33 Things You Should Know About Live Aid

1. Bob Geldof was trying to rig the U.K. charts when he started Live Aid
In the fall of 1984, Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof was home watching the evening news when he first saw BBC news footage of the Ethiopian famine. “My band had been out buying copies of our own record, trying to get it in the charts,” says Geldof. “It didn’t work. So for the first time in ages I had nothing to do. I normally never would have been home watching the evening news.” The next day, Geldof formed Band Aid, a famine-relief charity supergroup comprising George Michael, Duran Duran, Boy George, Bono, Sting and many others, who recorded the single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” American artists responded by forming USA for Africa and recording the single “We Are the World.” By July 1985, both sides were collaborating on Live Aid, the transatlantic live-rock behemoth.

2. Live Aid was held in Philadelphia because New York wanted to get paid
Geldof’s idea was for a “global jukebox,” with near-simultaneous concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium and a major U.S. venue, to be broadcast live around the world. Geldof wanted New York’s Shea Stadium but was told he’d have to pick up the cost of a canceled Mets game. New Jersey’s Giants Stadium was considered, but union costs were prohibitive. Finally, JFK Stadium in Philadelphia offered its services for free. “We need this,” Philly mayor Wilson Goode told Geldof.

3. It was the biggest concert ever
On July 13, 1985, more than 60 artists performed to an estimated TV audience of 1.5 billion. 14 satellites brought live coverage to 120 countries worldwide. “People talk about globalization now, but it started that day,” says Geldof. “We realized that music speaks to everyone. The ’80s has gone down as the era of greed, but it was pretty generous from what I saw.”

4. The date was changed for The Boss
Originally, Live Aid was to have been on July 6, Independence Day weekend, thus ensuring a huge American TV viewership. But the date was pushed back a week to accommodate Bruce Springsteen, then the biggest rock act in the world. Just married and exhausted from his Born in the U.S.A. tour, Springsteen ended up declining Geldof’s invite. “I heard afterwards that he wished he had performed,” says Geldof.

5. Geldof accused David Bowie of killing children
David Bowie was without a band at the time and unsure about performing. Geldof told him if he didn’t play, he would be personally responsible for the deaths of African children. “I didn’t give a fuck if I shamed people into doing it,” admits Geldof. “I lied to everyone to make them feel they were the only bastard not giving time or resources.”

6. A kid looking for a record deal opened the show
Eighteen-year-old Miami Beach high school graduate Bernard Watson somehow persuaded Live Aid’s U.S. promoter Bill Graham to let him open the show at the JFK Stadium performing one of his own songs. “One of the strings on my guitar broke, then I dropped the pick and that wasn’t very professional. But I feel happy I got the chance,” said Watson afterwards.

7. Bowie and Mick Jagger wanted to cover Bob Marley
David Bowie was to appear in London and Mick Jagger in Philadelphia. Their plan was to duet live across the ocean covering Bob Marley’s “One Love,” figuring the reggae beat would hide the delay caused by the satellite link. A phone rehearsal put them off and they instead filmed a video of themselves covering Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Streets.”

8. Nobody gave money until Geldof said “fuck” on TV
As the Live Aid telecast progressed, Geldof’s worst fears seemed realized: The world thought it was watching a free rock concert and few were pledging money for the starving. “Don’t go to the pub tonight — stay in and give us the money. There are people dying now, so give me the money,” Geldof raged to the camera. BBC presenter David Hepworth tried to issue another reminder of the address to send money. “No, fuck the address,” Geldof told Hepworth. “Let’s get the numbers, ’cause that’s how we’re going to get it!” The money began to roll in. “All I could think was, ‘My mum is watching this,’” says Hepworth.

9. The Americans thought the British were amateurs
With four weeks to go, no big American acts had signed up. The Yanks were skeptical of Geldof’s ability to pull off such a grand event. “I heard that from Huey Lewis’s management,” says Geldof. The Brits had their doubts too. “What he was attempting in the time he had seemed just … ridiculous,” adds Phil Collins. “Then Sting rang me and said, ‘Of course it’s happening. We’d better get together and start rehearsing.’”

10. Bowie’s helicopter broke up a wedding
Artists appearing at Wembley were helicoptered onto the London Transport cricket field next to the stadium. The field’s clubhouse had been booked for a wedding that day. When David Bowie’s chopper landed as the bride and groom exchanged vows, the wedding party charged across the lawn for autographs.

Read more about the most rockingest charity gig ever in the new issue of Blender—on newsstands now!