LIVE AID - The Greatest Live Concert of All Time!

On Saturday, July 13, 1985, U2, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Elton John, Madonna, Eric Clapton, Sting, the Who, Queen, Paul McCartney and many more legendary pop and rock musicians performed in Live Aid, the pioneering concert that led to over $160 million for the devastating famine in Ethiopia. This global concert, staged in both London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Stadium, was an unprecedented 16 hours long, was watched by more than 1.9 billion people worldwide and became one of the defining moments in modern music. 

LIVE AID: THE DAY THE MUSIC CHANGED THE WORLD features a selection of memorable performances from the original concert that have not been broadcast for decades.  Clips feature classic full-length songs such as “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Let It Be,” “Layla” and “Radio Ga Ga.” The horrors of the African famine inspired Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, to raise money for the starvation epidemic in Ethiopia.  He started with Band Aid (a group of star musicians who recorded Midge Ure and Geldof’s song “Do They Know It’s Christmas”), and believed that a star-studded concert would further enhance his efforts to raise awareness and money. He tirelessly worked to book the top global music superstars of the day, convince them to donate their time and market the event on a global scale. The result was Live Aid.

During this historic event, two stadiums on different sides of the Atlantic were filled with close to 200,000 energized fans, cheering at the top of their lungs and spiritedly singing along with the various artists. The program opens with Status Quo singing “Rockin’ All Over the World,” an upbeat song that captures the global feeling of the event. U2 played a rousing and emotionally charged  “Sunday Bloody Sunday” – an inspired performance that put them on the map as rock heavyweights.  Sting and Phil Collins combined their talents during an unforgettably serene rendition of “Every Breath You Take.” The list of memorable performances is extraordinary. Tina Turner and Mick Jagger electrified the audience with their spirited duets of “State of Shock” and  “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll.” The two superstars strutted and pranced on stage, stunning the crowd with their daring striptease.  Rock pioneer, Paul McCartney ends the program with his classic hit “Let It Be” – backed by David Bowie, Peter Townshend, Bob Geldof, Alison Moyet and all the fans in Wembley. In a moment of exhilaration, Townshend and McCartney hoisted Geldof on their shoulders to applaud his enormous effort.