Live Aid at 40: Yup, I was there
i use the word "historic" a lot. cause it was.
This Sunday, July 13th is the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, an ambitious, historic massive live concert - and global live broadcast - of music’s biggest stars. Held at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, the event was organized by Irish singer Bob Geldof (lead singer of Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure of Ultravox to raise awareness and money for starving people in Ethiopia during the famine of the 1980s. The concert was a followup to the successful charity single “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” that came out in December, 1984.
I didn’t know that I was going to Live Aid until the night before. I was in the restaurant business and couldn’t get the day off. A friend called me and told me that the friend he was going with was sick; did I want his ticket. Duh. Of course. Next morning, I called out sick at work and went to the show.
Over the years, the “event” of it all has overshadowed the reality of the day: it was blisteringly hot, the sound wasn’t great. Not much water to be found. The air was thick, the crowd even thicker. All that was blocked out by the fact that Live Aid was as historic as some of the stories you’ll read. I only have positive memories of spending 13 hours in 95 degree heat with 100,000 plus people in a shitcrap stadium.
There were rumors swirling about the crowd: Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson were going to be unannounced guest performers. The Stones were gonna do a set. Word moved through the crowd that Phil Collins was going to fly from London to Philly in record time to perform. Of course, he did.
I got into JFK Stadium in South Philly right as Run DMC were on stage. I missed The Hooters and Joan Baez. Most of the performances – the sheer number of acts that played was insane - were great. Some of the standouts included Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Mick and Tina (of course), Madonna, Petty, Neil Young’s set closing version of “Powderfinger,” The Four Tops, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the emotional and very moving return of Teddy Pendergrass, Hall & Oates w/ David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations, Patti Labelle.
We all lost our minds when Phil Collins brought out Led Zeppelin for the reunion. I remember Robert Plant’s vocals not being great on the opening song, “Rock & Roll,” but by the time they got to “Stairway” I think every one of the 100,000+ fans were euphoric and realized that what was happening on stage was historic. We didn’t get Queen (London did), but we got Zep.
Chevy Chase, Joe Piscopo, Jack Nicholson introduced bands. Grace Slick introduced Pretenders, Bette Midler intro’d Madonna, Dionne Warwick brought Hall & Oates on stage. Marilyn McCoo of the 5th Dimension introduced The Beach Boys, The television show Miami Vice was at the height of its popularity and Don Johnson was brought out for some emcee duties. There was a brilliant ludicrousness to it – I mean, all these famous people all in one city, one place all at the same time!!
Looking back and thinking about the scale of this thing, you can’t help but consider the global massiveness and significance of it all. Pre-internet, it was broadcast live on BBC, ABC and MTV. At the time, it was the largest satellite link-up and global broadcast ever. Once the music started in Philly, the gigantic video screens would beam in the performances from Wembley. Everyone was giddy with a sense that what we were communally experiencing was monumental, all for an important cause. It was.
I remember leaving the concert and I was parched. There was a guy out on the street filling empty milk gallons up with water from a fire hydrant, selling them for 5 bucks each. I said to him, ‘hey, I’ll take two.” I drank one almost in one entire gulp and poured the other one over my head.
This Sunday, July 13th starting at 10am, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Live Aid WXPN will broadcast highlights of live performances from Wembley and JFK until 9pm. I’ll be on the radio starting at 3pm Philly time, presenting highlights from much of the Philly sets.
If you were there, or watched, leave your memories below.
I wuz there. Remember the heat and fire hoses spraying the crowd. Zep was amazing, such a highlight. Plant didn’t remember the lyrics to stairway so had to write them on his arm. He was the only person in the room who didn’t remember the words. The entire stadium song every word of the song, almost louder than Robert at times.
Impressive lineup.