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Live Aid (1985)

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Band Aid - Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Midge Ure

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Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985.

Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise awareness and funds to alleviate famine victims in Ethiopia, the event was one of the largest satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, with nearly 40% of the world's population watching some part of the broadcast (an estimated audience of 2 billion people across 150 countries).

After the release of "Do They Know It's Christmas" (written by Geldof and Ure) in December 1984, Geldof was looking for a follow-up and Boy George suggested staging a concert (George and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss had performed on the single) after an impromptu performance of "Do They Know It's Christmas" at Culture Club's final tour date at Wembley Arena on 22 December 1984. Geldof immediately knew that the performance had to bigger than just Wembley, and conceived of the idea of 2 stages on 2 continents.

Lasting more than 16 hours, the concert was the most ambitious international satellite television venture that had ever been attempted at the time, the BBC broadcast most of the event (with emphasis on the Wembley performers), while in the US ABC only broadcast the final 3 hours, while MTV broadcast most of the day (the BBC was ad free, while MTV and ABC had ads and other breakaways).

More than 75 acts performed at Live Aid, including Joan Baez, the Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, the Cars, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan (with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood), Mick Jagger, Elton John, Patti LaBelle, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Teddy Pendergrass, Pretenders, Run DMC, Sade, Tina Turner, U2, the Who, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Young. Phil Collins performed at both venues (flying from London to New York, then taking a helicopter to Philadelphia), and played piano for Sting, and drums for Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin.

Queen's was voted (by artists, journalists and music industry executives) the greatest live performance in the history of rock music in 2005. Led Zeppelin's is considered to be one of the worst - Plant's voice was bad, Page was reportedly drunk, and Collins didn't know the songs (according to Page). Collins said, ""It wasn't my fault it was crap," and Plant called it "a fucking atrocity for us … It made us look like loonies." Page and Plant have blocked broadcasts of the performance and refused to give permission for it to be included in the DVD release.

It is estimated that more than $120 million (about $370 million in today's value) was raised for famine relief, but it is unclear how much money actually went to the cause, due to corruption within the Ethiopian government, who siphoned off substantial funds.