Live Aid Review

Cover spread for the Live Aid DVD booklet. The front shows a guitar, the body of which is shaped like Africa. Large black letters across the neck of the guitar spell Live Aid, one word above the other, with the two letter I's lining up with the guitar neck. A circle at the top left of the page, made to look like it's been rubber-stamped, has the text The Day The Music Changed The World around its edge, and the date July 13 1985 in the centre. At the bottom right of the page, next to the text This DVD Saves Lives below the guitar, is an image of a naked, malnourished, black child, viewed from the back. The back cover, meanwhile, has a silhouette image of the same guitar logo, above text that says Feed The World.

Updated in July 2025 to include the 40th anniversary broadcasts.

July 13, 1985, was arguably the greatest day in the history of rock and pop music. As if anyone needs reminding, the extraordinary Live Aid concert was organised by Bob Geldof from the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure from Ultravox to raise funds for the victims of the devastating famine in Ethiopia. It brought together many of the world’s biggest music stars in London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, along with some additional contributions from other countries, and was broadcast live for 16 hours to nearly 2 billion viewers in 150 nations.

An event of such magnitude had never been attempted before. So given the speed in which everything was organised and coordinated in just a few months, the generosity of the performers and other personnel who gave their time and expertise for free, and the challenges of running and broadcasting it all using the limited technology of the mid-80s, it was a colossal achievement.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid DVD booklet. On the left, a colour photograph shows a couple of large water jets being sprayed across the huge crowd in Philadelphia to keep them cool in the heat. On the right, a black and white photo shows frail African children and adults wrapped in blankets outdoors, stretching far into the distance.

It wasn’t a magic bullet that fixed all the problems in Africa of course, nor was it ever intended or expected to be. But it had a huge impact, exposing the suffering of Africans in a way that couldn’t be ignored by politicians, the media or the public, and it raised an estimated £150 million that saved countless lives. It also launched a movement to fight poverty and injustice that has continued in various forms to this day, including the Live 8 concerts that followed in 2005, plus other charity records and events.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid booklet. A yellow strip across the top has text that says Band Aid chartered three ships which sailed every week to Africa. The ships carried medicine, tents, trucks, vegetable oil, grain, and flour. Below this is a photo of one of the ships and 2 photos of the aid packages on board. Below those images is a photo of the group finale at the end of the Wembley concert, led by Bob Geldof and Bono, and a large photo spanning both pages that shows the huge crowd in Wembley, with the stage on the right.

I wasn’t old enough to see Live Aid when it was originally held, as I was only a toddler at the time. I did hear a bit about it while I was growing up, and saw occasional clips here and there, but it was only when they released a DVD in 2004 that I finally got to really appreciate what it was like. Granted, several tracks were missed out, many of which have since been posted on the official Live Aid Youtube channel, and there are unofficial uploads of most of the others. So it would be amazing if they did an extended release in the future to fill in at least some of the gaps. One can hope at least. But as things stand, the DVD is still a fabulous record of the event, containing 10 hours of material.

I also got a further sense of what the experience must have been like recently thanks to the musical Just For One Day, which has just ended its 2-month run at the Old Vic Theatre. I had an amazing time seeing it with a touch tour and audio description.

July 2025 Update: The musical has since returned and is now running at the Shaftesbury Theatre. It really is well worth seeing.

So as a special extended post, I thought I’d take a deep dive into this massive event, by reviewing the DVD in conjunction with other videos online that fill in the gaps and add further context. I’ve also created UK and US playlists on Youtube with nearly all of the performances, along with a selection of interviews and other extras. So I hope you enjoy!

Contents

DVD Set

Bob Geldof’s original intention, and his promise to the artists at the time, was that Live Aid was to be a one-off event, never to be seen again, claiming that it “will be more powerful in memory than in reality”. However, he changed his mind nearly 20 years later, when unofficial recordings made from the TV broadcasts were proving to be popular online and were being sold on eBay, and there was clearly a great opportunity to raise further funds to continue the fight against poverty.

So an official DVD was released in 2004, from which the proceeds went to the Band Aid Trust. The DVD has long been out of print (all the more reason it deserves a Blu-ray update 20 years later), but there are second-hand copies out there of course.

Cover spread for the Live Aid DVD booklet. The front shows a guitar, the body of which is shaped like Africa. Large black letters across the neck of the guitar spell Live Aid, one word above the other, with the two letter I's lining up with the guitar neck. A circle at the top left of the page, made to look like it's been rubber-stamped, has the text The Day The Music Changed The World around its edge, and the date July 13 1985 in the centre. At the bottom right of the page, next to the text This DVD Saves Lives below the guitar, is an image of a naked, malnourished, black child, viewed from the back. The back cover, meanwhile, has a silhouette image of the same guitar logo, above text that says Feed The World.

It’s not an exhaustive collection of every single performance, but given Bob’s original demand that the show mustn’t be recorded or repeated, we were lucky to get a DVD at all. Fortunately the BBC had ignored him and kept their Wembley footage anyway, so they still had a lot that could be used. But the American broadcasters had bowed to Bob’s request and trashed their footage altogether, which appeared to be a major showstopper. Luckily, however, MTV saved the day when they found over 100 B-roll tapes in their vaults that contained the US concert. It had lots of presenter links and commercials that had to be edited out, but there was enough to work with.

There are still a lot of performances that are missing though, either because the tapes were lost, there were technical difficulties on the day, the artists didn’t give permission, or the producers of the DVD just chose to leave them out. And the technical quality of the recordings varies, although some damage correction and colour grading has been applied, so on the whole it looks pretty good. There are unavoidable banding lines (called microphany) that appear briefly during some of the UK performances, when certain cameras were directly affected by the loud music, but it’s not a major problem or distraction. And the UK performances do benefit from having 5.1 surround sound, because the producers of the DVD had access to BBC Radio 1’s multi-track tapes. The US performances are just as they were recorded on the day, so the sound isn’t as well-rounded or punchy, but it’s still good enough.

So altogether the box set presents 10 hours of material across 4 discs, with:

  • A 20-minute prequel containing the famine news report, the Band Aid fundraising single, and the USA For Africa charity song.
  • 7 hours 45 minutes of concert footage from London and Philadelphia, with an average of 2 hours 20 minutes on each of the first 3 discs, and a final 45 minutes on Disc 4.
  • 55 minutes of extra music, including Cliff Richard’s nightclub performance, the Dancing In The Street Video, Run-DMC and Teddy Pendergrass at the US concert, B.B. King from the Netherlands, INXS from Australia, and a few other overseas contributions.
  • A 65-minute documentary.
  • 18 pages of credits for the show, the broadcasting, the DVD, the artists and the music.

