“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world it is time for Live Aid, 16 hours of live music in aid of famine relief in Africa.”(Live Aid Introduction Announcement)
It was the 13th of July, 1985 and the world waited with anticipation as the stage at Wembley Stadium was poised to launch Live Aid. Simultaneously, the likes of Madonna, Black Sabbath and Bob Dylan were preparing for their set at John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. The ground-breaking concert was planned as a “global jukebox” and a continued response from the music industry and fans to the heart-breaking famine in Ethiopia. Freddie Mercury was imperial; Elvis Costello sang a Beatles’ tune; Midge Ure greeted the crowd “Hello world”; and when Bowie reached the lyric about “transmission and a live wire” in Rebel Rebel it was electrifying. The concert was truly global, lasted 16 hours, and advances in technology allowed for the broadcast to a record breaking 1.4 billion audience in over 150 countries.