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The 1985 Live Aid broadcast that featured legendary performances from Queen, David Bowie, the Who and Paul McCartney will be recreated on Greatest Hits Radio to celebrate the event’s 40th anniversary.
The 10-hour special, hosted by Simon Mayo, will air from noon on 13 July featuring all of the original live performances from the concert, which took place at Wembley Stadium in London to raise money for the Ethiopian famine.
Performances will be accompanied by commentary from Martin Kemp, who performed at the event with Spandau Ballet, plus the cast of the new Live Aid musical Just For One Day.
The show will include Queen’s acclaimed 21-minute live performance, which has been hailed one of the greatest of all time, thanks to Freddie Mercury’s charismatic stage presence and the band’s ability to connect with the audience in singalongs.
It will also replay David Bowie’s memorable set, including an emotional performance of Heroes, which he dedicated to the children of the world.
The event raised more than £114m for famine relief and brought the world’s attention to Ethiopia’s devastating food shortages.
However, it has been criticised for perpetuating the idea that Africa is a broken continent that needs to be “saved” by people from other countries, which has informed subsequent international development approaches. There have also been allegations around where some of the money ended up.
Greatest Hits Radio is partnering with the Band Aid Charitable Trust for the broadcast, named Live Aid Relived.
The Band Aid trust co-founder Bob Geldof said: “Thank you Greatest Hits Radio for hopefully letting people know that they are not powerless in the face of human monstrosity. What better time than now to know and understand the power of music and what it can achieve.”
Mayo said: “I was there as a paying customer 40 years ago and I can’t wait to relive that extraordinary day. Apart from finding a place to park in Wembley, of course.”
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Live Aid was one of the largest satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, reaching an estimated audience of 1.9 billion people in 150 countries, representing nearly 40% of the world population at the time.
As well as the Wembley performances, a concurrent event was held at John F Kennedy stadium in Philadelphia featuring Bob Dylan, Madonna and other high-profile stars, while concerts inspired by the events were held in other countries.
The Greatest Hits Radio special will end with the final episode of Live Aid: 40 Years On, which features interviews with Geldof, Midge Ure, Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen and the promoter Harvey Goldsmith.
Geldof said: “This is the story of when and how rock music took on the world and won. Maybe the greatest series of radio documentaries about Live Aid I have listened to – and believe me, there have been thousands.”
