prince (Warner Bros.), Springsteen (Columbia), Madonna and Talking Heads (Sire), and R.E,M. (still on the independent I.R,S, at that time), and The Replacements (on Twin/Tone) were absent.^^^
Madonna was totally there and arguably at the height of her popularity at the time!
Holiday, Celebrate:
https://youtu.be/7jC9SWuKHpc?si=W7O2LL_rhtngV_QH
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IWT, Age 25. So hot they used
IWT, Age 25. So hot they used fire hoses to cool down the crowd...