Much more recently, the same tracks from the DVD were also released as a digital album in 2018, which is still out there on some streaming services, including Spotify and Youtube.

Double-page spread from the Live Aid DVD booklet, listing all of the performances and extras on the 4 discs, in white text on a blue background. At the top, over an image of the crest of planet Earth viewed from space, the header says Wembley Stadium London, JFK Stadium Philadelphia, One Concert, Two Continents.

Anyway, the menus on each disc of the DVD set have images of the performers floating past the Live Aid logo, accompanied by snippets of Do They Know It’s Christmas?, Rockin’ All Over The World, cheering crowds, or We Will Rock You. There’s a Play All option in each case, but you can also choose to watch only the Wembley or Philadelphia acts, or skip to a specific artist. You can listen to the audio in Dolby Stereo, or have 5.1 surround sound in Dolby or DTS format. Subtitles are available in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, but only for speech, not the songs, although English translations are displayed for some of the overseas acts on the final disc.

The 4 discs from the Live Aid DVD box set. Each disc has an image of planet Earth in the centre, with the disc number just above the hole in the middle, written in a different colour on each disc. The circular space around the Earth is divided by white lines into 16 segments, which are further sub-divided into 2 halves by the outline of a white circle that intersects them all, creating 32 spaces altogether. Those spaces are filled with images of some of the artists who are performing on each disc. Some images are small, taking up just 1 of the 32 spaces, while others span 2 or occasionally 4 of those spaces.

The box set mixes the London and Philadelphia concerts together, reflecting how it was broadcast at the time (albeit with a few changes to the running order for the American acts). But I’ve separated the listings for each concert below, in order to clarify what’s on the DVD and what’s missing.

Many of the tracks missing from the DVD have since been published on the official Live Aid Youtube channel that launched in 2018, and all money earned from the viewings of the videos go to the Band Aid Trust. But for other absent performances, I’ve linked to other videos where possible. All links are valid at the time of writing, but some clips will inevitably be removed over time.

Prequel

News Report & Charity Singles

The DVD opens with the harrowing BBC News report by Michael Buerk from Korem in Ethiopia in October 1984. It’s a difficult but important watch, because it was the catalyst that inspired Bob Geldof to form the Band Aid supergroup and produce the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas? the following month. The music video for that song is therefore also on the DVD, along with We Are The World by the all-star group USA For Africa, which came out in January 1985.

I prefer the Band Aid track myself, and I appreciate I’m biased in saying that as a Brit, but the US song is alright too. It was quite an evolution to get from that point to Live Aid though, as in rehearsal interviews for the Band Aid single Bob dismisses the idea of a concert as being too difficult to pull off.

Foreword by Bob Geldof in the Live Aid DVD booklet, taken from the original Live Aid programme in 1985, transcribed from Bob's notes that were hand-written in Africa. His words paint a vivid and harrowing picture of the famine in Africa, and the feeling of deep shame that so little has been done to help.
Double-page spread from the Live Aid DVD booklet. The left page shows a promotional poster with photos of some of the stars in the Band Aid single, above a photo of 2 very sick African children, over the top of notes and doodles from Bob Geldof's diary during the conception of Band Aid. The right page shows the first handwritten draft lyrics for Do They Know It's Christmas?

Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Other Mixes & Covers

There were a couple of additional tracks on the 1984 Band Aid single that aren’t on the DVD, as various artists recorded special voice messages that were played over a drum solo in the middle of the 12″ extended mix and over an instrumental of the song called Feed The World. Similarly, when the song was reissued a year later, a new B-side called One Year On (Feed The World) had a telephone message from Bob Geldof and Midge Ure over a remixed instrumental, explaining how the money raised had been spent. The transcript of that anniversary message is in the DVD booklet. Midge Ure also performed the song live with some Australian artists for a charity telethon in January 1985, which was raising money for East Africa.

Extract from the Live Aid DVD booklet, showing the transcript of the message in the 1985 B-side track Feed The World, in which Bob Geldof and Midge Ure explain how the money raised from the 1984 single Do They Know It's Christmas had been spent in Africa.

There were also follow-up singles in later years, with Band Aid II in 1989 (again for Ethiopia), Band Aid 20 in 2004 (in aid of Darfur in Sudan) and Band Aid 30 in 2014 (in response to the Ebola crisis). Each iteration is increasingly inferior compared to the original, to my mind anyway, but there’s no denying the importance of the causes they supported and the significance of the stars who appeared each time.

And there have been a myriad of cover versions from the likes of Slade, Glee, Keith Lemon & Friends, Band Aid Liverpool and LadBaby with Martin Lewis, as well as performances on The Voice Kids and The X Factor, a scene in the film Daddy’s Home 2, and a sing-along moment in the sitcom Gavin & Stacey, among other interpretations.

We Are The World – Other Versions & Charity Album

Over in America, there have been several live performances of We Are The World over the years, including by Michael Jackson at the World Music Awards in 2006. And a 25th anniversary single was produced in response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010, which then became the target of a Saturday Night Live sketch.

The original version of We Are The World was also released as the first track on a charity album of the same name, which came out on 29 March 1985, a few weeks after the single. The remaining tracks included one by another supergroup, along with 8 unreleased songs donated by various artists, most of whom didn’t perform at Live Aid (apart from Tina Turner):

  • Prince & The Revolution – 4 The Tears In Your Eyes – Prince famously refused to participate in the We Are The World single, apparently because he wanted to record a guitar solo in a separate room instead of singing with everyone else, and they weren’t able to tempt him otherwise. He therefore donated this track instead, and also gave a lot to charity in general.
  • Chicago – Good For Nothing
  • Tina Turner – Total Control
  • Kenny Rogers – A Little More Love
  • Huey Lewis & The News – Trouble In Paradise – Recorded live in San Francisco on 21 February 1985. Quite possibly the best song on the album, as it’s upbeat and catchy with incredible sax work by Marc Russo. On We Are The World, Huey sang the solo line that had originally been intended for Prince.

The album sold 3 million copies and got to number 1 in America in just a couple of weeks, a feat only previously achieved by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In the UK it reached number 31.

