Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Live Aid united Queen, U2, David Bowie, Elton John, and dozens of other acts across two continents in a single day. Broadcast via satellite to nearly 150 countries, it raised over £150 million for famine relief and redefined the scale of what a benefit concert could achieve.
Queen's 20-minute set at Wembley Stadium, anchored by Freddie Mercury's command of 72,000 people with a single sustained note, is still cited as one of the greatest live performances in rock history. Mercury turned a stadium into a congregation, and the BBC's cameras caught the moment the crowd became one instrument.
The Philadelphia leg at JFK Stadium ran nearly nine hours behind schedule but featured Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, and a memorable reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Phil Collins famously performed in London, then boarded a Concorde to also perform in Philadelphia the same afternoon.
Critics later noted the concert's oversimplified narrative of African famine and the slow, uneven delivery of aid, but Live Aid permanently changed the culture of celebrity philanthropy, setting the template for Live 8 and countless benefit concerts that followed.
Key people: Bob Geldof, Freddie Mercury, Midge Ure, Phil Collins