The charity concert Live Aid organized by Bob Geldof became a mega-spectacle. Paul McCartney remembers.
It went down in history as a spectacular musical event: 35 years ago, the legendary Live Aid took place in London and Philadelphia. Paul McCartney (78, "Egypt Station"), who was one of the acts at Wembley Stadium in 1985, now commemorates the largest charity event ever. The Beatles legend looks back at the mega concert with a star-studded photo on Instagram. Next to him are Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), U2 singer Bono (60) and the organizer of Live Aid, Bob Geldof (68). Together with many other artists, they sang the benefit song "Do They Know It's Christmas". McCartney added the hashtag "# LiveAid35" to the post.
Superlative music event for a good cause
On July 13, 1985, Geldof and Midge Ure initiated two parallel events at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The shows, which lasted a total of 16 hours and were attended by almost two billion people in 150 countries, raised over 180 million euros in donations for hunger relief in Africa. World stars such as Queen, U2, Madonna, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, George Michael, Sting, The Who or Led Zeppelin performed among others.