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Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'80s Rock Icon Bono Cringes at Career-Defining Live Aid Moment: 'I Can't Look Back'
'80s Rock Icon Bono Cringes at Career-Defining Live Aid Moment: 'I Can't Look Back' originally appeared on Parade. U2 frontman Bono, born Paul Hewson, is proving that even rockers can have bad hair days. Twenty-five years after performing at Live Aid, Bono still finds it hard to look back on footage from the historic day—and he blames it on his hair. In the new documentary Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World, which debuts on CNN on July 13 and premiered on the BBC on July 6, the iconic rocker and philanthropist reveals that reflecting on the legendary concert means confronting his regrettable the documentary, Bono said, 'I can't look back at this moment with two eyes because it was such a bad hair day … honestly, one of the most famous moments of your life and your activism, you've got a mullet.' Live Aid, which took place 40 years ago today on July 13, 1985, was broadcast to 150 nations, with over 2 billion viewers watching worldwide. The show—featuring Freddie Mercury's iconic performance of 'Radio Ga Ga' with Queen and a spicy duet from Tina Turner and Mick Jagger—was held simultaneously at London's Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium.U2's Live Aid performance helped propel the band to international stardom. The group's image as Irish rebels was only amplified by Bono's '80s mullet, which was seen at the time as a symbol of rebellion. Now, at 65, the rocker begs to differ. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 '80s Rock Icon Bono Cringes at Career-Defining Live Aid Moment: 'I Can't Look Back' first appeared on Parade on Jul 13, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Live Aid turns 40
"It's 12 noon in London, 7AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid." This television announcement on July 13, 1985, heralded over 16 hours of music broadcast from Wembley Stadium in London and John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia that united close to 2 billion people across more than 100 countries, reports DW. Live Aid was no ordinary gig. With the primary aim of raising funds for famine relief in then drought-stricken Ethiopia, it was the largest satellite link-up and television broadcast of its time. It featured an unprecedented lineup of music's biggest names across diverse genres, featuring luminaries — some since departed, including Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Tina Turner — who performed for free. People around the world watched agog as Mercury cued Wembley's 72,000 fans with those iconic overhead claps during the chorus of Queen's 1984 hit Radio Ga Ga, as U2's Bono jumped off the stage and danced with a teenage fan, as Bob Geldof urged viewers to donate money. And to set the record straight about the oft-repeated Live Aid lore: Sir Bob never said, "Give us your f***ing money." He was misquoted. Outreach via rock 'n' roll Conceived and executed by Irish musician Geldof and Ultravox's Midge Ure, Live Aid was put together at astonishing speed, the momentum having come from the 1984 Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas? — a now-contentious song that the artists co-wrote. Ure later recalled to The Guardian how much of the Live Aid planning unfolded on instinct and goodwill rather than strategy or budget. Consequently, it set a template that was later emulated by events such as Farm Aid (1985), Live 8 (2005) and Live Earth (2007). Speaking in 2004, when a DVD box set of the event was released, Geldof said: "We took an issue that was nowhere on the political agenda and, through the lingua franca of the planet — which is not English, but rock 'n' roll — we were able to address the intellectual absurdity and the moral repulsion of people dying of want in a world of surplus." 'For Africa,' without Africans Though many boomers and Gen Xers may recall Live Aid fondly as a unique moment of global unity before social media, in retrospect it wasn't without its flaws. Especially when viewed through the lens of diversity and representation. Despite being a benefit for Africa, no African performers were featured on stage in 1985. Ditto female representation, where aside from Sade, Tina Turner, Madonna and Patti LaBelle, the line-up was overwhelmingly white and male. Geldof defended the choices, saying the artists were selected based on their pull to maximise donations. In 2005, Geldof organised Live 8 — a series of concerts that coincided with the G8 summit, which aimed to get leaders of the eight major industrialised countries to "Make Poverty History" — but it again wasn't representative. The original lineup featured only Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, with Geldof trotting out the star bankability trope again. "This is outrageous and deeply smug," said Andy Kershaw, the DJ who helped with the TV presentation of Live Aid. "They are saying: 'Don't neglect Africa' — but that's just what they are doing here." Subsequently, the Africa Calling concert was organised. Hosted by N'Dour, it featured prominent African artists like Somali singer Maryam Mursal and Beninese vocalist Angelique Kidjo. Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, was in her late teens when she watched the original concert. She wrote in The Guardian in 2023, "As a Nigerian born in Lagos and educated in the UK, it took me a moment to realise that the version of Africa that Live Aid was selling the world was very different to the one in which I grew up." She added: "Live Aid remains the unfortunate and inadvertent poster child for a development approach to Africa that still drives much of the sector today - the desire to identify and fix the challenges of poor countries and the belief that money is the primary solution." White saviours? Geldof has often been described as having a "white saviour complex," which he rejects. Dismissing a critical comment in The Guardian in 2024 about how some viewed Live Aid as reinforcing "a patronising image of Africa as a continent desperate for, and dependent on, Western aid," Geldof retorted that it was "the greatest load of bullocks ever." Live Aid did raise millions for famine relief, with some political ripple effects. It inspired the set-up of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003. The program was recently gutted following Trump's financial cuts. A current documentary, Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World, also reveals how Geldof's, and fellow Irishman Bono's, relentless lobbying of G8 leaders saw them eventually agree to cancel USD40 billion of debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries after Live 8, and promise to increase aid to developing nations by USD50 billion a year by 2010. Geldof, now 73 and doing the interview circuit commemorating Live Aid's 40th anniversary, doubts that the ethos of Live Aid can be replicated in the age of social media. "It's an isolating technology, unlike rock 'n' roll which is a gathering technology," Geldof told NME. Condemning a recent statement by Elon Musk that the "great weakness of Western civilisation was empathy," he said: "No Elon, the glue of civilisation is empathy. We're in the age of the death of kindness, and I object." But the rocker remains hopeful: "You can change things, you really can actually change things. ... The individual isn't powerless and, collectively, you really can change things."
RTÉ News
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Live Aid at 40: 10 moments that made musical history
Forty years after Live Aid rocked the world, Evelyn O'Rourke looks at ten ways the music event of a lifetime made musical history. "A weird and wonderful crusade." This was how Michael Buerk, the BBC journalist described the Band Aid song project that Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and their musician friends had released in Christmas 1984. He noted that while many of the pop stars involved were wealthy beyond most ordinary people's experiences, it was these privileged people who shown impressive public empathy with the plight of the suffering Ethiopian people. As the Ethiopian people who were enduring the horrors of the famine that he had reported on for the BBC, he was charmed that it was a dishevelled, cool, rock star, singer Bob Geldof who had seen his reports and was moved to act. First came Band Aid, the Christmas charity single, and then an idea that was so ridiculous that it should never have worked - 16 hours of live music from some of the biggest music stars, across Wembley and Philadelphia - Live Aid. The UK's Prince Charles and Princess Diana were joined in the royal box by Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, who watched along with 1.5 billion people who tuned in from around the world, with the event raising more than £110 million. Forty years on, debates will rage this weekend again about the performers who stole the show, was it Queen, was it U2, was it Bob Geldof when he took to the stage with the Boomtown Rats or was it Bowie? Bad - U2 Top of the list is Bad from U2. Bono himself has commented on how he was having a bad hair day and can barely look at the footage, but what stands out from the archive is that fresh faced 25-year-old singer who recognised that Live Aid was a TV event as much as a live gig. U2's performances of 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', and 'Bad' wowed the audience at Wembley and those watching across 150 countries. Bono leapt into the crowd during 'Bad' to dance with a fan, and that impromptu decision from him meant that the band didn't have time to play their hit single 'Pride (in The Name Of Love)'. But it was a spontaneous act that helped catapult U2 to superstardom. Queen Freddie Mercury and Queen