US EditionJudas Priest, Rick Springfield, John Oates and Bob Geldof Reflect on 40 Years of Live Aid
GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND, JUL 13 – David Crosby criticized Judas Priest's heavy metal set and their placement on the Live Aid 1985 bill, while the event raised over $100 million for Ethiopian famine relief.
- Live Aid was a 16-hour international music event on July 13, 1985, featuring live performances broadcast from both Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia to raise funds for famine relief.
- Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organized Live Aid in response to the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, inspired by the Band Aid single recorded to raise awareness and funds.
- The event featured iconic performances by Queen and others, was broadcast worldwide to an estimated 1.9 billion viewers, and raised about £114 million for famine relief.
- Geldof said in 2025 that recreating a Live Aid event would be challenging due to global division, extremism, changing music landscapes, and algorithmic fracturing of audiences.
- To mark Live Aid’s 40th anniversary this year, the BBC plans to air extended highlights while the concert’s humanitarian legacy remains influential despite doubts about replication.
73 Articles
73 Articles
40 years ago, stars lined up for Live Aid — so why didn't Culture Club play?
Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Forty years ago Sunday — July 13, 1985 — the all-star Live Aid charity concerts took place in London and Philadelphia. Bob Geldof, who put together the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” to raise money for African famine relief, organized Live Aid to raise even more money for the cause. Many of the acts featured on the single performed that day, including Sting, U2 and Duran Duran, but one glarin…
After the stormy ska-punk start of Exit on the Tesla Universe stage, Wrishlas and Atheist Rap, we were waiting for the legendary Bob Geldof to appear, a man whose activist career overshadowed his musical one. But the moment has come for Sir Robert to show us his musical side. The earliest, "non-soloistic" one. It was time for The Boomtown Rats.
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