London – Wembley Stadium

The Wembley Stadium gig is my favourite of the two main concerts, because I like all of the performers, and I’m glad they’re all on the DVD, even though several have had at least one song cut. Thankfully we can see most of the missing performances online to fill in the gaps, and I’ve included as many tracks as possible on my UK playlist.

The list below therefore reflects the original running order of the concert, which is matched on the DVD for the songs it includes. Tracks missing from the DVD are marked with a star(*).

This brief opening honoured the arrival of the Prince & Princess of Wales. Only the first few bars of God Save The Queen were played.

The mighty Quo were the perfect group to kick off the show, with the perfect opening song. Like many of the acts that followed, they were great at getting the crowd singing and clapping along. And it’s amusing to see Rick having to bat away an over-eager cameraman during the opening riff of Caroline. It was also the band’s last stage appearance with founder member Alan Lancaster.

This is a good set, although I prefer the first two songs personally, so I would have put those on the DVD if forced to choose.

July 2025 Update: Rat Trap was included in the 40th anniversary broadcast of the concert on BBC2, following its restoration noted below.

It was only right for Bob Geldof to have a slot on stage, and he produced one of the most iconic moments of the event during I Don’t Like Mondays, with a 20-second pause after singing “the lesson today is how to die”, his fist held in the air while the audience applauded. The crowd also got to sing the final words of the song later on.

Meanwhile the DVD booklet explains that Rat Trap was left out because Bob got over-excited and accidentally ripped out the microphone cable, so his vocals were lost. However, in 2021 they somehow fixed it for the official Youtube upload (it’s quite possible that Bob re-recorded his lines), and I’m blown away seeing it for the first time while writing this review. It’s an incredible performance, especially with the energy of the band and the crowd joining in.

It’s rather a shame Adam was only allowed to do one song, because hits like Stand And Deliver and Goody Two Shoes would have gone down a treat. That said, he later criticised the event and said it was a mistake to take part, so he’s one of only a few who don’t look back on it fondly.

As the other big organiser, Midge Ure also deserved his spot here. He’s not as good as Bob, and I think they picked his best two numbers for the DVD, but he still gives great renditions of those big hits.

Martin Kemp later admitted that they made a “fatal mistake” by performing a new song (Virgin) that left everyone a bit bemused, good though it is. They should have stuck to the hits like everyone else did, as Live Aid was promoted as the “global jukebox”. But they made up for it by ending with an evergreen classic.

This is a lovely Beatles cover, introduced by Elvis as an “old northern English folk song”, with just him, his guitar and the audience singing along. It embodies the unity and togetherness that the show is all about.

He may not have been one of the more memorable acts, but Nik was still very good, so it’s a rather unfair that he only gets one song on the DVD. At the very least, The Riddle should be on there as well.

July 2025 Update: All 3 of Sade’s songs were included in the 40th anniversary TV broadcast, compared to just the middle song on the DVD.

She’s the act I’m least familiar with, out of everyone on the bill at Wembley, but she delivers a fine set thanks to her elegance and her lovely voice. It’s a nice, calming set that gives people a chance to get their breath back.

July 2025 Update: The 40th anniversary broadcast on TV included the introduction by Noel Edmonds, along with the songs Message In A Bottle and In The Air Tonight.

Sting & Phil’s collaborative set is beautifully stripped back, with just Sting on guitar, Phil at the piano and Branford Marsalis on saxophone.

What’s more, Phil was the only person to play at both the Wembley and Philadelphia concerts, as shortly after this he was flown by Noel Edmonds in a helicopter to Heathrow, so he could jet across the ocean on Concorde and catch another chopper to JFK Stadium to perform there.

In the DVD set, Disc 1 concludes with Phil being interviewed at Heathrow, followed by a lovely shot of Concorde taking off. And then at the end of Disc 2, we hear Phil being interviewed by Steve Blacknell live during the flight, for which the audio isn’t very clear by its nature but you can turn on the subtitles if need be, and it’s another example of a very impressive technical feat for that time by the BBC.

This is a great solo performance at the piano, with the crowd joining in, though it’s a shame he only gets one song.

Bryan’s set features David Gilmour from Pink Floyd on guitar. There were microphone and guitar issues early on, but things settled down in the end.

Paul performs a very nice selection of songs here, and it’s lovely that Alison Moyet joins him as well. The booklet lists her song as being after Paul’s other three, but that’s just for convenience, as the DVD itself presents them in the right order, as above.

U2’s set is up there with Queen’s as one of the most exceptional, career-defining performances of the day, as it cemented the Irish band’s right to be global megastars. And that’s despite, or indeed because of, the fact that it didn’t go as planned.

Having already made a powerful connection with the audience through his fantastic singing and stage presence in Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bono’s actions during Bad take it a huge step further, when he leaps off the front of the stage and helps the ushers to extract a 15-year-old girl called Kal Khalique from the crowd (who he later said he thought was being crushed), so he can slow-dance with her to make a sweet and tender moment for the cameras. He then briefly meets a couple of other women (Melanie & Elaine Hill) in the pit at the front of the stage, who he had also indicated to the security team. He didn’t know any of the ladies beforehand, he just wanted to make that personal connection with the audience.

But eventually he rejoins the band, who had been forced to improvise for around 2½ minutes by that point, while unable to see what Bono was doing for some of that time. Indeed, a lot of credit must go to The Edge for his superb guitar playing, and for the chemistry between all the band members, as they remain in total sync with Bono no matter what he decides to do. When he’s on stage with them, he only has to give them a quick look and they know exactly what he wants.

Bono then concludes by leading the audience in a fun singalong of lyrics by The Rolling Stones (Ruby Tuesday & Sympathy For The Devil) and Lou Reed (Walk On The Wild Side, having also referenced Satellite Of Love earlier in the song). He then walks off stage as the video on the DVD fades to show Phil Collins arriving at Heathrow – so we never get to see the rest of the band wrap up the song, which is a shame. But it all meant that Bad ended up being 12 minutes long, so the group couldn’t play their big hit Pride (In The Name Of Love). Consequently, they came off stage and had a big argument about it, believing they’d squandered their big opportunity, until they later learned of the true impact they’d made.

