25 years ago today, Live Aid (the concert to raise relief funds for
famine sufferers in Africa) took place. I remember it well because
I wanted to watch it badly, but I missed the first several hours due
to work. I was between my Sophomore and Junior years in college
and was working for the State of Indiana organizing high school
kids to de-tassel corn fields. It was a pretty horrible job, and on that
day, it was stopping me from watching! It was unlike anything I
had seen before with almost a hundred thousand people attending
concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in
Philadelphia. I also had never seen many of the groups before and
immediately became a big U2 fan after seeing them play at Wembley.
Just a few months afterwards, I got a part time job at college working
at Von's Records, which I did for the next 2 years. It's interesting to
see the lineups at each venue. Some had staying power, while others,
not so much.
London Wembley Stadium
Coldstream Guards
Status Quo
The Style Council
The Boomtown Rats
Adam Ant
Ultravox
Spandau Ballet
Elvis Costello
Nik Kershaw
Sade
Sting and Phil Collins (with Branford Marsalis)
Howard Jones
Bryan Ferry (with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitar)
Paul Young (with Alison Moyet),
U2
Dire Straits
Queen
David Bowie (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards)
The Who
Elton John (with Kiki Dee) (with George Michael and backing vocals by Andrew Ridgeley)
Freddie Mercury and Brian May (Queen)
Paul McCartney
Band Aid (led by Bob Geldof)
JFK Stadium
Bernard Watson
Joan Baez
The Hooters
The Four Tops
Billy Ocean
Black Sabbath
Run-D.M.C.
Rick Springfield
REO Speedwagon
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Judas Priest
Bryan Adams
The Beach Boys
George Thorogood (with Bo Diddley and Albert Collins)
Simple Minds
The Pretenders
Santana and Pat Metheny
Ashford & Simpson (with Teddy Pendergrass)
Madonna
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Kenny Loggins
The Cars
Neil Young
Power Station
Thompson Twins (with Madonna, Steve Stevens and Nile Rodgers)
Eric Clapton (with Phil Collins)
Phil Collins (having taken Concorde from UK to USA)
Led Zeppelin Reunion
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Duran Duran
Patti LaBelle
Hall & Oates
Mick Jagger (with Tina Turner)
Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood
USA for Africa (led by Lionel Richie)
1 comment:
Wow, hard to believe it's been 25 years. I watched most of the day and evening. And I remember what a big deal they made out of Phil Collins flying the concord to NY. Didn't someone else fly with him and perform too? Too bad there is still so much hunger in Africa.
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