Billy Joel 1985 Interview part 2 of 2, archived from the original on 10 September 2019 , retrieved 4 October 2019 Roger Waters (right) rejoined his former bandmates Pink Floyd at Live 8 in Hyde Park, London on 2 July 2005 a b Edwards, Gavin (10 July 2014). "U2's 'Bad' Break: 12 Minutes at Live Aid That Made the Band's Career". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 13 July 2020.

Phil Collins, who had performed in London earlier in the day, began his solo set with the quip, "I was in England this afternoon. Funny old world, innit?" to cheers from the Philadelphia crowd. [25] Collins played drums during Eric Clapton's 17 minute set, which included well received performances of " Layla" and " White Room". [60] Fundraising [ edit ]The concert was the most ambitious international satellite television venture that had ever been attempted at the time. Live Aid was a dual-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the “global jukebox”, the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (attended by about 100,000 people). Published in 2004 on 4 DVD9. French video certifications – COMPILATION – LIVE 8" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Sherwood, Harriet; Arts, Harriet Sherwood; correspondent, culture (2 October 2023). "Bob Geldof gives nod of approval to the Old Vic's Live Aid musical". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 October 2023.

The transatlantic broadcast from Wembley suffered technical problems and failed during the Who's performance of their opening song " My Generation", immediately after Roger Daltrey sang "Why don't you all fade ..." (the last word "away" was cut off when a blown fuse caused the Wembley stage TV feed to temporarily fail). [3] The broadcast returned as the last verse of " Pinball Wizard" was played. John Entwistle's bass wouldn't work at the start, causing an awkward delay of over a minute before they could start playing. The band played with Kenney Jones on drums and it was their first performance since disbanding after a 1982 'farewell' tour. The Who's performance was described as "rough but right" by Rolling Stone, but they would not perform together again for another three years. [45] At 32 minutes Elton John had the longest set on the day; [46] his setlist included the first performance of " Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with George Michael. [47] Dye, Josh (16 February 2020). "Queen reprises famous 1985 Live Aid set at Fire Fight Australia concert". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 17 February 2020. Since the official DVD release of Live Aid includes only partial footage of this event, unofficial distribution sources continue to be the only source of the most complete recordings of this event. The official DVD is the only authorised video release in which proceeds go directly to famine relief, the cause that the concert was originally intended to help. During his opening number, " American Girl", Tom Petty flipped the middle finger to somebody off stage about one minute into the song. Petty stated the song was a last-minute addition when the band realised that they would be the first act to play the American side of the concert after the London finale and "since this is, after all, JFK Stadium". [55] Queen's performance at Live Aid was later recreated in the band's biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018. [131] Footage from the original performance can be seen to match very accurately with the movie performance. [131] In 2020, Queen + Adam Lambert reprised the original Queen setlist from Live Aid for the Fire Fight Australia charity concert in Sydney, Australia. [132]

Marillion, riding high in the UK charts that summer with their Misplaced Childhood album and " Kayleigh" single, missed out on an invitation to perform at Wembley because their manager had deemed it not worthwhile for singer Fish to participate in the "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single. Fish was quoted: "When it came to the bill for the concert we were passed over." [97] Rieff, David (24 June 2005). "Did Live Aid do more harm than good?". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 6 March 2011.

Bob Geldof performed with the rest of the Boomtown Rats, singing " I Don't Like Mondays". He stopped just after the line "The lesson today is how to die" to loud applause. [3] [19] According to Gary Kemp, "Dare I say it, it was evangelical, that moment when Geldof stopped 'I Don't Like Mondays' and raised his fist in the air. He was a sort of statesman. A link between punk and the New Romantics and the Eighties. You would follow him. He just has a huge charisma; he'd make a frightening politician." [19] He finished the song and left the crowd to sing the final words. Elvis Costello sang a version of the Beatles' " All You Need Is Love", which he introduced by asking the audience to "help [him] sing this old northern English folk song". [32] Live Aid DVD – Premiere at European Cinemas in DTS Surround Sound; Exclusive Cinema Screenings of the Landmark 1985 Concert Recording Played in 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, 12 November 2004 Lynch, Joe (13 July 2015). "Watch Bette Midler Introduce Madonna at Live Aid 30 Years Ago Today". Billboard . Retrieved 17 March 2022. Thomas, Holly (6 November 2018). "33 years later, Queen's Live Aid performance is still pure magic". CNN . Retrieved 18 November 2018. Margaret Thatcher demanded UK find ways to 'destabilise' Ethiopian regime in power during 1984 famine". The Independent . Retrieved 10 April 2019.One afternoon before the concert, Bowie was up in the office and we started looking through some videos of news footage, and we watched the CBC piece [footage from the Ethiopian famine, cut to the Cars' song " Drive"]. Everyone just stopped. Bowie said, 'You've got to put that in the show, it's the most dramatic thing I've ever seen.' That was probably one of the most evocative things in the whole show and really got the money rolling in." Bruce Springsteen decided not to appear at Live Aid despite his huge global popularity in 1985. Geldof had originally scheduled the event for 6 July, but moved the date to the 13th especially to accommodate Springsteen. Springsteen later expressed regret at turning down Geldof's invitation, stating that he "simply did not realise how big the whole thing was going to be" [86] and regretted not performing an acoustic set. [87] During the MTV broadcast, VJ Martha Quinn repeatedly and erroneously claimed that Springsteen would in fact make an appearance. [88] Richard Skinner—opened the show and introduced Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales Among those involved in organising Live Aid were Harvey Goldsmith, who was responsible for the Wembley Stadium concert, and Bill Graham, who put together the American leg. [20] On promoting the event, Goldsmith states, "I didn't really get a chance to say no. Bob [Geldof] arrived in my office and basically said, 'We're doing this.' It started from there." [19] When organiser Bob Geldof was persuading artists to take part in the concert, he promised them that it would be a one-off event, never to be seen again. That was the reason why the concert was never recorded in its complete original form, and only secondary television broadcasts were recorded. Following Geldof's request, ABC erased its own broadcast tapes. [103] However, before the syndicated/ABC footage was erased, copies of it were donated to the Smithsonian Institution and have now been presumed lost. The ABC feed of the USA for Africa/"We Are The World" finale does exist in its entirety, complete with the network end credits, and can be found as a supplemental feature on the We Are The World: The Story Behind The Song DVD.