There’s also an unsung hero of the performance who is important to mention. Roadie Greg Carroll from New Zealand can be seen sliding across the stage during Bad to replace the microphone in its stand, after Bono drops it to attend to the crowd, and then later jumps down to the pit to hand it back when Bono asks him for it. Greg is also visible in the background of various other shots, constantly ensuring the microphone cable doesn’t get tangled as Bono moves around. He was only doing his job of course, but he had become a close friend of Bono’s after they met in 1984, so the singer was devastated when Greg was sadly killed in a motorcycle accident just a year after Live Aid, in July 1986. Bono went on to write the song One Tree Hill in his memory, and has since paid tribute to Greg in live shows too. So that adds an extra level of poignancy to this particular Live Aid set.

These are a couple of great performances. I particularly like the extended rendition of Sultans Of Swing, with a lovely ballad-style instrumental in the middle with piano and saxophone.

The DVD sadly omits the introduction by Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, where the two comedians come on stage as policemen, joking that people have complained about the noise. That generates huge cheers from the audience, which get even louder still when they announce “Her Majesty – Queen!”

July 2025 Update: I was very happy to see that the 40th anniversary broadcast on TV included this introduction.

What then follows is pure perfection. Queen’s storming set, where they smashed through six of their biggest hits in just over 20 minutes, is often regarded as the best live performance of all time, because it blew everyone else out of the water. It also reinvigorated the band’s career, which had somewhat stalled at this point, not that you’d know it from seeing this.

While all the band members are on top form, it’s Freddie who steals the show of course. He has the whole of Wembley in the palm of his hand from the second he runs out on stage, and makes sure that everyone at home is also involved by having fun with the cameras too. He’s clearly having the time of his life and effortlessly brings together everyone in glorious unity, illustrated most vividly by the call-and-response sequence before Hammer To Fall, where the entire stadium crowd loudly echoes his refrains. It’s a truly magical moment. Likewise, everybody already knows the words when Freddie hands a verse of Crazy Little Thing over to them, the venue is filled with double claps during Radio Ga Ga, and they all belt out the choruses to Rock You and Champions. It’s an absolute masterclass in how to work such a huge crowd, which is far from being as easy as Freddie makes it look.

In 2007, Queen included a remastered copy of their Live Aid set, plus the acoustic duet that Freddie and Brian did later in the show, in their Queen Rock Montreal DVD & Blu-ray release, with options for stereo and surround sound. It was accompanied by an 11-minute feature showing an interview and clips of their rehearsal that was filmed in the week leading up to Live Aid. There’s going to be an upgraded release of this set in May 2024, with the Montreal show in full frame as it was originally meant to be seen, and their Live Aid set will be presented for the first time in upscaled HD with Dolby Atmos audio, so I’ll be getting that.

In addition, a documentary about Queen’s year of success that followed Live Aid was included on Live At Budapest in 2012, and in 2018 their Live Aid set was painstakingly and impressively recreated in the Bohemian Rhapsody movie.

One of my favourite covers of all time. I absolutely adore this version of the Motown classic, because it’s so powerful and catchy, and it’s the perfect collaboration between these 2 legendary stars. Originally the two of them had considered doing a transatlantic duet, with one of them in London and the other in Philadelphia, but they quickly realised that the satellite delay would render that impossible. So they met in London to record the song and video in a single day.

During Live Aid it was shown on the screens in the Wembley and JFK stadiums, and also broadcast on TV, just before David Bowie’s set. On the DVD it’s included among the extra features. It was released as a single in August 1985, with all profits going to Band Aid, and it topped the UK chart for 4 weeks, while reaching Number 7 in America.

Additional versions included the extended Steve Thompson Mix, a Dub Mix with alternate instrumentation and a cappella sections, and an instrumental, all of which are really cool. You can also read a fascinating blog by engineer Mark Saunders about the making of the song, where he’s shared the original rough mix of the track, which they took to Docklands in London to shoot the video. And AnalogAnarchy99 has posted the original rough workprint for that video, which has very good image quality as it’s only a single generation from the camera negative.

A year after its release, David and Mick also performed the song at the Prince’s Trust Rock Gala on 20 June 1986, alongside a host of other stars including Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler and Elton John, to name just a few. It’s quite a rarity, as it wasn’t broadcast on TV and is cut from the official film of the gig for some reason. Maybe that’s because they were a surprise addition, but even though it’s unrehearsed it’s still brilliant.

Back to Live Aid, however, and after the video was shown on TV the BBC went back to the studio for a fundraising update, where a highly-strung Bob Geldof famously swore live on air. It’s since resulted in the urban myth that he said “Give us your fucking money”, but in actuality he only said “Give us your money” and “Give me the money” when strongly urging people to stay in and donate instead of going to the pub, because “there are people dying NOW!” He then tried to give out the phone number, only for host Dave Hepworth to interrupt him to read the postal address, to which Bob responded: “No, fuck the address, let’s get the numbers, because that’s how we’re going to get it.”

It would have been more than a little daunting for most artists to follow Queen’s superb set, but if anyone could do it and not suffer in their shadow, it’s the late, great David Bowie. After all, he had already recorded with them before and knows them well. So he also gives a triumphant performance, accompanied by a wonderful band and great backing singers, all of whom he namechecks at the start of Heroes (including Thomas Dolby on keyboards). He also dedicates that final song to his son and all the children of the world.

David Bowie had originally planned to include another song called Five Years in his set, but cut it out so that he had time to introduce this powerfully moving reminder of why the event was being held, with footage of starving children in Ethiopia set to the soundtrack of Drive by The Cars. It prompted a huge spike in donations, so it was clearly worth it.

One of the children in the video, Birhan Woldu, was believed to be less than 15 minutes from death when her father discovered a faint pulse while preparing to bury her, and with the help of nurses she went on to make a full recovery. When the CBC video was repeated at Live 8 in 2005, Bob Geldof brought her on stage afterwards as a demonstration of the good that can be achieved, where she thanked everybody for their support. She later became a nurse and got married.

July 2025 Update: The 40th anniversary TV broadcast amusingly included the intro and transmission failure for My Generation, and then later the complete performance of Won’t Get Fooled Again, skipping the other songs.

Trust The Who of all people to be on stage when something explodes, even if it was just a fuse! Their first 2 songs weren’t broadcast because a generator blew up, ironically when Roger was singing “Why don’t you all fade away“, so they’re not on the DVD. Only the crowd in Wembley got to see them. According to an interview on Live Aid’s Youtube channel, it’s because some of the sweltering crew behind the scenes had the air conditioning on, which overloaded the electrics.

For a long time it was thought those tracks were lost forever. But then, more than 30 years later, 500 film canisters and audio tapes were discovered in a storage facility, which had been recorded by a documentary film crew in the audience. And amongst all of the material was the complete performance of My Generation.

