Random Queen Was Only One Part Of Live Aid, A Mega-Concert For Ages (13 items)

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  (#9) Led Zeppelin

  • Band/Musician

  Among all of the momentous reunions at Live Aid, Led Zeppelin's disastrous performance is unfortunately quite memorable. Live Aid was Led Zeppelin's first appearance following the death of their drummer, John Bonham, five years earlier.

  There were many factors that led to their choppy, discombobulated performance. Jimmy Page's guitar was out of tune and his equipment was malfunctioning; John Paul Jones did not rehearse with the rest of the band before the show; and Robert Plant had blown out his voice in practice.

  One thing the band could agree on was the decision to throw guest drummer Phil Collins under the bus. Collins wasn’t having it, and he contested the decision years later, saying, "I find that I am usually the one blamed for it. It couldn’t possibly be the holy Led Zep who were at fault. It was that geezer who came over on Concorde who wasn’t rehearsed. He was the culprit. That show-off."
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  (#7) Mick Jagger And David Bowie Were Supposed To Perform An Intercontinental Duet

  The transcontinental element of Live Aid was one of its primary selling points for performers and viewers alike. The show was broadcast live to millions of people across the globe, drawing approximately 1.5 billion viewers in 110 countries. ABC and MTV aired the show in the United States, while BBC supplied the feed to the United Kingdom. In the age before the internet, there was something mystical and unifying about performing alongside someone across the ocean in one contiguous event.

  That was the logic behind the epic live duet that never was, a cover of Martha and the Vandellas’s “Dancing in the Street” performed by Mick Jagger and David Bowie. Unfortunately, primitive telecasting technology made it impossible for both feeds to remain synced without a half-second delay, and neither artist wanted to mime their performance alongside the other's live rendition. Instead, they released a studio version of the song and donated the proceeds to the famine relief.
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  (#8) Cher

  • Band/Musician

  While traveling via turbojet to Philadelphia, PA, Phil Collins spotted Cher from across the plane and decided to strike up a conversation with her. Cher asked Collins what was going on, and he asked her if she knew about Live Aid - and if she was interested in joining him.

  Collins recalls Cher was wearing "house clothes" on the flight, but that didn't stop her from showing up fully Cher-ified hours later to perform in the concert's grand finale, a star-studded rendition of "We Are The World."
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  (#11) Madonna

  • Band/Musician

  Following a Playboy scandal just weeks prior, Live Aid was Madonna's opportunity to reclaim agency in her public narrative. Coming hot on the heels of her global debut, Live Aid was auspiciously timed for Madonna's meteoric rise. Madonna saw it as an opportunity to let everyone know she would not be silenced or shamed, and that she had a sense of humor.

  When she took to the stage, she yelled "I ain't taking off sh*t today."
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  (#5) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

  • Band/Musician

  In addition to being a widely beloved classic rock standard, "American Girl" was also significant song in the life of Tom Petty. It was the opening song for his set at Live Aid, the largest show of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers's career. A week before his passing in 2017, he performed it one last time at the Hollywood Bowl as his closing number.

  For reasons unknown, Petty flipped off the audience halfway through the song. Who hurt you, Petty?
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  (#2) Mick Jagger and Tina Turner Sang A Duet

  In the middle of Live Aid, Mick Jagger threw down a duet with Tina Turner. The performance was sultry, steamy, and completely unexpected. Jagger and Turner were already friends prior to the concert, but Live Aid gave them the opportunity to collaborate with one another. In the days leading up to the show, they carefully workshopped and choreographed their entire routine.

  The pair sought to scandalize with their on-stage chemistry, but they had to dial it down for the sake of the telecasters’ censorship requirements. In a particularly lascivious moment during “State Of Shock,” Jagger ripped Turner's skirt off to reveal a risque leotard beneath. A proto-JT and Janet moment?

  Jagger recalls, “I have to watch myself. I can’t really take it too far... We both had to say that we wouldn’t go too far, the way we normally would at a show. MTV might stay on, but I don’t know about ABC.”

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