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Associated Press

Forty years ago, the legendary Live Aid concerts helped raise over US$140 million for famine relief in Ethiopia and inspired worldwide awareness for a cause that might otherwise have been ignored.
Simulcast from Philadelphia and London on July 13, 1985, Live Aid was the most ambitious global television event of its time: 16 hours of live music on two different continents featuring Queen, The Who, a Led Zeppelin reunion and more.
A lot has changed in the years since.
“Live Aid, ’85 to now, is the same distance as the Second World War from Live Aid,” says Rick Springfield, who performed at the concert. “That’s how long ago it was.”

Below, artists who performed at Live Aid – Springfield, organiser Bob Geldof, John Oates of Hall and Oates, and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford – reflect on the event and its impact in interviews to mark the 40th anniversary on July 13.
At John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Springfield performed between Run-DMC and REO Speedwagon.
“Run-DMC, I remember thinking, ‘What is this? Three guys talking over a record player. What is that?’ Little did I know that it was about to change the whole game,” he says, laughing.
He remembers playing an electric set – no “Jessie’s Girl”, because “back then, it was just my first hit … It hadn’t gone on to become this cultural thing.”
Oates had a different experience. His band also played in Philadelphia – their hometown. They played near the end of the night, joined by the Temptations’ Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, and remained on stage to back Mick Jagger. The British rock star had a trick up his sleeve.
“He didn’t tell us that he was bringing Tina Turner out,” Oates says. “We had rehearsed a certain amount of songs with him. But then when he brought her out, it just jacked up the level of energy like you can’t believe.”

Judas Priest singer Rob Halford counts “Mike and Tina, of course” as one of his Philly Live Aid highlights. “Led Zeppelin, too.”
But most exciting of all for the heavy metal singer? Meeting folk hero Joan Baez, whose classic “Diamonds and Rust” Judas Priest had previously covered.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s gonna come and kick me in the ass for wrecking her beautiful song,’” he recalls.
“She gives me a quick hug and goes, ‘The reason I’m here is because my son said to me, ‘If you see Rob Halford from Judas Priest at the Live Aid Show in Philadelphia, will you tell him from me that I prefer Judas Priest’s version to my mom’s version?’ … It was a display of such kindness.”

Twenty years after Live Aid, Geldof organised Live 8 – an even larger undertaking in the new internet era, with 10 concerts happening simultaneously across the globe.
If the trend were to continue, there should be another event taking place this year. Notably, there is not.
Geldof says that is because there could not be a Live Aid-type event in 2025. He cites social media as a cause. In his view, algorithmic fracturing has made it impossible to create monolithic musical and activist moments. Instead, he views the current media landscape as bolstering “an echo chamber of your own prejudices”.
For something like Live Aid to work, “You need rock ‘n’ roll as a creature of a social, economic and technological movement,” he says. “And I think the rock ‘n’ roll age is over … It did determine how young people articulated change and the desire for it … That isn’t the case any more.”
Springfield agrees. “I think we are too divided,” he says.
He believes the world would not be able to agree on a single cause to support, or even which musicians to back.
“You could never do a thing with the size of Live Aid unless it was some kind of universal thing of, ‘Let’s bring everybody together.’”
“Never say never, but I highly doubt it,” says Oates. “The landscape of music and entertainment in general has changed so drastically.”

He points to “We Are the World”, the 1985 charity single for African famine relief that included the voices of Michael Jackson, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon and many more, as an example.
“The idea of that happening with the stars of today all in one place, I can’t even imagine that. And plus, who would they be? … How many songs are released every day?”
Halford echoes the others’ sentiments. There is an undeniable “extremism in the world right now”, he says, that would make a Live Aid event challenging to pull off in 2025.
But he does not think it is impossible. He uses January’s Fire Aid – the Los Angeles wildfire benefit concert featuring Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder and a Nirvana reunion – as a recent example.
“There will always be empathy from people,” and in the right hands, maybe another event like Live Aid could take place, he says.
“It was a tremendously beautiful, humanitarian example … that provided us the opportunity to do something ourselves to help.”


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Music

Live Aid’s Rick Springfield, Bob Geldof, Rob Halford and John Oates reflect on 1985 event

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant (left) and guitarist Jimmy Page perform at the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, on July 13, 1985. Photo: AP 

Rick Springfield performs at Live Aid at JFK Stadium in the US state of Pennsylvania on July 13, 1985. Photo: AP

(From left) John Oates, G.E. Smith and Daryl Hall perform at JFK Stadium at the Live Aid concert. Photo: AP 

Princess Diana (left) and Prince Charles (centre) acknowledge the crowd with Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof (right) at London’s Wembley Stadium, on July 13, 1985. Photo: AP

(From left) George Michael, concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith, Bono, Paul McCartney, Bob Geldof (behind McCartney) and Freddie Mercury perform during the Live Aid concert in London. Photo: AP

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Takeshi Kaneshiro in an interview with the Post in December 2006. Photo: SCMP

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

The Live Aid concerts in 1985 rocked the planet, but many of its stars don’t believe a similar event could happen in 2025’s divided world


The Live Aid concerts in 1985 rocked the planet, but many of its stars don’t believe a similar event could happen in 2025’s divided world.


Philanthropy

Fame and celebrity