sang their hearts out for 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and 'Radio Ga Ga'. Mercury's crowd interaction made it the undisputed highlight of the show, and it is often ranked the greatest live rock performance ever. The crowd responding with the clapping for 'Radio Ga Ga' still thrills, and as BBC's Paul Gambaccini said: "Everybody realised that Queen was stealing the show". These were the very words Elton John uttered when he rushed into Mercury's trailer after the set. "You b*stards, you stole the show," joked the charismatic star. "Queen smoked 'em," he said. Absence of female acts Notable is the absence of female acts on either side of the Atlantic. Only one woman performed at Wembley, and that was Sade. Across in Philadelphia they did a little better with Madonna, Joan Baez, Chrissie Hynde and Patti LaBelle. Alison Moyet and Kiki Dee were on stage for duets but were not main performers. Seriously. Next. David Bowie David Bowie or the Thin White Duke. His soaring performance of 'Heroes' was dedicated to children suffering from famine. Each act had been allocated between 15 and 25 minutes but Bowie chose to drop his final song, and donate his time at the end of his set to introduce a video about "why we are all here today". It was a montage of television reports put together by CBC in Canada, showing the horrors of the Ethiopian famine, backed by The Cars' song 'Drive'. The music and footage blended powerfully, and led to a huge spike in donations, just as U2 took to the stage, making it a real moment on that Saturday afternoon 40 years ago that still stands out today. 'Let It Be' Paul McCartney's 'Let It Be' on solo piano was a moving, understated performance. Technical issues affected his mic at first, but the crowd joined in to sing before Bob Geldof joined in on backing vocals. Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats performance of 'I Don't Like Mondays'. The man who started it all was probably only on stage because of his philanthropy rather than his pop stardom by 1985, but he held the crowd in the palm of his hand for the iconic line "and the lesson today is how to die". He held his fist in the air and the crowd roared in approval. Led Zeppelin's reunion 'Rock and Roll', 'Whole Lotta Love', 'Stairway to Heaven' were the three songs that Led Zeppelin performed in their Philadelphia reunion at the JFK Stadium. Their first reunion since John Bonham's death in 1980, with Phil Collins (who had flown in on Concorde having played with Sting in Wembley earlier that day) on drums. Though the band were unhappy with their performance, it was a huge moment for fans. 'The Quo' sets the tone 'Rockin' All Over the World'. Say what you like about 'The Quo' (and many have), they kicked off the entire event with a high-energy performance, setting the tone for an unforgettable day of music and unity. Springsteen helps save time and money Bruce Springsteen had sung on 'Feed The World', the US charity single, but was not on stage for Live Aid. He told Bob Geldof that he could not perform as he had to go on his honeymoon, but he gave a major helping hand out. He played Wembley on 6 July and left his stage in situ so that Live Aid could use it the following week saving the charity time and money in the process. Ireland's contribution Not strictly a musical moment, but Ireland's fundraising response to Live Aid was a staggering £7 million contribution. RTÉ TV producer Niall Matthews had the idea of running a telethon throughout the day, where viewers would be encouraged by presenters, including Fab Vinny Hanley, to pledge donations on a Bord Telecom free phone number. Lessons were learnt and just under 12 months later, in May 1986, Ireland went on to host its own live musical event for the unemployed called 'Self Aid'. The Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello and U2 played at both Live Aid at Wembley and Self Aid at the RDS arena. Live Aid. Sixteen hours of music that made millions laugh, cheer, cry, sing and empty their wallets. Just as Bob Geldof planned it.
DW
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- DW
Live Aid at 40: Hope, hype and hard questions – DW – 07/11/2025
Though often seen as a moment of unity, Live Aid wasn't devoid of cultural blind spots. What is today's view of the global gig that made history? "It's 12 noon in London, 7 a.m. in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid." This television announcement on July 13, 1985, heralded over 16 hours of music that united close to 2 billion people across over 100 countries. Live Aid was no ordinary gig. With the primary aim of raising funds for famine relief in then drought-stricken Ethiopia, it was the largest satellite link-up and television broadcast of its time. It featured an unprecedented lineup of music's biggest names across diverse genres, featuring luminaries — some since departed like Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Tina