Live Aid Turns 40: Which Band Gave the Most Iconic Performance? (POLL)
40 years ago, on July 13, 1985, musicians and activists Bob Geldof and Midge Ure pulled off a seemingly impossible feat: two simultaneous concerts, held on two different continents, featuring the biggest musical acts on earth — and all for a good cause.
Live Aid grew out of Geldof and Ure’s work organizing the recording of “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” a star-studded 1984 single that raised funds for the Ethiopian famine. The song stayed at the top of the UK charts for five weeks and raised £8 million, which far exceeded the musicians’ expectations — and made them begin to wonder what else they could pull off.
Cue Boy George. The Culture Club played Wembley Arena in December 1984, and invited some of their fellow “Do They Know It’s Christmas” stars to perform the song with them on stage. George told Geldof that the evening had the makings of a great benefit concert. Mere weeks later, Geldof sprung into action.
Just a few months after that, Live Aid went live. The action kicked off at noon, at London’s Wembley Stadium, with blues rock band Status Quo playing the first set. The US leg kicked off a few hours later; the two concerts combined contained 24 full hours of music.
If you were lucky, you saw one of the shows live; but you more likely watched the live simul-cast of the concerts, which was viewed by nearly 2 billion people across 150 countries — almost 40% of the people on earth! Spinoff concerts also occurred everywhere from Japan to Australia to the USSR.
Plenty of iconic performances went on that day, from Queen to U2 to David Bowie. But who was the best?
Where Are They Now? Music Legends
July/August 2025
They rocked and rolled us, they shredded, they head-slammed and they crooned, but what happened to them and where are they now?
Buy This Issue