What was live aid

The common goal of the participating artists was to stand in solidarity with Ethiopia and raise funds to bring relief to the people there, who were faced with a famine.

But it is Freddie Mercury's incredible comeback show with fellow Queen bandmates that has gone down in history as one of the most emotional performances ever recorded. Attendees — more than 72, of them — began arriving during the day to watch Status Quo start the show.

Apart from regular concertgoers, Princess Diana and Prince Charles marked their presence and stood next to Geldof in their box. Phil Collins flew in from London after wrapping up his Wembley show and performed at the US venue as well.

One of the most iconic performances of the day turned out to be Tina Turner's incredible show with Mick Jagger. Another primary reason why the Live Aid is considered historic is due to Queen's soul-stirring performance, with Mercury casting a spell on the crowd. The band had just wrapped up a world tour to promote their latest album The Works , and were expected to be more subdued. However, their Wembley show affirmed their power and status.

They understood the idea exactly, that it was a global jukebox. They just went and smashed one hit after another. It was the perfect stage for Freddie — the whole world.

Queen's intensive rehearsals at the Shaw Theatre in London had paid off. Either way, it worked. In , pop radio stations were still reluctant to play this new form of music, and the Queens rappers undoubtedly raised some eyebrows as they took the stage in Philly with no band—just DJ Jam Master Jay behind two turntables. One man who literally went the distance for the cause was Phil Collins.

The Genesis frontman and chart-dominating solo artist performed with Sting at p. Most people agree that the Zeppelin set was a total disaster—the band was under-rehearsed and out of tune.

But Live Aid did have a diversity problem. The lasting impact of Live Aid remains a far greater source of controversy. According to SPIN , Mengistu used food to lure people into camps that allowed his regime to forcefully relocate hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians.

Mengistu reportedly also used Western aid to purchase arms from the Soviets to use in his fight against rebels.

It also created a new template for high-profile musical benefits. In , Geldof revisited the Live Aid model with Live 8 , a series of concerts aimed at convincing the G8 leaders to forgive debt for African nations and enact fairer trade laws. In an interview with the Toronto Sun , Geldof gave Ora most of the credit for the logo.

That weekend was very sunny in London, so someone had to break out the hosepipe. Hard to imagine now, but Live Aid really put U2 on the world map. The band were due to play three songs kicking off with Sunday Bloody Sunday, but during Bad, the magnificently be-mulleted Bono went into the audience to dance with a female member of the crowd and they ran out of time.

Oh, Bono. Playing Wembley was a walk in the park for Freddie Mercury, but the band surprised everyone by reminding them what a great live act Queen were and how many huge hits they had. It would have been daunting for anyone to walk onto the Wembley stage after Freddie Mercury and co had just delivered the performance of a lifetime, but there was one artist who was more than up for the challenge: David Bowie.

Our hero, then in his "Serious Moonlight" bleached-blonde pomp, kicked off his set with the less-familiar TVC15, but followed it up with a handful of classics: Rebel Rebel, Modern Love and the all-time anthem, "Heroes". An appearance by the surviving members of The 'Oo was a big deal at the time as they hadn't played in three years, although these days they seem to be a constant presence. However, technical difficulties marred their set and the TV feed cut out just as Roger Daltrey sang "Why don't you all fade away Fab Macca also had a technical hitch - his microphone didn't work properly for the first verse of his version of the Beatles classic Let It Be.