Live Aid

Live Aid was a rock music concert organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure[?] in order to raise funds for famine relief[?] in Ethiopia. Billed as a "global jukebox" it was mainly held at Wembley Stadium, London, and JFK Stadium[?], Philadelphia, on July 13, 1985. It was the largest scale satellite link-up and TV broadcast of all time.

The success of Live aid inspired Roger Waters' song "The Tide is Turning".

Performers were (in order of appearance):

• Status Quo
• Style Council[?]
• Boomtown Rats
• Adam Ant
• INXS (performing in Melbourne)
• Ultravox[?]
• Loudness (performing in Japan)
• Spandau Ballet
• Bernard Watson[?]
• Joan Baez
• Elvis Costello
• The Hooters[?]
• Opus (performing in Austria)
• Nik Kershaw[?]
• The Four Tops
• B. B. King (Performing in The Hague)
• Billy Ocean
• Black Sabbath
• Sade
• Run-DMC
• Yu Rock Mission[?] (Performing in Belgrade)
• Sting
• Rick Springfield
• Phil Collins
• REO Speedwaggon[?]
• Howard Jones
• Autograph (performing in Moscow)
• Bryan Ferry
• Crosby, Stills and Nash
• Udo Lindenberg[?] (performing in Cologne)
• Judas Priest
• Paul Young[?]
• Alison Moyet
• Bryan Adams
• U2

• Beach Boys
• Dire Straits
• George Thurogood and the Destroyers[?] / Bo Diddley / Albert Collins[?]
• Queen
• Simple Minds
• David Bowie
• The Pretenders
• The Who
• Santana
• Pat Metheny[?]
• Elton John
• Ashford and Simpson[?]
• Teddy Pendergrass[?]
• Elton John (with Kiki Dee[?])
• Wham!
• Madonna
• Paul McCartney
• Tom Petty
• Kenny Loggins[?]
• The Cars
• Neil Young
• Power Station[?]
• Thompson Twins[?]
• Eric Clapton
• Phil Collins again (having taken Concorde from UK to USA)
• Led Zeppelin
• Duran Duran (the last time the original five members performed together)
• Patti LaBelle
• Hall & Oates / Eddie Kendricks[?] / David Ruffin[?]
• Mick Jagger
• Tina Turner
• Bob Dylan
• Keith Richards / Ron Wood

Bob Dylan's performance was marred by his insensitive comment - "It would be nice if some of this money went to the American farmers". He is often misquoted, as on the Farm Aid[?] web site, as saying "Wouldn't it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?"). In his biography Bob Geldof was extremely critical of the remark; he states - "He displayed a complete lack of understanding of the issues raised by Live Aid.... Live Aid was about people losing their lives. There is a radical difference between losing your livelihood and losing your life. It did instigate Farm Aid, which was a good thing in itself, but it was a crass, stupid, and nationalistic thing to say."