That footage was posted on the official Live Aid Youtube channel in 2019. It’s not broadcast quality, because the cameras and microphones were positioned some distance away rather than being on stage itself, but it’s still good enough to enjoy it, and it’s a fantastic piece of music history. You can see the moment that Wembley gets cut off from the rest of the world about 40 seconds in, when the screens in the stadium go off. And then occasionally during the song you can see the cameramen on stage just sitting there because they can’t do anything.

Pinball Wizard hasn’t been restored though, so the only footage available is from when the transmission returned just before the end of the song.

Beyond that, their last 2 songs are on the DVD and are really good – although Roger does mistime his lyrics halfway through Won’t Get Fooled Again, whereupon he steps back and allows the song to continue as an instrumental until he can jump in at the next verse. He emits that huge primal scream near the end bang on cue though – and with such power I’m surprised another fuse didn’t blow! That leads into a great extended coda with Pete almost taking flight with his incredible windmills on the guitar, ‘Thunderfingers’ Entwistle smashing it on the bass as he had been through the entire song, and Kenney Jones keeping up with them on the drums. One can only imagine what Keith Moon would have been like if he’d still been alive to perform then!

So altogether, it wasn’t a perfectly polished performance, but it’s excusable – partly because of the technical issues, and partly because it was the first time they’d performed live together in 3 years after their 1982 Farewell tour, with the band breaking up officially in December 1983. It would be another 3 years before they played together again, at the 1988 Brit Awards, where they were presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. There were then more reunion appearances in later years before they properly reformed.

Elton is introduced by comedian Billy Connolly, who informs the audience that the show is being shown on 95% of the TVs on Earth. Elton then performs a brilliant batch of songs, with a wonderful band that includes percussionist Ray Cooper, and great backing singers as well. It’s also lovely to see Kiki Dee performing her famous duet with him, and it’s amazing to hear George Michael singing the lead vocals for Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Introduced by John Hurt, the two Queen stars return to the stage to perform this beautiful acoustic number. You could be forgiven for thinking that it was specially written for the show, but it’s actually from their album The Works, released in February the previous year, and it just happened to suit the occasion perfectly. As well as being on the Live Aid DVD, it’s also included alongside their earlier performance on Queen Rock Montreal, as noted above.

This is a great performance with just Paul at the piano, although the crowd in the stadium and the audience at home didn’t get to hear some of it on the day, because his microphone wasn’t working to start with.

The reason you can hear him perfectly all the way through, on the DVD and Live Aid’s Youtube channel, is because he re-recorded his vocals in a studio the day after the concert, just in case there was ever a film of the event in the future. So it’s just as well he was so forward-thinking. You can still spot when the audio was finally fixed for people in the stadium, because there’s a massive cheer when he starts a new verse just before the 2-minute mark.

Towards the end, he’s joined by David Bowie, Bob Geldof, Alison Moyet & Pete Townshend to sing the final extended set of choruses. Paul and Pete then lift Bob up on their shoulders triumphantly after the song ends.

“Let’s cock it up together!” implores Bob, as the stars fill the stage for the big send-off. Sure, it is quite random as the microphone is shared around and the cameras try to cover it all, but that’s all part of the fun, as you try to see who you can spot. It’s a well-deserved party on stage, with the audience loudly joining in as well, celebrating the end of a hugely successful day, and handing the baton over to Philadelphia for the remainder of their concert.

A soundboard recording has also surfaced online, where you can hear the vocals very prominently, including elements you may have missed in the regular mix.

Cliff hadn’t been able to appear at Wembley as he was already involved with a gospel charity concert in Birmingham that day. So he performed this lovely little acoustic song at 2:11am in the former Legends nightclub in Old Burlington Street, from where the BBC were keeping UK viewers occupied during the change-overs in the Philadelphia concert into the wee hours of the morning. This performance is included among the extra features in the DVD set. Cliff later took part in the Band Aid II single in 1989 as well, having not appeared on the original song.

Philadelphia – JFK Stadium

The concert from JFK Stadium in the DVD set is more of a mixed bag, in terms of the sequence in which the artists are presented on the DVD, and the fact that I’m not a fan of all of them. So I’m not going to comment as extensively on each one as I did for those at Wembley.

The list below shows the original running order of the American concert, which I’ve also replicated on my USA playlist as far as possible. But it’s different on the DVD, with some performers omitted entirely, some songs cut from the stars who are included, and some artists presented in a different order to their original broadcast.

On the day, the first time the UK crossed over to Philadelphia was for Bryan Adams, missing out several artists who had been on stage before him. This is reflected on the DVD, and the performances from Bryan Adams through to Simple Minds are in their original sequence. Then things get a bit more mixed up, with a few artists from earlier in the day thrown in, and others shuffled about. It’s only from The Cars onwards that it returns to the original order for the remainder of the gig.

It’s not a major problem in viewing terms, as it’s edited together well enough, but it is a bit confusing if you know things are in the wrong order. And it’s a shame that several artists and songs have been left out, but there is still plenty to enjoy. Indeed, some of the performances on the DVD were new to people in the UK and Europe, because Judas Priest. Run-DMC, Joan Baez and Ashford & Simpson had never been broadcast on this side of the pond originally.

So here’s the list of performances from America. As before, tracks missing from the DVD are marked with a star(*).

July 2025 Note: The 40th anniversary TV broadcast omitted several more tracks from the American concert than the DVD did, but I’m not going to confuse things by mentioning those cuts as well. It still represented the Philadelphia gig nicely enough anyway. So this section is just about the DVD.

  • Bernard Watson – All I Really Want To Do* / Interview* (See full set)

This wasn’t officially part of the running order, and therefore wasn’t filmed by the major broadcasters. So it’s absent from the DVD, and what does survive is very low quality footage where you can barely hear him. The inexperienced 18-year-old folk singer, real name David Weinstein, had camped outside the stadium for a week before the concert and persuaded producer Bill Graham to let him play. So he went on stage at 8:51am, before the concert began at 9am, performing a cover of Bob Dylan’s All I Really Want To Do and an original composition called Interview.

  • Joan Baez – Amazing Grace / We Are The World* (See full set)

An edited performance of Amazing Grace is included on the DVD after the CBC film, which does feel appropriate, although I’m not a fan of her rendition personally, including the way she prompts the audience by uttering the words of each verse before singing it.

