Live Aid
or the day nearly 2 billion people decided to watch the same thing.
Welcome back. This week’s post is not on any specific song. As it was the 38th anniversary of Live Aid, I had planned an unscheduled post this past Thursday. I thought it would be a fitting date for some reminiscing. I had unforeseen grandfather duties last week, and that sort of put the kibosh on those plans. That I’ve survived to see the joy of grandchildren that was denied my father, I figured to simply push it off till today.
JFK Stadium Philadephia, PA July 13, 1985
I went to this concert alone, not the first or last time I did such a thing. I also attended my first concert alone, also at JFK stadium, on September 25, 1982. That was The Hooters, Santana, The Clash and The Who. Three of those bands (not The Clash) also played Live Aid, although The Who performed at Wembley that day.
I woke up very early, walked a mile to the bus stop “in town” to get into Center City, and rode the subway down to the sports complex in South Philadelphia. I wore BDU pants with “energy bars” stuffed in the thigh pouches and I brought a 3 liter bottle of Cherry Coke (introduced that year) which I had spiked with a 1 liter bottle of Captain Morgan’s Rum. I’m surprised they let me in with it. Smuggling contraband into concerts was major concern back then. I had partaken of various treats offered to me on the subway and parking lot. I was fairly straight by the time Black Sabbath hit the stage just before 10 AM, though and stayed that way till late afternoon.
I know that Joan Baez was considered the opening act in Philly, but Bernard from Florida actually opened the show. Joan told us, “Children of the 80s, this is your Woodstock.” I thought that was a very smart/shrewd thing for her to say and the crowd ate it up. Looking back it seems funny that Live Aid was 16 years after Woodstock and now I’m looking back over 38 years to that day. Never expected to still be here.
I’m not going to comment on the many controversies surrounding this concert, as they didn’t actually figure into the days proceedings. They all came out later. This is not an historical treatise on the event, but a personal walk down memory lane of someone who was there. When I ‘research’ the day I find that I saw bands that I don’t particularly remember seeing. Either I was out of it or maybe I was going to the bathroom. Anyone familiar with JFK Stadium concerts can tell you that that was an adventure in and of itself. I distinctly remember Tom Petty onstage (that’s the day I became a fan of his) and the Cars, but I see on the Wikipedia page that Kenny Loggins played in between them. Do I actually remember seeing him? I honestly can’t recall, and a one song set was easy to miss. One controversy I will mention, is that some Ethiopian government type got on stage to thank everyone. My area for most of the day had a few empty ‘seats’ (JFK had bleachers, not seats) and our space was like a separate party amidst the greater madness. One young woman mentioned how impressed she was that the minister had traveled all this way to thank us. I got up on my soapbox and lambasted the guy, informing all the hippie-dippie types that the Ethiopian government was a militaristic Marxist entity that spent aid money on weapons instead of feeding their own people. A bit of a wet blanket I suppose but I felt it necessary to inform them.
I remember that Chevy Chase called someone to the front, as a kidney donor had been found for them. That was well received by the crowd, very much in the spirit of the day.
I think Neil Young was doing his set when I decided to start hitting my Rum and Coke. After all day in the hot sun, it was almost tea temperature. I ‘sold’ cups for ice. The folks surrounding me had run out of their elixirs but they still had ice in their coolers. It was a fair and timely exchange of goods.
I’ve seen many complaints over the years about sound and performance issues. No one seemed to care at the time. Look, high quality sound back then for regular people was an LP record, complete with the ‘frying bacon’ noise that sometimes accompanied it. I think I knew one person who even had an equalizer on their home stereo system. Outdoor rock concerts were not some chamber quartet playing amidst a quiet and stodgy group of 30. It was a huge party with some live bands.
Everyone complains that Led Zeppelin’s performance sucked and Phil Collins was the cause. No one I was around complained about it. Oh right, it wasn’t Led Zeppelin. It was Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and a couple of ‘unknown’ cats playing drums. If Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones can call themselves Led Zeppelin in 2007 because Jason Bonham played drums, then I guess Led Zeppelin didn’t play at Live Aid. Semantics. When does a band cease to be a band?
I had mentioned in my House of the Rising Sun post that my backstage experience there had something in common with Live Aid. Having finished my portion of my Rum and Coke, and not being a fan of Duran Duran, I left my seating area, half lit, during their set. I wandered down to the field and slowly made my way towards the front. After Bob, Keith and Ronnie did their bit and the “We are the World” finale, I somehow managed to get under the stage and into the backstage area unnoticed, similar to my experience at The Who concert 3 years previous. (different circumstance and outcome, as well. I’ll recount that another time) While milling around I came within shouting distance of Bob Dylan. I yelled out, “Hey, Zimmerman!” He may or may not have heard me, but he seemed to look at me and sneer. That’s no proof that he heard me, mind you. He’s known to often wear that sneer.
Someone finally asked me who I was and what the hell I was doing there. I asked if he had seen Mike ‘so and so’ (I don’t remember his last name) from the Press Office. He took me over to some other guy by a gate and told me to ask him. This fella told me the person I was looking for had “just left in that limo over there”, and that I should follow him out if I knew what was good for me.
Not sure how I got home that night, but I did sleep in my own bed. Heady times.
Again, this is not a well researched article on the historical event that took place that day. It’s merely a ‘stream of consciousness’ remembrance of someone who was there.
A Substack ‘friend’ has a post on that day from his perspective here.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
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Thanks for the puff! You were a blagger too. It's a lost art now; too many checks, too much security and of course, the internet. In those days, the right look got you through forbidden doors. We in the UK were of course aware of Philly. The only band I remember was The Beach Boys and I don't remember them being that good. (Just checked out the video - they were ok, but the sound was off and they didn't seem particularly cohesive, but that's just me.) The weather this side of the pond was brilliant. It was warm and sunny all day. I watched it on tv but the BBC broadcast it on FM radio, so I had the stereo all lined up to get the best sound. Great memories, Frank.