LIVE AID - (10CDS) THE "WOODSTOCK OF THE EIGHTIES" SOME ARTISTS THAT PLAYED WERE: REUNITED LED ZEPPELIN, BOWIE, PHIL COLLINS, PAUL MCCARTNEY ETC. A FANTASTIC WORLDWIDE CHARITABLE EVENT AND A GREAT CONCERT.

The Greatest Show On Earth

July 13th, 1985

Apparently "Do They Know It's Christmas?" now appears on a couple of Christmas compilations and also, perhaps more usefully, on Ultravox's Greatest Hits collection, so you should be able to lay hands on a copy if you want one. No, there is still no Live Aid video, CD, DVD or anything else available, to the best of my knowledge.

Seventeen years ... my goodness, where does the time go.

Why was Live Aid held?

Live Aid, like  Band-Aid before it, was held to raise money for victims of the famine in Ethiopia

Michael Buerk's BBC documentary in October 1984 brought home the true horror of the situation to people in the UK, and shortly thereafter Bob Geldof brought about the recording of the Band Aid single. Several other countries and organisations followed suit (the best-known being USA for Africa with "We Are The World"), until in early 1985 the idea of a concert to raise money for the cause was suggested.

Eventually the concert mushroomed into sixteen hours of music from around the world, featuring many of the biggest stars of the time. At the last estimate, it had raised over $100 million.

Band Aid

Band Aid was the name of the group which recorded the original single "Do They Know It's Christmas? / Feed The World". Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the song was recorded on November 25th 1984 by a group consisting of almost 40 of the UK and Ireland's best-known pop stars of the time. Originally Geldof hoped to raise £72,000 for charities from sales of the single, but that estimate was exceeded almost immediately the record went on sale; it went on to sell over three million copies in the UK, becoming the best-selling record ever, and to raise over £8 million worldwide.

Live Aid Programme

(All times given in UK time for simplicity. Flags indicate country of performance rather than country of origin.)

12.02 Status Quo

12.19 Style Council

12.44 Boomtown Rats

13.00 Adam Ant

13.06 Inxs (video from Melbourne)

13.16 Ultravox

13.34 Loudness (video from Japan)

13.47 Spandau Ballet

13.51 Bernard Watson

14.02 Joan Baez 

14.07 Elvis Costello

14.10 The Hooters 

14.10 Opus (video from Austria)

14.22 Nik Kershaw

14.32 The Four Tops 

14.38 B.B. King (video from The Hague)

14.45  Billy Ocean

14.52 Ozzy Osbourn/Black Sabbath 

14.55 Sade

15.12 Run DMC 

15.12 Yu Rock Mission (video from Belgrade)

15.18 Sting

15.27 Rick Springfield 

15.27 Phil Collins

15.47 Reo Speedwagon

15.50 Howard Jones

15.55 Autograph (video from Moscow)

16.07 Bryan Ferry

16.07 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

16.24 Udo Lindburgh (video from Cologne)

16.26 Judas Priest 

16.38 Paul Young

16.48 Paul Young/Allison Moyet

17.00 Linkup between UK and US

17.02 Bryan Adams

17.20 U2

17.40 Beach Boys 

18.00 Dire Straits/Sting

18.26 George Thoroughgood and the Delaware Destroyers / Bo Diddly / Albert Collins 

18.44 Queen

19.03 David Bowie/Mick Jagger (prerecorded video)

19.07 Simple Minds

19.22 David Bowie

19.41 The Pretenders 

20.00 The Who

20.20 Santana / Pat Metheney  

20.50 Elton John

20.57 Ashford & Simpson / Teddy Pendergrass  

21.05 Elton John / Kiki Dee

21.09 Elton John / Kiki Dee / Wham!

 21.30 Madonna

21.48 Freddie Mercury / Brian May

21.51 Paul McCartney

21.54 Paul McCartney / David Bowie / Pete Townshend /  Alison Moyet / Bob Geldoff

21.56 UK Finale

22.14 Tom Petty

22.30 Kenny Loggins  

22.49 The Cars 

23.07 Neil Young 

23.43 Power Station 

00.21 Thompson Twins 

00.39 Eric Clapton 

01.04 Phil Collins 

01.13 Robert Plant / Jimmy Paige / John Paul Jones 

01.47 Duran Duran 

02.15 Pattie LaBelle 

02.50 Hall & Oats / Eddie Kendricks / David Ruffin 

03.15 Mick Jagger 

03.28 Mick Jagger / Tina Turner 

03.39 Bob Dylan / Keith Richards / Ron Wood 

03.55 US Finale