  • The Hooters – And We Danced* / All You Zombies* (See full set)
  • The Four Tops – Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)* / Bernadette* / It’s The Same Old Song* / Reach Out I’ll Be There* / I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)* (See full set)
  • Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen* / Loverboy*

None of these performances are on the DVD, sadly. I’m not familiar with the Hooters, apart from their track Satellite that I have in my music collection, and Bob Geldof initially objected to them being the opening band when organising the show as he didn’t know them. But they’re very good here, with a couple of powerful rock songs, and Bob must have changed his opinion as in December 2004 he was actually the opening act for a couple of their shows in Germany.

The Four Tops, meanwhile, are one of the best acts of the day, clearly enjoying themselves as they perform some of their catchy hits in nice shiny suits. And Billy Ocean had to sing along with his album tracks instead of a backing band, while the stage was being set up for the next act behind the curtain, but he did his best and they are good songs.

I’m not into Black Sabbath’s music particularly, but Paranoid’s a good song, so I’m glad that’s the one they’ve included on the DVD. Ozzy gives an enthusiastic performance throughout the whole set though, fuelled by drink or drugs of some sort no doubt, and the crowd are lapping it up.

These 2 artists aren’t in the main feature on the DVD, but Run-DMC’s set is in the extra features instead. The booklet explains that it was filmed as a rehearsal for the camera crew prior to the live broadcast, but not televised. The video on Live Aid’s Youtube channel focuses on the King Of Rock rap only, but the footage on the DVD also includes the 2-minute Jam Master Jay intro that leads into it (though the booklet doesn’t specify that). It’s all a bit out of keeping with the style of the other artists, and I’m not into hip-hop music like that, but it was a big moment for them and a lot of people in the crowd do get involved when prompted to do so.

Meanwhile, none of Rick’s performances are included at all. He’s another act I’m not familiar with, other than the song Jessie’s Girl, which he doesn’t sing here. He seems alright from the videos I’ve watched of his set online though.

These three artists, along with Black Sabbath above, are grouped together at a much later point on the DVD, just before The Cars. I’m not a fan of Crosby, Stills & Nash, but I much prefer Judas Priest’s style of heavy metal to Black Sabbath’s, and REO Speedwagon are good as well.

These 3 artists all give very good performances, and were the first to be seen by UK viewers, when the broadcast started to alternate between Wembley and Philadelphia. The same is true on the DVD as well.

Another couple of great bands, although the DVD slots Joan Baez in between them (just after the CBC film). Simple Minds are notable here, as this was their first ever live performance of Ghost Dancing, the studio version of which wasn’t released until October that year, on their Once Upon A Time album. And their final song is only partially available, because there was a fault in the transmission midway through.

  • Santana – Brotherhood* / Primera Invasion* / Open Invitation* / By The Pool* / Right Now* (With Pat Metheny on the last 2 songs) (See full set)
  • Ashford & Simpson – Solid* / Reach Out And Touch (With Teddy Pendergrass)
  • Kool & The Gang – Stand Up And Sing* / Cherish* (See full set)

None of these 3 artists are in the main feature on the DVD. However, Reach Out And Touch is among the extra features, as the only known copy was discovered when the box set was being put together, including MTV’s graphics. It’s a particularly emotional performance as it was Teddy’s first appearance on stage since a car crash had left him paralysed from the chest down 3 years earlier. He never walked again, but he continued to have a music career until his retirement in 2006, and he passed away in 2010. Nickolas Ashford from Ashford & Simpson died the following year.

Apart from that, Santana asked not to be included on the DVD at all, which is a pity as they’re really good, with powerful rhythms and cracking guitar solos. And Kool & The Gang recorded a medley of two lovely songs at one of their own concerts, which were then played into the stadium as they couldn’t be there on the day, so it’s a shame they’re not on the DVD either.

These acts are all great in their own way, with some nice catchy tracks. Madonna’s final song, which isn’t on the DVD, was completely new for the audience as the studio version wasn’t released until the following year on her True Blue album. Before the song starts she insists on keeping her coat on, saying “I ain’t taking shit off today!”, referring to the fact that Playboy and Penthouse had published some of her old nude art photos.

Meanwhile the songs from Tom Petty included on the DVD are the only two I know from their little set. Kenny Loggins actually appears before Madonna and Tom Petty on the DVD, and sadly only getting to perform one track, but it is his best known one. And it’s a shame that the full set by The Cars isn’t on the DVD, as it’s quite good, and especially because Drive was used for the famine film. Their last song is mistyped as Heartbreak City in the DVD booklet though.

Neil Young is another artist I’m not too fussed about, as it’s not a style of music I’m into. Power Station aren’t on the DVD at all, although Robert Palmer had left the group before this concert, and replacement singer Michael Des Barres isn’t as good, so it’s not an amazing performance but it’s not too bad either. And both songs by the Thompson Twins are very good, so it’s a shame the DVD only has the last one – but it is a great collaboration, with the lyrics adapted from “change the world” to “feed the world”.

After his earlier performance at Wembley, Phil made it to the States in time to perform there as well. Eric Clapton of course shows why he’s such a legendary guitarist during his set, and I always love hearing the full version of Layla. Then when Phil does his solo set, at the piano in front of the curtain while the stage is set up for the next act, he performs exactly the same two songs that he did in London. So the DVD avoids repetition by only playing In The Air Tonight, having shown Against All Odds from London earlier. However, the JFK performance of Against All Odds was released on Phil’s DVD called Finally… The First Farewell Tour.

  • Led Zeppelin & Phil Collins – Rock And Roll* / Whole Lotta Love* / Stairway To Heaven* (See full set)

Led Zeppelin’s appearance at Live Aid was their first performance since the death of drummer John Bonham 5 years earlier. But it’s absent from the DVD because it was a disaster, having gone down in history as one of the worst rock reunions of all time. Jimmy Page would later pin a lot of the blame on Phil Collins, who sat in on drums along with Tony Thompson, saying that Phil didn’t know the songs. But Jimmy himself was high as a kite while playing an out-of-tune guitar, Robert Plant’s voice had gone hoarse yet he battles through as best he can, they didn’t have time to rehearse, and they couldn’t hear themselves clearly through the malfunctioning sound monitors.

Phil, who had played on Robert’s first two solo albums so got on well with him, later defended himself against Jimmy’s claims by saying he had tried to learn the parts by listening to the songs on a Walkman during his Concorde flight, but struggled to do so, plus he saw how wasted Jimmy was backstage. So he knew it was going to go badly before they even started, and was tempted to walk out midway through, but stuck it out so as not to generate any extra headlines.

