Live Aid photos reveal nostalgic look at legends Queen, George Michael, U2 and more
Let's take a trip down memory lane.
As we approach the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, Radio Times magazine is celebrating the milestone with nostalgic images from a night that has been cemented in music history.
The images include a look at Elton John with George Michael, Bernie Taupin and Kiki Dee, Queen, Status Quo, U2, and Alison Moyet and Paul Young - all of whom performed at the iconic concert.
The anniversary celebrations will also take place over on BBC Two, with Live Aid the Concert coming to screens this month, offering viewers the chance to relive over six and a half hours of extended highlights of the London and Philadelphia concerts - the first time since the concert took place in 1985.
One the day of Live Aid, Bob Geldof had just one instruction for Queen, "Don't get clever; just play the hits. You have 17 minutes," as recalled by Brian May and Roger Taylor in Radio Times magazine.
That very performance has gone down in history as one of the best, but not all band members were convinced. May, Freddie Mercury and John Deacon weren't sure it'd work.
"We weren’t touring or playing, and it seemed like a crazy idea, this talk of having 50 bands on the same bill," he explained.
"We thought it was going to be a disaster. Freddie, in particular, said, 'I haven’t got the right feeling for this.' He wasn’t the leader of the band, but if he dug his heels in there was no dragging him, so we parked it."
May added: "A lot of it is Freddie. He'd learnt this wonderful thing, which was how to involve everybody in a 100,000 audience. He had this magical ability to make everybody feel he was talking to them – and that, above anything else, rooted that occasion.
"We'd been to gigs; we knew what it felt like to be the small guy at the back of the room. Freddie harnessed that energy somehow and he made that person at the back feel like he could do it, too. He has this power. He’s not Farrokh Bulsara. When he walks on, he’s Freddie Mercury and he owns the world."
In addition to Live Aid the Concert on BBC Two, Live Aid at 40 will go behind the scenes of the 1985 concert and will feature exclusive interviews with Bob Geldof, Bono and Sting.
It will also include interviews from former US president George Bush, President Obasanjo of Nigeria and Birhan Woldu, the woman who became the lasting image of the concert as a child.
The synopsis reads: "The series weaves the backroom stories of two gangs of musicians, from the UK and the US, with the political stories that both inspired them and brought them to a worldwide audience.
"The series chronicles how musical legends from both countries mobilised billions worldwide: first to answer a famine in Ethiopia, and later inspiring global leaders like George Bush and Tony Blair to begin to address the true causes of global poverty.
"Live Aid forever altered the perception of charity and humanitarian efforts. Starting from small donations, to the donations of thousands of pounds, the story ends in billions of government aid."
Live Aid the Concert and Live Aid at 40 will be coming to BBC Two and iPlayer this July.
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Authors
Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.