Turner— all of whom performed for free. Held simultaneously between Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, people around the world watched agog as Mercury cued Wembley's 72,000 fans with those iconic overhead claps during the chorus of Queen's 1984 hit "Radio Ga Ga"; as U2's Bono jumped off-stage and danced with a teenage fan; as Bob Geldof impassionedly urged viewers to donate money. And to set the record straight about the oft-repeated Live Aid lore: Sir Bob said, "Give us your f***ing money." He was misquoted. Conceived and executed by Irish musician Geldof and Ultravox's Midge Ure, Live Aid was put together at astonishing speed, the momentum having come from the 1984 Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a now-contentious song that they also co-wrote. Ure later recalled to how much of the Live Aid planning unfolded on instinct and goodwill rather than strategy or budget. Consequently, it set a template that was later emulated by events like Farm Aid (1985), Live 8 (2005) and Live Earth (2007). Speaking in 2004 when a DVD box set of the event was launched, Geldof said: "We took an issue that was nowhere on the political agenda and, through the lingua franca of the planet — which is not English, but rock 'n' roll — we were able to address the intellectual absurdity and the moral repulsion of people dying of want in a world of surplus." While many boomers and Gen Xers may still recall Live Aid fondly as a unique moment of global unity pre-social media, in retrospect it wasn't without its flaws. Especially when viewed through the lens of diversity and representation. Despite being a benefit for Africa, no African performers were featured on stage in 1985. Ditto female representation, where aside from Sade, Tina Turner, Madonna and Patti LaBelle, the line-up was overwhelmingly white and male. Geldof defended the choices, saying the artists were selected based on their star pull to maximize donations. In 2005, Geldof organized Live 8 — a series of concerts that coincided with the G8 summit that aimed to get leaders of the eight major industrialized countries to "Make Poverty History" — but it wasn't representative again. The original line-up featured only Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, with Geldof trotting out the star bankability trope again. Andy Kershaw, the DJ who helped with the TV presentation of Live Aid, said: "This is outrageous and deeply smug. They are saying, 'Don't neglect Africa' — but that's just what they are doing here." Subsequently, the Africa Calling concert was organized. Hosted by N'Dour, it featured prominent African artists like Somali singer Maryam Mursal and Beninese vocalist Angelique Kidjo. Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, was in her late teens when she watched the original concert. She wrote in in 2023, "As a Nigerian born in Lagos and educated in the UK, it took me a moment to realize that the version of Africa that Live Aid was selling the world was very different to the one in which I grew up." She added, "Live Aid remains the unfortunate and inadvertent poster child for a development approach to Africa that still drives much of the sector today; the desire to identify and fix the challenges of poor countries and the belief that money is the primary solution." Consequently, Geldof has often been described as having a "white savior complex," which he rejects. Dismissing a critical comment in last year about how some viewed Live Aid as reinforcing "a patronizing image of Africa as a continent desperate for, and dependent on, Western aid," Geldof retorted that it was "the greatest load of b****cks ever." Live Aid did raise millions for famine relief, with some political ripple effects. It inspired the set-up of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003. The program was recently gutted following Trump's financial cuts. A current documentary, "Live Aid at 40: When Rock N Roll Took On The World," also reveals how Geldof's, and fellow Irishman Bono's, relentless lobbying of G8 leaders saw them eventually agree to cancel $40 billion of debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries after Live 8, and promise to increase aid to developing nations by $50 billion a year by 2010. Meanwhile, 73-year-old Geldof, who is currently doing the interview circuit commemorating Live Aid's 40th anniversary, doubts the ethos of Live Aid can be replicated in the age of social media. "It's an isolating technology, unlike rock 'n' roll which is a gathering technology," Geldof told NME. Condemning a recent statement by Elon Musk that the "great weakness of Western civilization was empathy," he said: "No Elon, the glue of civilization is empathy. We're in the age of the death of kindness, and I object." But the rocker remains hopeful: "You can change things, you really can actually change things … the individual isn't powerless, and collectively, you really can change things."