Ultimately, while it’s tolerable to watch out of curiosity, it’s just sloppy and wea really, and at complete odds with what the band used to be like at the peak of their powers. Fortunately there’s enough adrenaline, drink and drugs amongst the stadium crowd that they don’t really care, but I can understand why the band have refused any requests for their set to be officially released. It doesn’t paint them in a good light.

The reunion of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young went down much better than Led Zeppelin’s before them, though it’s also not on the DVD and their songs aren’t my type of thing anyway, so I’m not worried about that. Similarly, I’m not a fan of Patti’s either. I appreciate she has a powerful voice and a lot of people love her, but to me she’s just too loud, practically screaming every word and taking the melody all over the place, rather than singing them and staying close to the tune. So I can’t stand her versions of Imagine and Over The Rainbow personally. Each to their own though, she’s just not for me.

Duran Duran are better and their performance on the whole is pretty good, especially considering they hadn’t played live for over a year (and it would prove to be the last time the five original members were on stage together until 2003). Unfortunately, and rather unfairly, the one thing they’re remembered for is Simon Le Bon’s off-key falsetto note near the end of A View To A Kill, which is why that song isn’t on the DVD. It was dubbed “The Bum Note Heard Around The World”, in stark contrast to “The Note Heard Around The World” from Freddie Mercury during Queen’s set, and Simon later called it the most embarrassing moment of his career. You have to feel sorry for him really, he was doing his best. The other songs go off without any major hitches though, my favourite being The Reflex.

The show approaches its conclusion in style with these big name acts. Hall & Oates play a couple of very enjoyable and catchy numbers, and their collaboration with two members of The Temptations is cool too, so it’s a shame one song from the medley is cut from the DVD and Live Aid’s Youtube video. Hall & Oates then remain on stage to back up Mick Jagger, who has great energy and stage presence as usual, doing a few songs by himself before a powerful duet with Tina Turner.

The acoustic set by Bob Dylan and two members of The Rolling Stones isn’t very exciting for me, as I’ve never been into Dylan much, but it does bring a moment of calm to proceedings, so that people can get their breath back. Bob also sparked some criticism for suggesting that some of the money raised could be used to help pay the mortgages owed by farmers in America, but his remarks also inspired the separate creation of the Farm Aid charity.

And then we get the epic finale with all the stars on stage, led by Lionel Richie, which is fun. You can’t always hear the vocalists clearly, but it’s hard to miss the dominant ones like Patti LaBelle.

Extra Material

UK & US Music Videos

The DVD contains the following 4 music videos as extras. They’ve already been described during the concert listings above, so click the links to jump back and find out more about them:

There was also a lesser-known famine relief song released in America in 1986 called Stars, which brought together 40 heavy metal musicians under the name Hear ‘N Aid, including members of Blue Oyster Cult, Iron Maiden, Journey, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Queensrÿche, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister and more. It’s not as memorable to sing along with as the Band Aid and USA For Africa singles, apart from the simple 2-word chorus, but it’s pretty good nevertheless, with an epic guitar section that lasts almost 3 minutes of the 7-minute runtime. There’s also a behind the scenes video about the recording sessions.

The song isn’t on the DVD, because it was a separate project to Band Aid. The funds raised were used to buy agricultural machinery and transport it out to Africa, following concerns that at least some of the money raised by Band Aid had been lost due to government corruption, which has been one of the criticisms of Bob Geldof’s venture.

Oz For Africa

Oz For Africa in Sydney was actually the first Live Aid concert, as it started 12 hours before Wembley due to Australia’s time difference. The DVD only presents the last 2 songs from INXS, lasting just under 9 minutes, but the setlist from the full 4-hour concert is as follows:

It’s a good concert altogether, even though I don’t know most of the artists or songs. Live It Up is the only song I recognise by Mental As Anything, whereas it’s a shame Men At Work don’t play Down Under, the one big hit of theirs I know. I have a few tracks in my collection by the Little River Band, but they’re not the ones played at this gig. And I’m not widely familiar with the INXS catalogue, but I know a couple of the tracks here. So it’s fun to hear some different music from the other Live Aid concerts, but nobody stands out as being particularly exceptional either.

Other Countries

There were various contributions from other nations to Live Aid day, and to the overall fundraising efforts for famine relief that year, some of which are on the DVD. B.B. King has his own separate feature, which is by the best, while the others mentioned are in a 14-minute compilation called Overseas Contributors. Most of the performances in the latter are edited down unfortunately, but below I’ve linked to the longer versions that are online, some of which are on Live Aid’s Youtube channel. They’re interesting to watch for curiosity value.

The veteran blues star participated on the day from his own show at the North Sea Jazz Festival. The last 3 songs of his excellent set are on the DVD as a dedicated 11-minute feature, with infectiously catchy rhythms, wonderful guitar playing and passionate vocals, along with some fun audience participation in the last number.

Both of these supergroup performances are on the DVD, with English subtitles to translate the lyrics, but the German song has been trimmed down to just 2½ minutes. The full online video above includes an introductory speech as well.

Japan:

There are brief snippets of the performances by Loudness and Eikichi Yazawa on the DVD, but that’s all.

An extract of this song, lasting under 2 minutes, is on the DVD, with English subtitles to translate the words.

A 2-minute extract of the second song is included on the DVD.

Norway:

A shortened version of the music video for All Of Us, sung in English, is included on the DVD, lasting a few minutes.

Charity Singles:

None of these singles are on the DVD, but they’re worth noting for completeness.

Documentaries

The following documentaries are on a special One Billion Views playlist on Live Aid’s Youtube channel:

  • Food And Trucks And Rock ‘N’ Roll – This 65-minute documentary, made a year after Live Aid, is also on the DVD. It goes behind the scenes of the Band Aid single and Live Aid concerts, highlights other fundraising efforts in the UK and around the world, and shows how the money was used to deliver aid to the people of Africa, with the various challenges they had to overcome.
  • The Making Of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – A 24-minute feature originally shown on the Channel 4 music show The Tube in 1984. This is a wonderful look at the making of the Band Aid single, with several clips of stars like Boy George recording their lines, interviews with Bob Geldof and various others, and even a surprise behind the scenes cameo by Neil from The Young Ones. It ends with an alternate video for the song, using different shots and camera angles taken from the documentary filming.

