Live Aid linked two stadiums for famine relief
On this day · 13 July 1985
On one July day in 1985, London and Philadelphia traded sets across the Atlantic to fight famine before a global television audience.
On July 13, 1985, two stadiums became one show. Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure after the Band Aid single, Live Aid ran simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia to raise money for famine relief in Africa.
For roughly 16 hours, satellites bounced the music between continents. Queen, U2, David Bowie, The Who, and a Led Zeppelin reunion played to packed crowds, while Phil Collins boarded Concorde to perform in both cities the same day.
An estimated audience of well over a billion people watched at once.
The event raised tens of millions of dollars and proved that a coordinated global broadcast could turn pop fandom into mass charity. Its archive is now preserved by national institutions, and the “megaconcert” template it created has been copied for nearly every cause since.
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