USA Today
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Live Aid at 40: Bono recalls iconic performance but laments 'such a bad hair day'
Freddie Mercury peacocking across the stage, pumping his mic stand while 72,000 pairs of hands double clapped in unison during Queen's 'Radio Ga Ga.' David Bowie, elegant in his powder blue suit, giving new meaning to 'Heroes' as a blond tuft of hair flopped against his sweaty forehead. Bono, oh Bono, already changing the world and the trajectory of U2's burgeoning career with an 11-minute version of 'Bad' so searing that it reached through the screen to capture your soul. The breathtaking moments during Live Aid are too numerous to recount considering the towering lineups at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia that also included Paul McCartney, Elton John, The Who, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, Sting, Madonna, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner. The aptly named 'Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World,' a four-part documentary that dives into the colossal benefit show spearheaded by Bob Geldof, premieres at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) July 13 – the same date as the original event in 1985 – on CNN. In the two hourlong episodes provided to the press, Geldof, as charmingly scruffy now as he was as a darker-haired thirtysomething in the '80s, hasn't altered his steadfast focus – to raise funds to combat poverty and starvation in Ethiopia. Along with archival footage, Geldof's interviews in segments 'A Band Aid' and 'The Global Jukebox' (9 p.m. ET/PT July 20) are supplemented with current commentary from Bono, Sting and Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor. Also joining the conversation is Ultravox's Midge Ure, Geldof's partner in establishing Band Aid, the superstar lineup of British musicians who first aided Africa with their spirited charity single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' in 1984, and co-organizer of Live Aid. The other episodes, 'The Greatest Show on Earth" (July 27) and 'Live 8 – 2005' (Aug. 3), both airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT, underscore the challenges Geldof faced getting money allocated to the neediest African communities and explain why he staged another global concert 20 years after Live Aid. For the several generations who weren't alive when the original two-continent, 16-hour concert bonanza unfurled live: Now is your chance to learn about this landmark in music history. Witnessing the devastation Band Aid sought to relieve While the origins of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' were profiled in a December documentary to mark the 40th anniversary of the anthemic song, still more behind-the-scenes video is unearthed here, along with footage of the rampant disease and starvation plaguing Ethiopia. In a particularly moving segment from the '80s, a father holds his severely ill child, conceding that she will soon die. 'I worried about how to find a shovel,' to bury her, he says in current day. Seated next to him is that same girl, who made a miraculous recovery and is now a grown woman. Geldof visited Ethiopia in 1985 to see the heartbreak himself, earning him the scornful nickname, 'St. Bob.' As he recalls hearing the Band Aid song being played while there, he breaks down on camera at the memory of experiencing Bono's line from the song, 'Tonight thank God it's them instead of you,' while witnessing the distressing effects of malnourishment. 'All the rage, all the shame,' he says through tears. How Band Aid influenced USA for Africa Determined to continue to raise funds while also arguing with the British government about the value-added tax being taken from the song's proceeds, Geldof was thrilled to receive a call from Harry Belafonte. Belafonte, along with Michael Jackson – both of whom Geldof imitates to amusing effect – wanted to involve U.S. artists in the cause with the establishment of USA for Africa. 'If America comes to the party,' Geldof remembers thinking, 'then it's game on.' The nerves behind Live Aid News footage of Geldof's press conference announcing the historic Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia includes his comment that The Who was reforming especially for the event. Cut to an interview with Pete Townshend. 'No we weren't,' he says. 'It was blackmail, really.' But because of Geldof's passion, the band agreed to perform. Other archival media clips include a British TV station breathlessly reporting that fans overwhelmed box offices to get tickets to Live Aid, 'despite the 25-pound price tag.' Some of the behind-the-scenes fretting included Geldof's fear that new technology of using 16 satellites to broadcast the concerts on MTV and around the world would fail. 'No one knew if it would work,' he says. 'There was no plan B.' Bono, Queen and Phil Collins make memorable marks The MVP of Live Aid was unquestionably Phil Collins, who performed solo and with Sting at Wembley Stadium in the afternoon, then hopped aboard the Concorde supersonic airliner to play a second set that night in Philadelphia. While Collins was crossing the ocean, Queen was playing an early evening slot instead of later in the night as would befit an act of their stature because Geldof was no fan of their 'operatic' pop. Show promoter Harvey Goldsmith is more diplomatic, saying the band was put on during a 'low period' to give a 'kick' to the show. 'It seemed like a harebrained scheme,' says Queen's May, with a wry smile acknowledging his underappreciation of the event at the time. Bono, meanwhile, offers reflective insight into U2's momentous performance, which found him scaling the stage barricades during 'Bad' to reach a fan being passed through the crowd. While he believed in the humanitarian cause, he was also aware that, 'this is a TV broadcast and the performer in me is of course looking for some kind of 'moment'.' Bono also admits that even though U2's stirring performance has been decreed a pinnacle of Live Aid, he can't bring himself to watch it. 'It was such a bad hair day,' he recalls. 'It's one of your most famous moments of your life … and you've got a mullet.'
