The biggest concert event in history, Live Aid reached close to two billion television viewers in 150 countries and raised more than $72 million for African famine victims.
Live Aid consisted of two sixteen-hour music benefit concerts held simultaneously in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at John F. Kennedy Stadium, and in London, England, at Wembley Stadium, on July 13, 1985. More than sixty acts participated, including many of the biggest names in popular music. Long-established stars such as Eric Clapton,
Bob
The Live Aid concerts were the last in a series of events put on by the Band Aid Trust,
The concept of many big names joining forces for one recording to heighten social awareness and to raise money for famine relief was irresistible to the news media. The well-promoted song, written by Geldof and Midge Ure
Band Aid’s success encouraged a number of American musicians to organize USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa)
At about the same time, a Malaysian oil baron named Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan read about Geldof and decided that the musician’s efforts deserved the support of what Krishnan called his “social venture capital.” A wealthy and altruistic Harvard University graduate, Krishnan believed that charity money should be invested in big projects capable of generating large amounts of money to help the world’s underprivileged. Earlier that year, Krishnan had formed Worldwide Sports and Entertainment,
For weeks, Geldof worked nonstop, contacting artists and their agents, giving interviews, and organizing the technical, financial, and marketing machinery needed to make the concerts a success. Most of the money would be raised through televised requests for call-in pledges; the planners adopted the video fund-raising method that entertainer Jerry Lewis had used for years in his telethons to raise money to combat muscular dystrophy.
From left: George Michael of Wham!, concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith, Bono of U2, Paul McCartney, concert organizer Bob Geldof, and Freddie Mercury of Queen in the finale of the Live Aid concert held at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13, 1985.
The promoters for Live Aid at first presented the event as a 1980’s version of the legendary Woodstock
The twin concerts were at first expected to raise $10 million and reach an audience of one billion. The producers afterward estimated that from one and one-half billion to two billion people around the world watched the shows on television. Eventually, Live Aid raised more than $72 million for famine relief; mounting the concerts cost about $5 million.
Geldof had visited Ethiopia after the success of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and he was aware that distributing the funds generated by the project required careful planning. He was most interested in creating long-term improvements in Ethiopia’s agricultural system. Thus, although some of the money was used to purchase food and supplies to distribute directly to people in need, the Band Aid Trust donated most of the money to purchase trucks for transporting food and to support development projects: building bridges, installing irrigation systems, and drilling wells. A few days after Live Aid aired, high-level officials in England, Ireland, and Norway nominated Bob Geldof for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Live Aid marked the first time that an event of such a scale incorporated television broadcasting and coverage as part of its basic planning. The global broadcast was crucial to accomplishing Live Aid’s mission; television was actually a component of the event rather than simply a means of sharing or reporting it.
Although the global broadcast was completed with relatively few hitches for so complex an undertaking, American television coverage of the Live Aid concerts was widely criticized. The cable channel Music Television (MTV)
A total of 105 independent stations aired a syndicated eleven-hour version of the event, and the American Broadcasting Company
American viewers of the concerts were also overwhelmed by a steady barrage of commercials. Legendary music promoter Bill Graham, who coproduced the Philadelphia concert, declared that he was appalled by what he saw on television. “The people at home were raped by television,” he remarked. Moreover, the rock world was dismayed that the concerts and fund drive were not given serious news coverage. Rolling Stone
The Live Aid benefits marked what many considered a movement back toward a belief in music as an agent for social change, a belief that had seemed to wane since the early 1970’s. Social concerns and causes were suddenly important again to musicians and audiences. Many felt that such 1970’s trends as disco music and glamour rock had been frivolous, even empty, compared with the emotionally and politically daring songs of the 1960’s and early 1970’s that had decried the Vietnam War, demanded civil rights, and explored social changes of every kind.
The success of the Live Aid concerts may have shown that some fundamental reevaluation was taking place in popular music in the 1980’s, just as it had in the early 1960’s. Music critics have suggested that the 1980’s revival of conscience in popular music is reflected in the lyrics of such socially committed performers as Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs, and Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Their hits in the mid-1980’s displayed their musical talent as well as their ability to study and respond to social problems. Live Aid certainly seemed in 1985 to herald a change of tone in the popular music world.
As a result of the Live Aid concerts, similar events blossomed to raise money for other stricken groups. Bob Dylan’s comments during his Live Aid performance on the plight of the American farmer resulted in Farm Aid,
On the other hand, further proof of popular music’s renewed social conscience and a more successful politically oriented project came with a series of tours and concerts staged by the human rights organization Amnesty International.
Singer and songwriter Sting called the Amnesty International tours “the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.” Both Sting and Jackson Browne,
Bob Geldof explained that he had learned growing up in the 1960’s, a heady period of radical change, that music was the driving force behind that change. Although many would disagree that popular music truly wields such power, during the Live Aid shows, music did manage to affect the way millions of people were thinking and influenced them to translate that thought into humanitarian action.
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Breskin, David. “Bob Geldof.” Rolling Stone, December 5, 1985, 26-27, 30, 33-34, 60, 63-66. In-depth interview with Geldof five months after the Live Aid concerts. Geldof discusses the project, his motivations, his band, his frustrations, and what he learned and saw during recent trips to Africa. -
Coleman, Mark, and Rob Tannenbaum. “The Revival of Conscience.” Rolling Stone, November 15, 1990, 69-71, 76, 80. Reviews the concert benefits staged since Live Aid and offers comments from several singer-songwriters (including Sting and Jackson Browne) on the power of rock music to effect social change. Includes a brief interview with Bob Geldof. -
Geldof, Bob. Is That It? New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986. Autobiography was written immediately after the Live Aid event; thus, even though the book begins conventionally with his boyhood, the momentum is really toward a full description of what it was like to organize the massive concert benefit. Includes index. -
Goldberg, Michael. “The Day the World Rocked.” Rolling Stone, August 15, 1985, 22-26, 32-34. Presents an entertaining on-the-scene account of the Live Aid concerts, beginning with a brief history of Geldof’s charity efforts and how those behind the scenes put the shows together. Describes highlights of the shows and includes interviews with performers. -
Szatmary, David P. Rockin’ in Time: A Social History of Rock and Roll. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2006. History of rock music discusses the art form’s relationship to the American experience and to business, economics, and politics. Includes discussion of humanitarian efforts on the part of rock musicians. Features bibliography, discography, and index. -
Westley, Frances. “Bob Geldof and Live Aid: The Affective Side of Global Social Innovation.” Human Relations 44 (October, 1991): 1011-1037. Discusses how Geldof used the strong affective power of music to create a bond between American youth and the starving people of Ethiopia. Examines how such visionary leadership is related to global social innovation.
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