The playlist also has several interviews that were filmed exclusively for Youtube much more recently, in December 2021:

  • The Making Of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – Co-writer and producer Midge Ure has a nice discussion with recording engineer Rik Walton, video director Nigel Dick and marketing director Tony Powell about producing the single, lasting almost half an hour.
  • Bob Geldof & Promoter Harvey Goldsmith – This is a fantastic conversation that again lasts about half an hour. Bob does most of the talking, but together they give fantastic and sometimes amusing insights into the Band Aid single and the Live Aid concerts, and you can tell the deep pride that Bob has in what they achieved.
  • Remixing Live Aid – A short 4-minute video by Midge Ure where he talks about remixing the audio of some of the performances for Youtube.
  • The Making Of Live Aid – A trilogy of interesting conversations, lasting around 37 minutes in total. The first video is a discussion between concert director David G. Croft, vision mixer Kathryn Edmonds and production assistant Charlie MacCormack. The second video features recollections by Belinda Langford (Production Assistant & PA for Director Phil Chilvers). And the third video has BBC Radio 1 producer Jeff Griffin looking back at the day. Along the way we learn why the generator blew up early on in The Who’s performance, how Bob Geldof destroyed a microphone socket, why Paul McCartney’s vocals were lost during his set and how they were re-recorded, and various other nuggets of fascinating trivia. It’s great to hear from some of the people who were working their backsides off behind the scenes.

Apart from that, there have been other documentaries over the years about the Band Aid single, including a video in December 1984 that was released around the same time as the 12″ version, and 20th anniversary documentaries in 2004 by the BBC (Band Aid – The Song That Rocked The World) and Channel 4 (The Band Aid Story). There was also a 3-hour BBC documentary in 2005 celebrating 20 years since Live Aid, split into two parts called Against All Odds and Rockin’ All Over The World.

As for the American side of things, on January 29 this year Netflix released a brand new documentary about We Are The World called The Greatest Night In Pop. It’s very good as well, lasting just over an hour and a half so it goes quite in-depth, featuring extensive footage from the long recording session, as well as new interviews with Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Huey Lewis and many others who were involved. Meanwhile, on Youtube you can also see an old hour-long film about the song, along with an 80-minute documentary about the Canadian single.

40th Anniversary

The 40th anniversary of Live Aid in July 2025 has been marked in various ways, particularly by the BBC but also elsewhere.

Live Aid At 40: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took On The World

This 3-part BBC TV series (also shown on CNN in America), with each episode an hour long, comprehensively covers the events before, during and after Live Aid, and doesn’t dodge the controversies and challenges faced along the way. It features interviews with Bob, Midge and lots of other people who were involved in one way or another, some of whom haven’t appeared in previous documentaries I’ve seen about Live Aid, as well as quite a bit of footage I hadn’t seen before.

So the first episode looks at the build-up, including news reports from Africa and Bob visiting Ethiopia, along with the Band Aid and USA for Africa singles. Then the second episode is all about the concert itself, including how it was organised, backstage footage, interviews with stars and members of the crowd, and how the money was used to deliver aid to Africa.

And finally the third episode jumps forward 20 years to talk about Bob and Bono meeting Tony Blair and George W Bush (with both former world leaders being interviewed), the Commission for Africa, the Make Poverty History campaign, the G8 summit and the Live 8 concert.

Altogether it’s a very honest and insightful documentary series that’s well worth a watch whether you remember Live Aid or not.

Live Aid: The Fans’ Story

This hour-long programme on BBC Radio 2 brings together lovely recollections from many people who were at the concert, and others who enjoyed the broadcasts. So in terms of performers we hear from members of the Coldstream Guards, Status Quo, Style Council, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet and Judas Priest, along with Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones and Billy Ocean. And then we also hear from stars like Michael Ball, Michelle Visage and DJ Gary Davies, plus some lucky members of the public who were in the Wembley audience. It gives a great sense of what it was like to experience such a unique and special occasion, the atmosphere must have been incredible.

Live Aid At 40: The Concert

Unlike the DVD, this new 7-hour compilation of highlights has been edited as if it were a live transmission, which is very cool. So it was introduced on TV using a 1985 BBC ident, features the original BBC jingle, and includes some presenter links, interviews and other backstage footage. They’ve even kept in the donation information, with a disclaimer reminding people that it’s out of date, as if anybody’s ignorant enough not to know that. They seem to think blind people are savvy enough to realise anyway, because they don’t speak it and there’s no audio description to read it out.

The programme also has a slightly different selection of songs to the DVD, with a few added back in (as noted above for the London show) whilst some others have been removed (particularly from Philadelphia). So it isn’t the full concert, which for various reasons discussed earlier would be impossible to broadcast in its entirety anyway, but it’s a very extensive showcase that evokes the atmosphere of the day really well.

As someone who was far too young to witness the event back then, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it in a live broadcast format, and it’s the most complete version of the London show I’ve ever watched without having to jump between separate videos on Youtube. So it was a real delight to watch it all.

Other Celebrations

The BBC weren’t the only ones to celebrate the event of course. On 13 July 2025, 40 years to the day, the Live Aid Youtube channel naturally got involved, by posting 10 hours of performances in a series of streams. And Greatest Hits Radio broadcast 10 hours of music on the same day, along with a 3-part documentary of their own talking to lots of the big names who were involved. So there’s been plenty of opportunity for people to revisit Live Aid if they remember it, and for a new generation to discover its delights for the first time.

Conclusion

So that’s the end of my epic look at an epic event. I hope you found that interesting and enjoyable, and I’ll also be reviewing Live 8 soon.

While it’s a shame I couldn’t experience Live Aid at the time, I’m delighted that I can enjoy such a special occasion on DVD and online. There were lots of incredible performances, the efforts that went on behind the scenes were phenomenal, and I know the work of the Band Aid Trust has made (and continues to make) a huge difference to millions of people in poverty. There is still much more that needs to be done of course, and there continue to be many hurdles that make it difficult or impossible to eradicate poverty entirely, including governments that are corrupt or just don’t care. But that makes it all the more important that we do as much as we can to help, and demand long-term solutions from those in power.

Live Aid proved how the power of music can unite the planet and generate vital support for those most in need, and everybody who was involved with it or donated to the cause can feel proud that they made a real difference and helped to save lives. They were all heroes for that one day, rocking all over the world to feed the world.

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Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.